Easy 10
Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Mr Samuel, as usual, right on the money again in todays Times...
"HERE we go now, just breathe in and slip the chains, getting looser now, locate the key, stay calm, couldn’t be simpler, they’ll lap this up, almost out now, one, two three and . . . a laundry ticket? Oh, for God’s sake, this isn’t the right jacket. I must have picked up the other one back at the — water? Is that water? Rushing water? Dear mother of — and that is how it ends. For Sven-Göran Eriksson: for this Government, too.
Last weekend, two great Houdini acts went plummeting over the falls together, still locked in the trunk. There comes a time when even the best-honed routines cease to work, when the light on magic is so illuminating that the whole process is revealed. That is where we are now. David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, made a trademark populist decision over David Westwood, chief of Humberside Police, and had it explode in his face.
Sven trotted out the same platitudes, the well-worn self-serving inanities to explain the collapse of another tournament campaign, except this time the country weighed up the evidence and took issue.
Of course, the two cannot be equated in real terms. When the Government gets it wrong, people die. When the coach of England’s football team fails, people get a bit fed up. The principle is the same, though.A few years ago, Blunkett would have got away with his posturing, just as Eriksson emerged unscathed from an equally abject World Cup performance in 2002. Not now, though. The war in Iraq did for Labour what 97 minutes of hit and hope against Portugal did for Sven. In both cases, the public felt uncomfortable watching missiles launched from long range. Things will never be the same again.
There are still a few deluded idiots who blame the referee and lawn maintenance for England’s exit but, for the rational majority, Euro 2004 has been a revelation. The head coach doesn’t coach; the manager doesn’t manage. Worse than that, he does not concede that there is anything wrong.
This arrogance is dangerous, whether in Westminster or the Stadium of Light. Once a leader cannot countenance the possibility that there is another way, it is time to go. Except in Eriksson’s case. We are stuck with him for two more years at least, longer than we may be stuck with this Government or this Prime Minister. There is no point in calling on Eriksson to quit, because he won’t. The FA could not afford to sack him, either, and does not want to, because it sees the loyalty of the players as sacrosanct and Eriksson certainly has that. The most that can be hoped for is that the debunking of the Eriksson myth produces change: a more adventurous game plan, better use of the players at his disposal.
Eriksson is no longer seen as the solution but part of the problem and that can only be healthy. He had the right XI in Portugal — credit there — but no imagination in the way he used them. It is pointless selecting Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard if the coach is then so paranoid about being caught defensively that he deploys them on the edge of the penalty area. Fitness assessments are also redundant unless a manager heeds the results.
Eriksson made similar mistakes in 2002. He did not coach his England team when it needed guidance, nor did he adequately manage the situation that had arisen with David Beckham, his captain. The difference is that now he is being called to account — about time, too.
Now that Eriksson’s parachute is revealed to be a knapsack, a graceful landing can hardly be expected."
"HERE we go now, just breathe in and slip the chains, getting looser now, locate the key, stay calm, couldn’t be simpler, they’ll lap this up, almost out now, one, two three and . . . a laundry ticket? Oh, for God’s sake, this isn’t the right jacket. I must have picked up the other one back at the — water? Is that water? Rushing water? Dear mother of — and that is how it ends. For Sven-Göran Eriksson: for this Government, too.
Last weekend, two great Houdini acts went plummeting over the falls together, still locked in the trunk. There comes a time when even the best-honed routines cease to work, when the light on magic is so illuminating that the whole process is revealed. That is where we are now. David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, made a trademark populist decision over David Westwood, chief of Humberside Police, and had it explode in his face.
Sven trotted out the same platitudes, the well-worn self-serving inanities to explain the collapse of another tournament campaign, except this time the country weighed up the evidence and took issue.
Of course, the two cannot be equated in real terms. When the Government gets it wrong, people die. When the coach of England’s football team fails, people get a bit fed up. The principle is the same, though.A few years ago, Blunkett would have got away with his posturing, just as Eriksson emerged unscathed from an equally abject World Cup performance in 2002. Not now, though. The war in Iraq did for Labour what 97 minutes of hit and hope against Portugal did for Sven. In both cases, the public felt uncomfortable watching missiles launched from long range. Things will never be the same again.
There are still a few deluded idiots who blame the referee and lawn maintenance for England’s exit but, for the rational majority, Euro 2004 has been a revelation. The head coach doesn’t coach; the manager doesn’t manage. Worse than that, he does not concede that there is anything wrong.
This arrogance is dangerous, whether in Westminster or the Stadium of Light. Once a leader cannot countenance the possibility that there is another way, it is time to go. Except in Eriksson’s case. We are stuck with him for two more years at least, longer than we may be stuck with this Government or this Prime Minister. There is no point in calling on Eriksson to quit, because he won’t. The FA could not afford to sack him, either, and does not want to, because it sees the loyalty of the players as sacrosanct and Eriksson certainly has that. The most that can be hoped for is that the debunking of the Eriksson myth produces change: a more adventurous game plan, better use of the players at his disposal.
Eriksson is no longer seen as the solution but part of the problem and that can only be healthy. He had the right XI in Portugal — credit there — but no imagination in the way he used them. It is pointless selecting Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard if the coach is then so paranoid about being caught defensively that he deploys them on the edge of the penalty area. Fitness assessments are also redundant unless a manager heeds the results.
Eriksson made similar mistakes in 2002. He did not coach his England team when it needed guidance, nor did he adequately manage the situation that had arisen with David Beckham, his captain. The difference is that now he is being called to account — about time, too.
Now that Eriksson’s parachute is revealed to be a knapsack, a graceful landing can hardly be expected."
