Mark here.
Apologies for the lack of blog yesterday, amazingly, people pay me to do real work, and afterwards, I got distracted with a bit of Championship Manager 01/02 and preparing for tonight's podcast.
Thanks for all your suggestions on last Friday blog, keep 'em coming.
A quick word about Red-faced Stevie Mc. He can't win, can he? He drops Beckham to show that it is a break from Sven, a new regime. Beckham plays reasonably well for Real, as he has done since joining them, McClaren doesn't want to be embarrassed in Wembley in a friendly against Brazil, and faces the sack if they fail to beat a team ranked 110th in the world next week. So, the handbrake is applied and a neat 3 point turn later, Becks is back.
So what will happen in these next two games:
- Beckham plays well, and sets up or scores a goal in each game, justifying his inclusion. The media's reaction - McClaren was wrong to ditch him, Beckham is great, etc.
- Beckham plays reasonably well but England lose to Brazil and beat Estonia 1-0 in last minute - McClaren wrong to bring him back, he's finished, past it, etc.
- Beckham plays terribly, England don't beat Estonia - McClaren is sacked, with his reputation more in ruins, and looking like a weak man.
- Beckham plays brilliantly but England don't beat Estonia - McClaren is sacked but has shown great humility to bring him back
So, Capello, and indeed other managers over the years, have u-turned, and brought players back into the fold. It is not about 'recognising your mistakes', 'being strong enough to admit you were wrong', it's quite simple, the closer to the sack you get, the more desperate you become, willing to try anything. The only way Steve can save his ass is by winning games, if he needs Beckham to do it, so be it. The outcome determines reality.
Cheers,
Mark,
http://www.okeydokefootball.com
1 comment:
The extent to which McClaren is dictated by the popular press really is shocking. Also, did you hear one Boro fan get upset when he left? He was their most successful manager ever yet they couldn’t wait to get rid of his PR nonsense; the amount of times he used the word ‘tremendous’ in interviews apparently became a local joke.
He’s a company man who “gives good blazer” as one columnist put it a while back and his time is almost certainly running out. I think Beckham will play well, and I think England will win the Estonia game and draw against Brazil. But the fact of the matter is that McClaren had one major issue to sort out when he came in and he still hasn’t addressed it.
Dumping Beckham was a lot easier than putting Lampard or Gerrard on the bench. Ten months after his appointment it’s still all about Beckham when the real problems lie in the middle. Beyond these two games lie two matches against Russia, one against Croatia and one against Israel that will decide his fate. At that stage Beckham will be enjoying semi-retirement and Lampard and Gerrard will still be holding press conferences about how “two great players can make it work”. They won’t, and England won’t get to Euro 2008. Bye, bye, Steve.
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