Less publicised was the announcement that the two year break option in Capello’s four year contract – the break period coinciding with the end of the 2010 tournament – had been deleted at Capello’s request. No-one from the media seemed to link the two events. After all, it wasn’t the first time that an England manager tried to cash in on his position with some ill thought out commercial venture – Glenn Hoddle’s world cup diary in 1998 springs to mind. However, following a successful and encouraging start to his England tenure, characterised by Capello’s own strong sense of discipline, on and off the field, and his pronouncements on being focused fully on the job, using players who were both fit and in-form, RTG detects a worrying change in Capello’s attitude to the job.
Yes, the selection of players who are half fit and those that have played no part in any Capello selected squad might appear to be hypocritical to some or, they might just be acceptance that the ideals as set out by himself on taking on the England job cannot possibly be delivered in the real world. As Capello showed when managing Real Madrid, in his dealings with Beckham, at first discarding him very publicly and then bringing him back when Beckham responded with hard work and determination, he is a man who is not so proud as to admit a mistake – even if only to himself. This is encouraging and for once the media responded positively, “He’s learning about international football like any other new manager” and “He’s never been in this position before” being typical comments from the paid pundits. Had this occurred during a less than successful qualifying campaign RTG wonders if they might have been a little less sympathetic and torn him to shreds instead. But that’s a story for next season perhaps.
No, the worrying aspect is Capello’s clear concern on his job security, so much so that he felt compelled to enter into that ill-advised commercial venture. With Triesman’s high profile departure, adding to the recent somewhat furtive resignation of the FA’s CEO, Ian Watmore, it is clear not all is well at the FA. Now, RTG does not know what organisational power blocks exist within the FA. What it does know though is that they exist, within itself and in relation to the Premier League. That’s pretty normal. It is also clear, that if you add in former CEO Adam Crozier’s experience as an agent of change within the FA – he talked at great length about the need for the FA to modernise its outlook and organisation – the FA is not a place to be if you want to change the 130 or so years old institution. But change it must, as the guardian of the game in this country it is has been running, more or less, on the same basis in its entire history. And this is the most worrying aspect of Capello’s recent actions: his realisation that the FA is a “sick” institution with little or no prospect of re-inventing itself to deliver its key goals. That is to develop the grass roots of the sport, creating an environment which enables world class footballers to be produced and, therefore, a team that can actually win tournaments. If you were working for the FA, wouldn’t you feel insecure too?
The Keeper
He Stands Tall and Firm...ooer!
No World Cup build up would be complete without the release of the official England Team World Cup song. Who could forget the rousing tones of “Back Home” in 1970 or John Barnes in da house for “World in Motion” in 1990. Well, the Keeper has some bad news to report. The build up to South Africa will not be complete on account of the fact that there will be no 2010 England World Cup song released. Your modern day England footballer is no longer willing to make themselves look like an idiot for posterity’s sake anymore (well not intentionally anyway) and they certainly don’t get out of bed for the mere tens of thousands of pounds that a hit record earns these days.
But don’t despair out there. El Tel (formerly known as Terry Venables) sporting the very latest in outdated goatee beards has taken it upon himself to release his own World Cup song; a rather laboured version of Elvis Presley’s “If I can Dream” which actually sounds like it would have done had Elvis himself recorded it seconds before he passed away on the loo. Filmed for Sky Sports on the roof of that footballing Mecca, the O2 Centre, to promote the record, El Tel’s interview was sadly interrupted by the arrival on the roof of his backing group, the London Philharmonic Orchestra. “Sorry chaps”, said Tel, “it’s the London Filler…..Fillar….Fill Up…I’ve got to go!”. I think Tel you meant The London Fillyerpockets Orchestra.
Maradonna’s predictably stormy and somewhat unpredictable reign as Argentina’s head coach continued as he accidentally ran over a camera man’s leg this week. Calling on his usual reservoir of understanding and humility with regard to the plight of other less deified members of the human race, he was heard to say, “What an asshole you are. How can you put your leg there where it can get run over man?” Strange, because we England fans thought he was the expert at putting limbs in places they shouldn’t be.
Manchester City meanwhile seem to be hell bent on signing one of Don Fabio’s up and coming stars, James Milner. As with Chelsea a few years ago City seem determined to over bid for good English talent. It started at £20M rising to £30M and currently topping around £40M – the same sort of figure Arsenal are likely to end up getting for Cesc Fabregas. You know what the Keeper is saying. If it ended up at £100M, why should it matter? He can join the Glen Johnsons, Scott Parkers, Steve Sidwells and Sean Wright-Phillips of previous years who chased the big bucks to Chelsea and languished on the bench for the next few seasons at the expense of unfulfilled promise. It could be important to bag the best English talent, though, in the coming seasons as UEFA’s new rules on home grown talent kick in. City apparently made a £30M bid for Adam Johnson last week before they realised he was actually already one of their own players.
It was refreshing to be marshalled through the FA Cup final on ITV for the first time by the combination of Clive Tyldesley and Jim Beglin. When Didier Drogba’s shot rattled the Pompey cross bar to see the ball apparently cross the line, Messrs Tyldsley and Beglin launched into a frenzy of protestation. “It was over Clive”, “Definitely over Jim”. Then Clive consulted his TV commentator’s what-do-we-say-in-these-circumstances instruction book and decided to launch into a scathing attack on Fifa for not allowing technology. “It only takes a few seconds to confirm Jim, why oh why don’t we use it?” The TV replay dutifully followed 40 seconds later and, after several different camera angles were examined, revealed that the ball clearly hadn’t crossed the line after all. Jim Beglin immediately started back pedalling at a rate that would have taken him comfortably rear-first up Mount Everest. “Actually looking at it again Clive I’m not sure it was over”. But our Clive, clearly on a roll by now and enjoying his foray into the role of ‘commentator/technology bandwagon jumper, was not to be put off his stride. “It’s madness Jim. We have the technology. It just takes a few minutes so why don’t we use it?” At which point it became clear, after discussing the issue for n minutes that, in fact, Messrs Tyldesley and Beglin had illustrated exactly why goal line technology has been resisted. That is, a perfectly good decision made by a well positioned linesman prevented the need for unnecessary hold ups to play and a cumbersome and time-wasting, on-field player-appeal system. Thanks Clive.
