Cheers Sven

[Manwell Pablo]

Well in typical English fashion we have started to point the finger in all directions, referee, manager, David Beckham no doubt. Good job Haregreaves had a good game otherwise he would be in for a ripping come the Sunday papers. Shame we can't just admit they we arent't a top 4 team.

However amongst all this crap I would like to say good bye and good luck to Sven Goran Erickson and thank him for three consecutive quater finals in major tournaments. The night we beat Germany 5-1 is amongst one of the sweetes nights of my life, and he has at least made the last 3 tournaments intresting. His choices of subs (and this time squad) have not always been in favour with public opinion, however come the Mclaren reign we will wish he was England manager again. Dark times ahead people.

[Parsons]

im a fan of Mclaren

i am sure he will do a better job than the swede

hopefully he will have the balls to drop big players when they arnt performing, unlike Sven with his bum boys of Beckham and Owen

And what the fock was Sven thinking, taking 4 strikers to the world cup - 2 were recovering from injury and someone who has never even played Premeirship football

[filbertway]

Well in typical English fashion we have started to point the finger in all directions, referee, manager, David Beckham no doubt. Good job Haregreaves had a good game otherwise he would be in for a ripping come the Sunday papers. Shame we can't just admit they we arent't a top 4 team.

However amongst all this crap I would like to say good bye and good luck to Sven Goran Erickson and thank him for three consecutive quater finals in major tournaments. The night we beat Germany 5-1 is amongst one of the sweetes nights of my life, and he has at least made the last 3 tournaments intresting. His choices of subs (and this time squad) have not always been in favour with public opinion, however come the Mclaren reign we will wish he was England manager again. Dark times ahead people.

Thank god he's gone.

I believe we have a much better team than portugal and Sven should have taken us further, but his negative tactics and poor selections have let him down.

Bring on MClaren and proper english football

[moseeds]

The worst thing about Sven's England career is that he has never shown faith nor trusted his players to be an attacking force. Time and again this single aspect of Sven's footballing philosophy has led to England's demise. We know what the players are capable of - only Sven doesn't seem to agree.

I'm glad he's finally gone...I hope the FA don't give him a ring tomorrow with a longer contract and even more money....

[Anish]

Thank fock he's gone.

I'm not thanking him for anything. He's done an average job given the players at his disposal and this World Cup was a shambles from the moment he selected Theo 'mascot' Walcott ahead of Defoe and Bent. Sheer lunacy.

He's ruined a fantastic opportunity we had this year, we had a right mix of youth and experience but he blew it with his squad selection.

Fair enough though, it's not entirely his fault. Beckham and Lampard were major let-downs and Gerrard was never firing on all cylinders, while Joe Cole was hit and miss. The players have to shoulder some responsibility but the fact was that Sven brought a thin squad and could do nothing as injuries took their toll.

[macbeth]

the man was an inspiration..........to the opposition

[Nationwider]

Well in typical English fashion we have started to point the finger in all directions, referee, manager, David Beckham no doubt. Good job Haregreaves had a good game otherwise he would be in for a ripping come the Sunday papers. Shame we can't just admit they we arent't a top 4 team.

However amongst all this crap I would like to say good bye and good luck to Sven Goran Erickson and thank him for three consecutive quater finals in major tournaments. The night we beat Germany 5-1 is amongst one of the sweetes nights of my life, and he has at least made the last 3 tournaments intresting. His choices of subs (and this time squad) have not always been in favour with public opinion, however come the Mclaren reign we will wish he was England manager again. Dark times ahead people.

That's not like you, Manwell. I assume you're either drunk or easily pleased?

Personally I find the emphasis placed on beating Germany 5-1 a bit strange. It was a qualifier, after all. Haven't we moved on from this jingoism against a particular country now? I'd rather see a decent England team win a competition rather than be satisfied by "doing over the Hun".

[Ultra]

Thank fock he's gone.

I'm not thanking him for anything. He's done an average job given the players at his disposal and this World Cup was a shambles from the moment he selected Theo 'mascot' Walcott ahead of Defoe and Bent. Sheer lunacy.

He's ruined a fantastic opportunity we had this year, we had a right mix of youth and experience but he blew it with his squad selection.

Fair enough though, it's not entirely his fault. Beckham and Lampard were major let-downs and Gerrard was never firing on all cylinders, while Joe Cole was hit and miss. The players have to shoulder some responsibility but the fact was that Sven brought a thin squad and could do nothing as injuries took their toll.

