Unhappy FA staff gone for a Burton
The england squad are showing a united front before euro 2016 starts but there’s a different picture behind the scenes within the FA.
This has been caused by the highly questionable decision to base the entire england operation at isolated St George’s Park near Burton in rural Staffordshire in future, which has already led to important staff, such as team operations chief Michelle Farrer, departing as they do not want to uproot from London.
To make it more bizarre, england manager Roy hodgson has no intention of leaving his London home and is still more than likely to remain in charge for another two years unless his side implode in France.
Meanwhile, FA technical director Dan Ashworth, whose coaching empire at St George’s Park grows by the day, is in France but has seemingly minimal involvement with hodgson’s operation.
however, Ashworth’s lieutenant, performance chief Dave Reddin, has not travelled and is not expected at the tournament despite being responsible for marginal gains such as the england management and players staying in a different hotel from the commercial suits on away trips so their match focus is not affected.
Ashworth and Reddin’s blueprint includes appointing specialist ‘in possession’ and ‘out of possession’ coaches. Yet hodgson, commenting on this initiative, said he had seen it all before.
however, the FA have said were hodgson to stay on for another two years, his new contract would include clauses requiring him to work with the St George’s Park ‘england DNA’ project. In addition, taking england away from Wembley is happening just when the FA have attracted Spurs and potentially Chelsea to the national stadium with all the possibilities that will bring of learning new ways.
WITH all the tension in the England camp over Jamie Vardy’s move to Arsenal being unresolved, perhaps it wasn’t the best PR move for the FA’s new director of communications Amanda Docherty (right), formerly of Arsenal, to be photographed at England’s match against Portugal at Wembley sitting with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, running the rule over Vardy, and former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein. ITV are expected to announce racing’s worst kept secret this week that Sky Sports football presenter ed Chamberlin will front their horse racing coverage. The rest of the team will be named after euro 2016. Chamberlin will be replaced internally by Dave Jones.
BBC Radio 5 Live commentator Alan Green divides opinion — especially within his own organisation. But high-maintenance Green still has enough supporters at the Beeb for him to be given a new two-year contract.
ENGLAND’S footballers have a varied selection of books laid on for them while they stay in Chantilly. They include Game of
Thrones, The Secret Footballer and Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom, as well as Lewis Hamilton’s autobiography. What is missing, however, is a former England football hero’s life story to match the Republic of Ireland’s Roy Keane book.