Iron out FA’s stuffed shirts

8:18am Tuesday 27th November 2007

THERE were so many disappointing factors to England's failure to qualify for the European Championship last week but what summed the situation up best for me were the stuffed shirts of the FA who announced Steve McClaren's dismissal to the world.

Surely such men cannot be entrusted to take the national game forward and, in their place, I would like to see a committee of past England managers because we need to build properly for the future.

We could also do worse than follow the example of France. They decided to write off qualifying for a few major finals in order to sort out their infrastructure and ended up winning the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship.

They also reached last year's World Cup final and have all the people in place now to carry on moving forward properly. We need a 20-year plan but whether that will satisfy the craving for immediate success in this country is doubtful.

The trouble is we will never get any success without a complete overhaul and long-term strategy. There also needs to be restrictions on the amount of foreign players and managers in the Premier League because our national game is at rock bottom and to carry on regardless would be negligent.

The players must take a long look at themselves as well because I didn't blame McClaren on Wednesday night at all. You cannot legislate for players letting you down so badly and I feel it was their fault - 100 per cent.

The manager was castigated for playing Scott Carson but David James has made a million mistakes in his career and Paul Robinson has been dropping clangers, so you are not telling me either one of those two would not have done the same as Carson against Croatia.

Starting with Peter Crouch up front on his own was admittedly a mistake and one that summed up McClaren's approach to football. He was setting his stall out not to be beaten instead of winning in front of a big Wembley crowd.

He should have also ditched the umbrella and changed things when the team went 2-0 down instead of waiting for half-time, but I think whatever tactics he had employed, the players would have cocked it up for him because they were absolutely abysmal.

David Beckham did come out of the game with some credit and wants to carry on playing for his country until the 2010 World Cup. Personally, I think the England set-up and the country owe him another cap.

Having played 99 times, he deserves to get his 100th but then I think that should be it and the so-called "golden generation" must be dismantled. Nobody else could have played the ball that Beckham did for Crouch's equalising goal and he's probably never hit a better pass.

I think Beckham made a decision, though, four or five years ago to cease being just a footballer and became an image-based commodity, licensed to print money. Since his recall to the England squad, he's probably had a look at himself and has had stuff to prove and when he came on against Croatia he looked like the leader England needed on the pitch.

But I agreed with McClaren's decision to start Shaun Wright-Phillips instead. Beckham has not got the necessary match fitness for a full 90 minutes.

He can still come on and ping passes about like he did on Wednesday night but he is playing in a Mickey Mouse league and should not be considered beyond his 100th cap.

My final thought on the subject is some credit should be given to Croatia.

I don't think they will be far away from winning the European Championship next summer but it is amazing that they can give us a lesson in football considering the money they have to spend on their game.

They will be tough opponents now England have drawn them again in the World Cup qualifying draw. Ukraine won't be easy either although, with Andriy Shevchenko fading, their "golden generation" has also probably passed.

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