eurobantam
22nd November 2007, 03:55 PM
While Steve McClaren has rightly got the sack following the debacle that was England’s Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, the men who appointed him (with the exception of David Dien) will all play a part in appointing his replacement.
The men who appointed McClaren were Brian Barwick, David Dien, Geoff Thompson, Trevor Brooking, David Richards and Noel White. Barwick must surely go after the fiasco with Scolari that so back fired on him. Sure, he got the FA a good TV deal but they don’t have to negotiate one for another three years and he hasn’t exactly covered himself in glory on other issues, such as the Quest investigations in bungs. Thomson steps down next summer, not before time. Known internationally for his garish sweaters (the sort your gran nits you and you only wear at Christmas), Thomson has been Mr Invisible while running the FA since odious the Wiseman was sacked in 1999. Those eight years surely won’t be remembered as the FA’s greatest even without the poor football, there has been the mess of Lilleshall and of course the even bigger mess of Wembley. I have some sympathy with Brooking, whose job as head of development has consistently been undermined the board representatives of the professional game, but he’s managed to upset the amateur game as well.
It’s Richards who really has to go. The most powerful man in English football as chairman of the Premier League and the Football Foundation and director of the FA, he is vice chairman of the international committee, which will chose McClaren’s successor. Richard’s chief qualification for such powerful rules ? He was chairman of Sheffield Wednesday and left just as they were being relegated from the Premier League. He left the Owls in such a financial mess that they still haven’t recovered. Richards is a prime member of the “Sheffield Maffia”, that includes Richard Caborn and the above mentioned Thompson. Richards and Barwick, along with Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, are chief exponents of “the best league in the world” myth, believing that if they say it often enough people will believe them.
The bumbling elderly accountant Sir Noel White has been involved in the FA for years and was on the international committee that sacked Bobby Robson and overlooked Brian Clough. Nearly everything he has been involved in has been a mess, he was on the committee that oversaw the Wembley budget and when the price started heading north of £500 million, his only was concern was with the design of the dug outs. An instinctive survivor when he lost his FA council seat because he was no longer a Liverpool director he was appointed as the representative of Australia and New Zealand. Unsurprisingly, the colonies objected to having a foreigner appointed to the FA abolished their council seat. As Liverpool chairman he was a prime mover in the formation of the Premier League in 1992, which some, myself included, identify as the main reason the English is in the mess that it is now. I have no idea what qualifies him for his current role on the international committee, experience I suppose.
The FA has decided that this time they will not form a sub committee to select the next England manager, no the whole fourteen members of the international committee will decide. As well as those named above, other members include John Elsom former Leicester chairman and now at Grimsby, presumably on the committee because he is chairman of a travel company, David Sheepshanks who took Ipswich into administration, Bolton chairman Phil Garside and players union boss Gordon Taylor. So the process in safe hands then!
Last night Thompson said the FA will hold a “root and branch” review to see what went wrong and I guarantee you one thing that the review will find; None of the above named will found to have been negligent and should all retain their positions. When writing about the Wembley fiasco in April 2002, I said that if the FA were a listed company its shareholders would vote the board out. If it were the party of government, either the party members or the public would oust it. If it were a charity the Charity Commission would sack the trustees but it’s the FA so nothing will happen. Sad to say nothing has changed.
The men who appointed McClaren were Brian Barwick, David Dien, Geoff Thompson, Trevor Brooking, David Richards and Noel White. Barwick must surely go after the fiasco with Scolari that so back fired on him. Sure, he got the FA a good TV deal but they don’t have to negotiate one for another three years and he hasn’t exactly covered himself in glory on other issues, such as the Quest investigations in bungs. Thomson steps down next summer, not before time. Known internationally for his garish sweaters (the sort your gran nits you and you only wear at Christmas), Thomson has been Mr Invisible while running the FA since odious the Wiseman was sacked in 1999. Those eight years surely won’t be remembered as the FA’s greatest even without the poor football, there has been the mess of Lilleshall and of course the even bigger mess of Wembley. I have some sympathy with Brooking, whose job as head of development has consistently been undermined the board representatives of the professional game, but he’s managed to upset the amateur game as well.
It’s Richards who really has to go. The most powerful man in English football as chairman of the Premier League and the Football Foundation and director of the FA, he is vice chairman of the international committee, which will chose McClaren’s successor. Richard’s chief qualification for such powerful rules ? He was chairman of Sheffield Wednesday and left just as they were being relegated from the Premier League. He left the Owls in such a financial mess that they still haven’t recovered. Richards is a prime member of the “Sheffield Maffia”, that includes Richard Caborn and the above mentioned Thompson. Richards and Barwick, along with Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, are chief exponents of “the best league in the world” myth, believing that if they say it often enough people will believe them.
The bumbling elderly accountant Sir Noel White has been involved in the FA for years and was on the international committee that sacked Bobby Robson and overlooked Brian Clough. Nearly everything he has been involved in has been a mess, he was on the committee that oversaw the Wembley budget and when the price started heading north of £500 million, his only was concern was with the design of the dug outs. An instinctive survivor when he lost his FA council seat because he was no longer a Liverpool director he was appointed as the representative of Australia and New Zealand. Unsurprisingly, the colonies objected to having a foreigner appointed to the FA abolished their council seat. As Liverpool chairman he was a prime mover in the formation of the Premier League in 1992, which some, myself included, identify as the main reason the English is in the mess that it is now. I have no idea what qualifies him for his current role on the international committee, experience I suppose.
The FA has decided that this time they will not form a sub committee to select the next England manager, no the whole fourteen members of the international committee will decide. As well as those named above, other members include John Elsom former Leicester chairman and now at Grimsby, presumably on the committee because he is chairman of a travel company, David Sheepshanks who took Ipswich into administration, Bolton chairman Phil Garside and players union boss Gordon Taylor. So the process in safe hands then!
Last night Thompson said the FA will hold a “root and branch” review to see what went wrong and I guarantee you one thing that the review will find; None of the above named will found to have been negligent and should all retain their positions. When writing about the Wembley fiasco in April 2002, I said that if the FA were a listed company its shareholders would vote the board out. If it were the party of government, either the party members or the public would oust it. If it were a charity the Charity Commission would sack the trustees but it’s the FA so nothing will happen. Sad to say nothing has changed.