Signed a contract to start on 1 July according to Teletext. So glad the FA took my advice! What do we all think?

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2000

Answers

You persuaded me that venables was crap, but I would have liked to have seen just how well Peter Taylor does, before going for a swede.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2000

I'm old fashioned enough to believe that a foreign team needs a foreign manager so this is very appropriate. (-;

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2000

Yawn. So the FA, having failed to overcome their petty infighting with Venables or set up a system which breeds good managers & coaches internally, have looked to appoint a Swede. Personally I don't agree with it, but not through xenophobia. I just can't understand why managers should be recruited on different terms to players. If we can have a Swedish manager, can we have Henrik Larsen as well then?

The whole point of international football is that its one country against another, and that's as much about what goes on off the pitch as on it.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

Given that I've been touting him on this forum and the previous BBS for years, I have to say I'm pleased, although I'll be more pleased when he's actually installed in the job. Still, the pressure will be on: we'll have to qualify for the World Cup (although the thought of getting the Netherlands or Portugal in the play-off might make that tricky), even though there's no chance of winning it in that heat and humidity (Argentina, anyone?). I'm sure the ignorant press will give him an extra hard time as a foreigner, so let's hope he doesn't get cold feet and end up at Old Trafford.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

Just a thought.
Which rag will be the first to refer to him as Sven-Gali Ericcson ?

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

Guardian Unlimited have won that one already PB....

I'm with Jonno - My national team has its national, home-grown manager - long may he reign and be successful....

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

Football Italia's James Richardson described Lazio's recent wobbles in the league as: "With unexpected away defeats against lowly opposition, Sven Goran Erickson is underlining his suitability for the England job."

Dust his back for fingerprints ;-)

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

He's probably counting his lucky stars he's not available now. At least this way he can't be blamed if we don't qualify for the WC this time

If we don't, he'll be starting with a clean sheet but I reckon he'll still only be postponing the sh|t hitting the fan.

Thank the lord Bobby looks to be clear of it. In a way, I think the FA have been short sighted by completely ignoring Vegetables.

They'd have been no worse off letting him have a go at getting us qualified, with a view to a longer term appointment if we do get through.

If he tried and failed, at least he wouldn't be any less well thought of than he is now, whereas the poor buggas trying to get us through now will be well and truly tainted if we fail.

Either way, our always fair, unbiassed and unpredjudiced rags will have a field day, surprise, surprise. They must be dribbling at the chops just thinking about it.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

I can't see how appointing a mobile telephone will help anyone at all.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

Whatever next? Germans in the Royal Family?

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

We used to have a turnip and now it's a Swede.

The press will murder him (as they do anybody and everybody).

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

I find all the gnashing of teeth utterly pathetic, and entirely consistent with the standard "johnny" bashing - what a pathetic, parochial lot we are.
Listening to Jack Charlton's jingoistic cr@p earlier made me smile. He's another one telling us that there are 'lurds' of good English coaches to pick from - well, just who the hell are they?
There are only two capable of doing it today, they've both had one shot at it, and BTW they've both failed to win owt.
One is presently banned from holding a company director position for the next seven years, and the other .... well, they can't bloody have him.
Before anyone says Vegetable's directorship ban is irrelevant to coaching a footy team, my answer is ...bollox. It is a tangible demonstration of the man's lack of integrity and skewed personal values, and I for one feel he is not worthy of managing our national team. So there!

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

I think the point is that we want a technical coach who will bring our game into the new millennium. It's a rebuilding process that could take a few years. Ingerlund fans will have to accept that we aren't going to win anything for a while. By the time the next coach comes along, there will be a pool of properly trained Englishmen to do the job. Jack Charlton's jingoism sticks in the craw a bit, bearing in mind that managed Ireland teams that played against England.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Sorry but I've only just read today's papers. Some of the stuff in the tabloids is shocking. "I'm not going to support England again", "It's a disgrace - there has to be passion pumping through the manager's veins", "I'd prefer us to be crap than have a foreign manager". The most nauseating thing is the papers themselves espousing these views. How many proud Englishmen have the papers hounded out of their jobs? How many proud Englishmen have the fans booed off at Wembley? How much bleating has gone on in these papers about how good the Premiership is without any recognition of the fact that the best coaches are foreign and the best players are foreign? The whole of football ahs to take thsi on the chin, accept that we have got ourselves - FA, the Premiership and fans and the media, to blame for the fact that we need to look overseas for a manager of our national side. But no, it's basically the FA's fault alone for being so unpatriotuc as to select a foreigner, but "what do you expect with a Scot at the helm/" GRRRR!!!!

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

I hadn't realised that you had a choice in supporting England. What are they all going to start doing? Support Scotland?

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

As Jonno said, we used to have a turnip. Now we're getting a swede. If they'd only gone the full hog (?), we could have had a much more tasty, and appetising solution. I think they call it Vegetables Soup.

A sad indictment of the English game. I'm with Martin on this - I'd have preferred an Englishman for the English team. And don't say there wasn't one available.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Good chant, though "We'd rather have a turnip than a Swede".

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

The jingoism is one of the main reasons why I feel so distanced from England. I've no problem with a foreign manager. The rules of the competitions relate to players.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

I'm sure the tabloids will have a field day with his name, imagine if we beat Germany. 'We'll meet a Sven' on the back page of the Sun, Or something equally unfunny

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Screacher,

There wasn't one available!

Do you really think Vegetables can take the national game forward in this country? Do you really believe the FA could appoint as figurehead and manager for our national sport someone has been discredited and banned from acting as a company director? While this is generally dismissed as being irrelevant, has anyone really pondered on the kind of behaviour and actions that will have lead to this ban? The man is a spiv, and in my mind disqualified even as a contender.

