Clueless about who, where or what to turn to next, I wonder which was history’s first body to announce a ‘full and far-reaching commission of enquiry’ in which to cover itself with a sub judice blanket until the army of furious castigators either runs out of rotten tomatoes or turns their bombardment of scorn to other targets.
The English Football Association’s ‘drastic root-and-branch examination of every aspect’ of the national team’s past and future performance is neither more, nor less, than that. And however long the charade plays on — however many ‘consultation’ documents are ordered and foreign ‘research’ freebies taken — I doubt if the FA, or those of the nation who care, will be any the wiser at the end of it.
Actually, it’s easy: all England’s national team needs is a group of less gormless players, a fresher, brighter bunch collectively capable of altering lines of communication on the hoof during a match, and sharp enough to realise that individually they might, just might, not be half as glisteningly brilliant as they think, or are told, they are.
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