Who would be England’s new manager, and who should?

I have a friend, who was kind enough to praise me for correcting predicting that England would not win Euro 2008. Well, I didn’t explicitly state that England would lose to Croatia but they certainly would not win if they are not even going to be there, so I guess, in a way, I am right. Well, you get the picture.

So she went on to ask me the question on everyone’s lips: who would be England’s next manager? Yes, the nation waits with bated breath. No, I am not talking about England. I am talking about Singapore. Such is our crazed obsession with anything to do with English football that who would be the next England manager dominates coffeeshop banter and blog communities than the fact that our national team have reached the third qualifying round of Asia qualifying for the World Cup. National patriotism? Ouch. But that’s a story for another day.

Now, it has been awhile since I wrote and I had the time to sit back and devour the stories, debates and analysis on who exactly should be the next England manager. Here’s my take.

The call for an Englishman (or anyone who most closely resembles being an Englishman)

Which EPL team that has an English coach is currently highest in the league standing? Portsmouth and Harry Redknapp. ‘Enuff said.
The most preposterous suggestion I have heard is Alan Shearer. Clamoring for Shearer reeks of absolute desperation and an overdose of football fantasy and romanticism. To throw someone who has absolutely no experience in coaching and management into the deep end and expect Klinsmann-esque effect is pushing it too far. Jurgen Klinsmann led Germany to the semi-finals of the world cup on home soil and I suspect that he quit immediately after that because he realized that he had taken the team as far as he possibly could. Who dares gamble? Not England.

The call for “the foreigner”

Take it from a pragmatic point of view. What priority holds for the next England manager? Qualifying for the World Cup in 2010. Who are the last two World Cup winning managers/coaches? Marcello Lippi and Luiz Felipe Scolari.

England are boring enough as it is so let’s do without an Italian at the helm, with all due respect to great coaches like Lippi and Fabio Capello.

Scolari may have won the World Cup in 2002 not with the most exciting Brazilian team you were ever going to see and you may question what exactly he has won with the Portugal team since he took over the helm. You may want to sit back and digest the fact that before Scolari led Portugal to the final of the last European Championship and the semi-finals of the last World Cup, the last time Portugal reached the semi-finals of any competition was in 1966, when the legendary Eusebio led Portugal to the semi-finals of the World Cup. Make no mistake; the man knows what he is doing and that is not something I can say with much conviction about previous England managers.

The call for the “ Special One”
Jose Mourinho? GOD blesses the queen if Mourinho ever becomes England manager and that’s all I could be bothered to talk about Mourinho as England manager.

Verdict:
They say don’t read too much into the papers and the speculation but when you have a football association that is as predictable as the way its football team play, I say expect Fabio Capello or Jose Mourinho to be named as England manager before the new year comes about.