English Football - A Solution

We all know that English football is a joke and the country that is most associated with the game of soccer, and has some of the best players in the world, play like a bunch of pansies on an international level!

So why is this?

Okay you could argue that ego's are to blame, (yet David Beckham is consistently great at both team and international level), or that the England squad do not have enough games together (very feeble excuse)!

The truth of the matter is that they do not have the winning spirit, the right Manager (or no manager at the moment) and the fact many of the top Premiership clubs are spend too much on foreign talent means that many of the future England players are not getting the chance to play at top level!

Okay, do not get me wrong I have no problem with foreign players, although I do believe there should be a limit. But the way this country's national game is going why not alter the rules of the game so that anyone who plays for an England club is eligible to play for the England team. Then England might be in with a chance!

If this was the case then Man Utd. could play for England and Sir Alex Ferguson can add a World Cup winners medal to his already overflowing trophy room and also lay claim to have a team with at least a few English players!

****Disclaimer: I am not a Man United fan, I am impartial (go Leicester City)****

The FA went wrong the day Terry Venables left the England squad in favour of the "Hand of Hod", a disaster in the making, followed by Kevin Keegan.

Kevin Keegan was a great player and is a great manager, he helped in steering Fulham to the First Division as well as improving Newcastle prior to that. He should NEVER have managed the England squad until he had more Premiership or continental management experience.

I honestly believe that in a few years he WILL have the potential of bringing England World Cup glory, but not for a while!

I also believe that there is only one English man who can steer the team in the right direction and that man is Terry Venables. His performance during Euro 96 says it all. Had Glenn Hoddle capitalized on what Venables had begun then the state of English football would not be in the quagmire that it is now.

If, and this is a big IF the FA want to took at other nations for a manager why not try Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger or even Martin O'Neil, probably three of the best managers at the moment.

Many people have voiced that there should never be a foreign England manager, even though many of the Premiership big guns are managed by foreigners.

Any supporters who claim that there should not be a foreign England manager should look at the clubs that they support and the amount of foreign staff that they employ before making such 'patriotic remarks' regarding the management of the England squad.

What is good for one is good for the other. I never thought that I would see the day in which Liverpool would have a French manager and a good one at that! So cut the false patriotism.

If England is going to survive the World Cup 2002 qualifiers they need a manager that will give them the shake up that they need.

If 2002 is too soon, then they need to be looking at bringing up a new younger squad of England players through the Premiership (especially in the defensive area) for 2006.

Maybe by then we might hear the lion roar again!