Venables believes FA got it wrong
LONDON, England — Terry Venables believes an Englishman should have been installed as new England coach rather than Italian Fabio Capello who was appointed recently on a four-and-half-year contract.
Capello’s success at club level with AC Milan, Real Madrid and Roma cannot be questioned, but former England manager Venables questions his arrival in charge of the national side.
Venables has recently been operating as number two to Steve McClaren, but the duo lost their jobs in the wake of England’s failure to reach the Euro 2008 finals.
Regarding the naming of McClaren’s successor, Venables told the BBC: I think it should have been an English coach.
He added: The Dutch, French, Germans and Italians would not have done it because from their point of view it would be an indictment on them and their own coaching courses.
If we’re not good enough, then that’s fine, but they would prefer to have someone who is going to have a simple plan and get the good players going.
They would rather not win, than do that (appoint a foreigner). I’m not saying what’s right or wrong. It’s within the rules, so why not, and that’s the way it is.
From a professional point of view, and when you talk about the Premier League, it’s a world game.
There is a slightly different attitude, which has changed going back to my father and grandparents’ time because then it would be unheard of, unpalatable.
That is the era you live in. Now it is different and people don’t mind what happens as long as we win, so who is to say it is wrong. As for me, I would have appointed an Englishman.
Now the guy is a very good coach, a very good name and he has had successes. As they say, the CV is great. It’s up to him now to get on, and we will see how he does as to whether it is right or wrong. There’s no point guessing. Let the show go on.
Venables, however, believes that many of the answers have to come from within the FA.
All parts, from the Football Association to those involved in the football itself, have to look at themselves, strip it down and see where the problems are, he said.
But then it has to be backed. It’s no good leaving players to their own devices to get results and say, ‘it’s nothing to do with me’. It’s about saying, ‘have we all done enough?’ because we are all are in it, and some of the answers are not particularly good, so we have to look at it.
If you want success it has to happen. The FA has a big job on, and they have to get down to the problems because with any business, it starts with the people at the top.
You need big men to stand up and say ‘this is not right,’ and ‘why isn’t it right?’, and to get people who are prepared to say what they think without others getting upset by that. E-mail to a friend
