Football: choosing Big Sam’s successor
Well, “it’s back to the drawing board”, said Phil Mcnulty on BBC Sport online. After Sam Allardyce’s ignominious departure last month, the FA has begun yet another search for a new England manager. Assuming the shortlist will once again be limited to English coaches, the options are limited. The favourite is Gareth Southgate, England U-21s boss who is taking charge of the national side’s next four games. Other contenders include former Hull manager Steve Bruce, Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe, who’s only in his second Premier League season, and Glenn Hoddle, who hasn’t managed for a decade.
The FA definitely “has to go homegrown again”, said Henry Winter in The Times. Appointing a foreigner would mean losing the long-running argument with the Premier League over “homegrown players not being given a chance” and discourage aspiring English coaches. The best candidate is Howe, “a manager of great promise”. The 38-year-old has shown “he can work with bigger name players” – witness his “clever use” of Jack Wilshere – and he’d “bring some real energy and new ideas to the job”. Southgate also “ticks almost every box”, said Matt Hughes in the same paper. He knows how international management works, and has “a commitment to passing football”. Crucially, he’s also not the sort of guy to get into trouble – “a football manager who will leave only for football reasons”.
Sorry, but it’s absurd to limit ourselves to English managers, said Daniel Taylor in The Observer. The England team are used to playing under a foreign boss: only twice in the last four years has their starting lineup featured a player whose club manager was English. Indeed, when the players were consulted during the last search for a manager, many said they’d “actively prefer” a foreigner. With world-class coaches like Arsenal’s Arsène Wenger, Barcelona boss Luis Enrique, and Diego Simeone of Atlético Madrid all potentially available, the FA should focus on “credentials, not passports”.