While there are several unproven pretenders, including Taylor and McClaren, there is a gap in the availability of a top English coach that simply had to be filled.

Hopefully, by the time SGE completes his contract a succession process will have groomed two or three legitimate English candidates to take over. However, right now there were simply no appropriate English candidates, and the FA have quite properly looked elsewhere.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Graham Kelly was on the Big Breakfast talking to phone callers. One asked why not Venables and Kelly said the FA didn't like him!

BTW Donna Air is doing a wonderful job in getting the Toon Army mentioned on Channel 4 five times a week, good on her she's not forgotten her roots (Apart from the head ones) and is proud to be a Geordie, or that's the way it comes over on TV anyway.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Scratchy wrotes: Whatever next? Germans in the Royal Family?

There is no chance of that happening, for two reasons:

a)the Greeks would kick them up the @rse and kebab their balls for lunch.

b) Caroline Ahern has trouble writing understandable English she'd have no chance with German.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Yes, I do think TV could have done a good job. I actually trust the opinions of many of the EPL managers more than I do the OAPs at Lancaster Gate.

However, it seems a done deal, so I won't say anymore on the subject...............

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

I liked the line from that Murdoch-apologist Adam Crozier when, during yesterday afternoon's press conference confirming the contract details, and he said We have got the man we wanted

what a shame we didn't get the man the fan's wanted.

I don't particularly like Terry Vegetables, but would have been happy enough to see him back in the job as I think he was pissed on first time round, however, having said that, if we do have to go foriegn, better the phoneman that someone like The Curly haired Dutch Git

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Somebody has to take responsibility for the appointment of the manager and it so happens to lie in the FA's court.

If we had the situation whereby the fans selected every manager the situation would be in a bigger mess than we view it. The FA bowed to public pressure when they appointed Keegan and now they are not doing it, results will prove which strategy is correct. :-)

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

point taken DB, but at the same time, 95% of the so called 'experts' (players, managers, pundits, journo's etc etc etc) believe that TV was the best for the job, it is only the deadhead, woodworm ridden old tw@ts at LG that see things differently.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Those Sun/Swedish headlines in full:

Dancing Queens (any Le Saux story )

England Meet Their Waterloo (England lose)

Can you hear the drums Ferdinand-o (Rio scored - and it's not an own goal)

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Re: all the jingoistic cr@p in the tabloids. The worst culprit is that appalling rag owned by the AUSTRALIAN gent!

Sorry to bang on about the crooked cockney git again but quite frankly, as a Geordie I feel far more of an affinity with a Swede than I do with a barrow boy from south of Watford.

Svengerland Svengerland Svengerland!

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Scratchy:

The Winner Takes it All?

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Just thought you might like to cast your eyes over this thread again. It makes interesting reading in the circumstances!!

-- Anonymous, October 06, 2001

...... I'm afraid consuming sadness from reading some of ITK's last contributions is what really shouts out at me from this thread.

Still miss the auld bugger.

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001

I said I wasn't going to say another thing on this subject............

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001

................but wht mot break my word for once? SGE has done well, tho I still would prefer to have an Englishman at the helm. However, that's all water under the bridge. Good luck in the WC Finals. I believe we have the basis of a decent team (as shown by the tremendous performance in Germany) but we have also ridden our luck - Germany could have beaten us easily had they taken some of their chances (and again yesterday). We were mediocre against Albania and apart from Beckham and Martyn yesterday, very lucky to scrape the point we needed.

Still, if Sven has caused our luck to change (something we've missed since '66) then long may it continue.

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001

.... despite our large slice of luck yesterday Screach, there is much more to our qualification than good fortune - and it is all down to SGE. The guy has performed a minor miracle considering where we were when he took over - fact.

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001

Did you know - of the 41 English monarchs since the Norman Conquest only 27 of them were born in England?

Did you know - in 1714 the new King of ENGLAND was a GERMAN who couldn't speak a word of the language and who brough with him the two ugliest mistresses ever seen at Court? There was a Scottish alternative but we didn't like his religion.

Did you know - before the Conquest we had Kings of England from all over the place including God forsaken places like Scandinavia?

What's good enough for the country is surely good enough for its football team!

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001

.....Jacko, the issue was blindingly simple - there was no credible candidate who was English.

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001

That's fine Jacko. So when can we expect Veron, Van Nistelrooy, Hasselbaink, Giggs and Vierra to be picked for England? If it's OK for the coach (who, if I understand Clarky's comments, was totally influential in England's qualification for the WC Finals) then it should be good enough for the players. I'd be happy to limit it to those who ply their trade in the English Premiership ;-)

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001

No Screacher - you miss my point - the PEOPLE remained English - it was only the bloke in charge who changed!

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001

And you missed my point! If it's OK to have a foreigner as such an influential member of the setup, then surely that logic should extend to the playing squad. DOn't get me wrong, as the rules stand, SGE is a perfectly suitable person to lead the National team. My beef is not against him but against the principle. However, as I said before, I won't say anymore on the subject - at least for a similar length of time since my last outburst ;-))

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001

And Adam Crozier who appointed Sven is a Scot.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001

Exactly - where do you draw the line? None of the coaching staff foreign? No-one foreign working at the FA?

Incidentally, I saw some of Jimmy Hill's footy chat thing on Sky yesterday. They were incredulous that Rodney Marsh, I think, was still bemoaning the appointment of a foreign manager. While I have never had a problem with the appointment, I actually have more respect for dogmatic opponents of a foreign appointment who stick to their guns in the face of good results than those who've sheepishly changed their minds.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001

Well, Tord Grip works in the coaching staff so I guess you have to draw the line somewhere else.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001