Ash
11-07-2000, 05:51 PM
Kevin Keegan is tactically naive. Now that all the dust has settled on England's dismal Euro 2000 performances, that point surely cannot be disputed. I feel that after these two or three games that he has given himself (and personally, I hope that we do miserably in them for the sake of the future well-being of the English national game), he will be left with little choice other than to step aside and give someone with a bit of nouse at international level the opportunity to restore some pride in our national game.
The players used in Euro 2000 are significantly superior to the performances produced (you only have to look at Premier League teams relative success in Europe in recent seasons for evidence of this). Therefore someone more tactically aware, and more importantly, aware of the threats and the tactics employed by the opposition, must be allowed to take over as national team coach. Someone with a thorough knowledge of world football and someone who can motivate his men to the heights demanded at international level, and give them the confidence that clearly, Kevin Keegan fails to do.
We DO have the right players available to us to represent England. Not to win the major competitions, but to hold their own and to regain the respect England should rightly demand at international level. The right players, in the right positions, with the right tactics and right motivator will out perform Keegan's 2000 England by a country mile.
My point is this... given the fact that we are unlikely to see a foreign coach take charge of England in the immediate future given the current stance and tradition of the FA (this is of course another argument, but I for one believe that the English coach should indeed be English himself), when you look around at the English coaches we have, we are only left with one realistic option.
Surprise, surprise... Yep, it's Terrence Vegetables.
Now, it may surprise a few to here a fellow Palace supporter nominating Vegetables, but I deplore the terrible state in which Palace were left, and in which he played no small part. Likewise, in my opinion, events at various other clubs he may have managed or mismanaged during his career. I was one of about three people in the Lower Holmesdale who rose to their feet when Pompey visited Selhurst during his reign and sang Stand Up If You Hate Venables. So you get my drift ?
That said, his knowledge of world football, strategies used, players strengths and weaknesses, how to successfully motivate his own players, world football tactics, how to take the opposition's key player out of the game etc etc are currently, head and shoulders above that of any other Englishman.
Down to some unsurprising misdemeanours, he was unable to take England as far as he could and should have done after Euro 96 as surprise surprise again, he was to be inundated by court appearances for the duration of the approaching months. Some say the Euro 2000 team picked itself, to that I would disagree. But the fact is that players do like him, and they do relate to him. He has always had his own troop of loyal men/'hangers-on' who seem to follow him from club to club, business pursuit to business pursuit, and it seems obvious he demands loyalty, dedication and comittment from his staff WHEN and only when he himself is fully dedicated to the cause. And let's not forget he has a point he is dying, just dying to prove to the FA, and let's face it, to just about everyone in football.
I hate to say it, I really do, but our 'old friend' really is the only man to take the national side forward. I just wish there was an alternative.
Cue outrage ?
The players used in Euro 2000 are significantly superior to the performances produced (you only have to look at Premier League teams relative success in Europe in recent seasons for evidence of this). Therefore someone more tactically aware, and more importantly, aware of the threats and the tactics employed by the opposition, must be allowed to take over as national team coach. Someone with a thorough knowledge of world football and someone who can motivate his men to the heights demanded at international level, and give them the confidence that clearly, Kevin Keegan fails to do.
We DO have the right players available to us to represent England. Not to win the major competitions, but to hold their own and to regain the respect England should rightly demand at international level. The right players, in the right positions, with the right tactics and right motivator will out perform Keegan's 2000 England by a country mile.
My point is this... given the fact that we are unlikely to see a foreign coach take charge of England in the immediate future given the current stance and tradition of the FA (this is of course another argument, but I for one believe that the English coach should indeed be English himself), when you look around at the English coaches we have, we are only left with one realistic option.
Surprise, surprise... Yep, it's Terrence Vegetables.
Now, it may surprise a few to here a fellow Palace supporter nominating Vegetables, but I deplore the terrible state in which Palace were left, and in which he played no small part. Likewise, in my opinion, events at various other clubs he may have managed or mismanaged during his career. I was one of about three people in the Lower Holmesdale who rose to their feet when Pompey visited Selhurst during his reign and sang Stand Up If You Hate Venables. So you get my drift ?
That said, his knowledge of world football, strategies used, players strengths and weaknesses, how to successfully motivate his own players, world football tactics, how to take the opposition's key player out of the game etc etc are currently, head and shoulders above that of any other Englishman.
Down to some unsurprising misdemeanours, he was unable to take England as far as he could and should have done after Euro 96 as surprise surprise again, he was to be inundated by court appearances for the duration of the approaching months. Some say the Euro 2000 team picked itself, to that I would disagree. But the fact is that players do like him, and they do relate to him. He has always had his own troop of loyal men/'hangers-on' who seem to follow him from club to club, business pursuit to business pursuit, and it seems obvious he demands loyalty, dedication and comittment from his staff WHEN and only when he himself is fully dedicated to the cause. And let's not forget he has a point he is dying, just dying to prove to the FA, and let's face it, to just about everyone in football.
I hate to say it, I really do, but our 'old friend' really is the only man to take the national side forward. I just wish there was an alternative.
Cue outrage ?