The (we need someone) English Job
This week the column inches, radio airwaves, news channels and tweets have all been about one thing, the only man who can pull excalibur from the stone and unto him shall be bequeathed the name King ‘Arry and glory is just over the horizon.
'Gizza job'
Fabio Capello has the greatest win percentage record of ANY permanent England manager, 66.7 % for those of you who love a stat. A man famous for being strict and autocratic he was no longer able to sit idly by and have his team fiddled with by the powers that be up in F.A headquarters. No matter what your personal views on John Terry are anyone would be hard pressed to argue that the F.A had the right to intervene, especially in such a pathetic manner as to strip him of the captaincy but not remove him from the team, rather than simply allow Capello to make his own decisions on the matter. Sven was castigated by the press for his allowance of WAG’s to take attend every event, while Mclaren’s embarrassingly pally antics with the squad were reminiscent of that awkward ‘aren’t we all mates’ teacher we all know from our school days. Capello was hailed as the answer, a man whose iron fist was needed to knock an underperforming team into shape and clunk some egotistical heads together. A fantastic qualifying campaign was followed by a poor performance at the World Cup, ending with 90 minutes of being outplayed by our old friends ze Germans.
This week the press have turned their fickle attentions once again to this failure, this time no mention of the underperformance of every single player in an England shirt, or the fact the German outfit were quite simply superior in every single technical element. Rather they have chosen to put the blame in a nice little package and place it on Capello’s doorstep. Everything from his selection of ‘boring location’ for Englands training camp to having the temerity to pick Rooney to play against Montenegro despite him having Daddy issues that week has come under attack. The man has been a success everywhere he has gone yet England still fell short, and not yet no one has dare put this down to the actual shortcomings of the team, no doubt the gross sense of pride at having the best league in the world making such a thought incomprehensible. He was the manager England needed, but not the one they deserved...or whatever that quote from The Dark Knight is. So now hark the locals cry for a hero, of English blood, to step in and do what the foreigner could not.
Luckily for Redknapp he will not need to fill in an application form, with scores of players and pundits alike backing him as the only man for the job the F.A have no choice but to listen. Hiddink? Na, Mourinho? who needs him, according to anyone who's anyone we all want Redknapp and that's that. The man is fast becoming caricaturised by the public, and this has certainly helped his case to be England manager, the pro-'Arry propoganda exuding every media orifice. The fact he is backed by numerous current squad members is important, while it is telling that so many pro’s are coming out to say he is the right man for the job, there must also be questions raised about how correct it is for players to openly say who they want to be in charge.
But should he really be the man handed the poison chalice? And why on earth would he want it? Redknapp has (quite rightly) won plaudits from all sides for the style of play he has injected into his Spurs team. The cut and thrust attacking nature teamed with a ‘none of this tactics bollocks’ attitude typifies a team Sky themselves could not have dreamed up to better exemplify what they want the image of the Premier League to be. If the man can make England tick in a similar fashion then great, happy days all round. He has also won much praise for his 'famed' man management ability (despite his failure to manage problem cases such as Taarabt, Kevin Prince-Boateng and Dos Santos) this is a quality many will be hoping is genuinely evident and one he can successfully bring to the England camp to help the players finally meet the largely inflated expectations coming from all corners. The problem with the potential appointment of Redknapp lies in the fact his processes worked at Spurs down to a few specific reasons, not all of which England are capable of matching.
Firstly, a team that plays with a liberated spirit can only do so with a solid foundation of confidence. This style of play is like a snowball, gathering momentum as it goes and with each game as confidence grows so the teams performances improve. When the confidence is not there, e.g Spurs at the start of the season, or Arsenal most of the time over the last 6 years, the performances suffer greatly for it. Therefore an England team with a propensity to be overawed at any given moment, under unparalleled expectations from a hound like press, and a history of failing to see off even the most lowly of opposition, may not be the best candidates to adopt this style. This is expecting the same team who lest we forget drew with Algeria at the last World Cup to suddenly just be able to say ‘well lets just go out there and do our thing’.
The second issue is Luka Modric…or lack there of. Spurs style works because they have the little maestro in the middle who everything can go through: seeking out the ball, pinging passes and just generally dictating (not in the bad way) the play. Without a man in this mould it will prove a difficult task for England to emulate the Spurs style everyone wants, nay expects, ‘Arry to bring with him. Gerrard and Lampard are not the players they once were due to age and injury, Wilshere has been injured all season and still some way off of being able to truly assume the mantle and….well I’ll stop there before it gets embarrassing. Spain could field an entire starting eleven of such players, Germany have the ludicrously talented Mesut Ozil, Netherlands have Sneijder, and yet England have no one of this calibre to fulfil a role that is essential should they wish to play in the desired manner.
The main issue Redknapp needs to worry about is quite simply, is it worth it? At the moment for ‘Arry everything is rosy, Spurs are flying, tabloids fawn over his ‘cockney charm‘; that being his openness, humour and ability to remember reporters first names. The last three England managers were turned into pariahs following their perceived failings, a juggernaut of abuse and negativity aimed their way. While Capello can seek comfort in his homeland, where his past achievements and standing will enable his image to remain intact, Sven and Mclaren before him never fully recovered and both are still seen in the eyes of many as punch lines to lingering jokes rather than respected managers, any pre-England successes long since banished from memory. Redknapp has never had to deal with castigation from the press at the highest level, unlike Fergie and Wenger whose every move is analysed and criticised in equal measure as every slight blip is seen as a major failure. This is partly because he has surpassed most of the expectations placed on him but also in part because he has not been on the biggest of stage long enough to experience genuine underperformance. Roy Hodgson is exhibit A in this instance; never a bad word was said about him when at Fulham as he was seen to work miracles, however as soon as he took the post at Liverpool it was a whole new world of expectations and pressure and the change in attitude towards him was nothing short of drastic. Therefore would it be wise for Redknapp to risk his greatest trump card, his popularity, and potentially have it all come crashing down around him?
Redknapp occupies a unique position in football; after all which other manager would hurdle a barrier to join the studio for a post game interview, or impersonate players so regularly during tv appearances...let alone telling a sky pundit to f**k off during an interview. The lure of what is often dubbed the job every Englihsmen wants will likely be too strong, and one could hope by some miracle due to his popularity the press will leave him well alone, therefore allowing the England team an easier road to travel down and not creating the same exhaustive atmosphere as recent tournaments. Or will they as usual go full circle and turn on the man they currently carry on their shoulders with dough eyed adulation, bidding him good riddance just like the rest and thus cementing the fact that this job really is impossible.
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