Brian Barwick OUT!

[Lokki 7]

There will no doubt be a cacophony (what a great word) of calls for McClaren to go this morning, and quite rightly so. But the fact is he was just never up to the job in the first place so I can’t really blame the bloke. He was/is way out of his depth but he took the job because it was offered to him and he gave it his best shot. I would have done the same in his position. So surely the question needs to be asked who hired him? As I see it, the blame for McClaren’s failures must fall at feet of the man responsible for putting him in the job. If 90% of England fans could see that McClaren was not a good enough manager to take the top job then the man who went against the flow, put his neck on the line and made the decision must take the flak when it doesn’t come off.

Who the f*** is Brian Barwick anyway? I looked him up on the FA website and he is ex-BBC, editor of Match of the Day in fact. Well, clearly that qualifies him to make the FA’s biggest decision in years and recruit the England manager. If McClaren goes, Barwick must go, and while we’re at it lets cull a load of the pen pushing, spineless bureaucrats at the FA and get more football people in there. And I don’t mean journalists and accountants. If Barwick was up to the job he’d have got Scholari signed up, or my personal favourite at the time, Gus Hiddink. Someone with some balls, contacts and some charm could have pulled it off and we would now be top of the group and I’d be booking my time off work for next summer. BARWICK OUT!

 

[Gwylan]

Fair points Lokki but the real problem is that the PL runs too much of top flight football so the FA looks increasingly irrelevant. Yes, McClaren was a poor choice and yes, the selection process was a complete cock-up but I think the problem goes a lot deeper than one person (even if that person is a dickhead).

 

[Uncle Buck]

If Barwick was up to the job he’d have got Scholari signed up, or my personal favourite at the time, Gus Hiddink.

Worse than that with Barwick, he had got Scholari to agree to the job, but then leaked to the press that Scholari was the man and the media scrum made Scholari think twice, which meant that the FA then turned to McLaren.

Where Barwick and the FA really screwed up was that once it was agreed that Sven was going, the FA made the statement that Sven's successor would be announced before the World Cup. This was a stupid move as Sven still had a job to do during the 2006 World Cup and it put unneccesary pressure on the FA to fill the job and once Scholari said no, they turned to the person that was available was we got the joys of McLaren.

In reality if they had waited until after the 2006 World Cup, there would have been more choices, as coaches leave their national sides after tournaments and Scholari would probably have not signed a new deal with Portugal. Ironically he should be available next summer as he has basically said he will not take a new deal with Portugal, but Portgual have been a bit hit and miss in qualification.

Also Barwick and the FA's dismisive attitude to Hiddink over the job was disgraceful, he was the best qualified, but they did not seem to be overly interested in him, hinting they wanted an English coach and then they approached Scholari.

 

[crodonilson]

 

[Simster]

Barwick is about as much use as tits on a fish.


Sack him.

 

[Lokki 7]

I would have posted Barwick's quoted support for McClaren IN THE BRIAN BARWICK THREAD but Spielberg wanted the glory of starting a new thread. *sobs*

 

[Uncle Buck]

I would have posted Barwick's quoted support for McClaren IN THE BRIAN BARWICK THREAD but Spielberg wanted the glory of starting a new thread. *sobs*

Do not sob, this is a more refined thread, with a bit of quality about it.

 

[crodonilson]

He's a football man you know, that's good enough for me.