It may take some time for the humiliation, embarrassment and stench of abject failure to leave the England football team. A nation starved of success, can only take so much.
Fabio Capello, the highest paid national team coach in the world, had stated before leaving English shores that anything less than a World Cup final appearance would be regarded as failure. Funnily enough, he never said what a second round exit would be.
The English tabloids have already taken their pot shots with my particular favorite being the play on the film title 'Out of Africa' turned into "Rout of Africa,' however, after the fun must come the reflection.
Sadly the gladiators we built up to be World Cup slayers were no more than charlatans. On the performances I witnessed our supposed 'world class' players would've have struggled to get selected for my local Sunday Pub XI's. From top to bottom there was a stunning lack of clarity and it begins with the coach.
In qualification for the finals, Fabio Capello had seemed perfectly in control -- disciplined, unruffled and the master of his destiny. He had handled adversity (John Terry) and swatted aside previous poor displays (Croatia) with consummate ease. Picking an England squad with injured players (Ledley King, Rio Ferdinand), cast-offs (Jamie Carragher) and rejects (Emile Heskey) smacked of uncharacteristic panic decisions. It was as though he lost faith in himself at the last minute.
That was never clearer than in the Robert Green situation.
It was obvious in the tunnel before the England/USA match that Green wasn't ready. He looked nervous, uncomfortable and it was no surprise when he gaffed. This was Capello's mistake and it unhinged the squad because a team must know who the number one goalkeeper is coming into a tournament. You cannot have this question unanswered.
Defensively, Capello's supposed strong point, England were a shambles. The full backs, Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole were pulled apart while John Terry and Mathew Upson behaved like complete strangers with each other.
The Steven Gerrard/Frank Lampard axis never happened and the most creative player, Joe Cole, spent most of the competition keeping the bench warm. And most damning was the Italian's refusal to see that Wayne Rooney was just a shadow of his Manchester United self. It would've have taken a strong man to drop the United star but that's what Capello was meant to be.
Roy Keane, the former United hard man said on Monday that the players 'got away with murder.' Now there is something to be said in that statement but ultimately Fabio Capello picked the team and his support staff and they weren't good enough.
In most normal circumstances, all of the above would lead to the sack or resignation, but incredibly the English Football Association removed the clause in Capello's contract that would have allowed that to happen. Now we will have to wait two weeks as they comb the fine print, however it looks like another expensive mistake in the Sven Goran Eriksson/Steve McClaren mold. Capello may be an international coaching failure but he's no mug when it comes to walking away without a tidy payout.
If the Italian does go, who is next for the task described as the 'impossible job?'
I think that the 'foreign experiment' has to end. The England team should be managed by an English coach and it is the responsibility of the FA to make sure we have someone who is qualified to do the job. Currently the list of eligible candidates is incredibly small. Tottenham's Harry Redknapp and Fulham's Roy Hogdson (currently in talks with Liverpool) are the two that come to my mind with Blackburn's, Sam Allardyce as a rank outsider.
This trio don't' exactly come with a cabinet full of trophies which is yet another sad indictment of the English game, but they do understand the mentality of the English player -- whatever that is (beer, birds and snooker).
Redknapp has expressed the desire to take on the post and I say give it to him now. Qualification for Euro 2012 is just around the corner and even with the national team in disarray, surely Harry can coax the team to advance from a group that contains, Switzerland, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Wales. With most of his current Tottenham team in the England set-up anyway, the transition, would appear to be fairly seamless.
Once at the helm, Redknapp or whoever takes control, must insist on a complete house cleaning. The youth set-up must be revamped along the German FA lines. Money must be spent on the development of players and a long term vision must be implemented. If it takes a twenty-year plan to bring the World Cup trophy back to England so be it, but let's be realistic.
I for one am tired of repeating the same mistakes every two years when a major tournament comes around. We pump ourselves up as world beaters, when if fact the only thing we beat is ourselves.
It's time to head back to the drawing board. Eat humble pie and realize that although we may have invented the game, the game has simply passed us by.
Nick Webster is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering the English national team and the Barclays Premier League.