Absolutely.

[Manwell Pablo]

That's not like you, Manwell. I assume you're either drunk or easily pleased?

Personally I find the emphasis placed on beating Germany 5-1 a bit strange. It was a qualifier, after all. Haven't we moved on from this jingoism against a particular country now? I'd rather see a decent England team win a competition rather than be satisfied by "doing over the Hun".

suppouse its not. I was drunk at the time of going to press.

Today has been a pretty sobering experince. The 3rd quarter final running is makeing me start to wonder if im ever going to see England play in a semi final again.

I still however don't see how pointing the finger at him is going to help though, if you look back on his and previous other England managers carears he is one of the most succesfull, sad I know but true. I'm not going to moan at his squad selection as I did that at the time, it was pretty much then I knew we weren't going to win anything. I do however notice some people who thought Walcott was a good choice changing their tune . As said earlier Mclaren will be a disaster (much as I hope im wrong) and this country wont be winning anything for a good 10 years now unfortunately. I'm alot less upset about the whole thing then I thought I would be and this is probabley because deep down I accepted a quarter final exect on the day ( May15th I think it was ) Sven named his squad. He's not been amazing but he's hardly been a disaster, any one who wished CL well on his exit should at least pay Sven the same curtosy.

I haven't dared look at the Sunday papers yet because they will no doubt be full of the typical English inquest into what went wrong. Wayne Roony has no doubt been villianised along with Fat Frank, Stevie G, Jamie Carragher, Sven, and more then likely David Beckham. Oh and no doubt the Argie referee as well. The media backlash if we lost is probabley what was running through the penalty takers minds as they stepped up to take their spot kicks, if there wasn't a ridic amount if pressure on each and everyone of our players we may actually get a half decent performance out of them. If they didnt have to worry about being torn to pieces in the Sun the next day you might see them take a decent penalty. Im not defending them they were pants, but at the end of the day the fans and the media are just as bad with their demanding for success and their extremly judemental attitudes.

[toonboy]

I know Sven has hardly been amazing as manager but at times people are overly critical and I can't help thinking people just look for an excuse to blame him, least that way there is a reason if the players don't play well. Don't get me wrong at times he has been tactically inept and lacking inspiration but these things were never brought up when we won games. When he took over people were talking about giving up on qualifying for the 2002 World Cup to focus on the future. He was then heralded as the man who took England there from nowhere. He is getting paid stupid money but that's only because we wanted to make sure we kept him after we thought Chelsea might want him. That was because we were doing well under him. I know people only remember the last week or so but let's not forget the fact that the last five years have not been complete doom and gloom. Have we gone forward? Possibly not. Have his reign been a success? Not really, no, but we are still one of the top teams in the world, we just need to prove it more often. He hasn't ruined this country and he hasn't destroyed football.

He played 4-4-2 for five years more or less. We did fine most of the time, just usual England really. He then gets called uninventive and not willing to change. So when he changes to 4-5-1 he gets criticised for that as well. The problem came up because his decision to take four strikers was shown to be wrong, but people can't complain at playing 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 surely? It's just an example of the public's willingness to lay blame for anything.

He played Hargreaves for five years and they both got continually criticised for five years. He was played in numerous positions but that was generally because we needed someone to fill a spot where we were lacking. Unfortunately for Hargreaves he was versatile so got played all over. He played left midfield at the last World Cup when the other option was Trevor Sinclair. We didn't have anyone capable of playing there so he filled in. He played right back, holding midfield, right midfield and maybe others but never really played that well. Sven stuck with him and as soon as he plays a few good games (well done to him for that) people are asking why he hasn't been playing for years. Make your minds up, it seems either Hargreaves plays badly and Sven's an idiot or Hargreaves plays well and Sven's an idiot.

The people calling for Hargreaves to start are generally wanting Lampard to be dropped. Why? Because he had a bad World Cup? He has played exceptionally well for Chelsea for the last two years at least and for England. He has scored dozens of goals in the premiership, scored pretty regularly for England and been voted the second best player in the world. So now after a few bad games he is over rated, rubbish and needs to be dropped? Please. I couldn't really complain about Hargreaves starting after his last few performances but for me, Lampard starts.

If we are basing views on Lampard on his international form then why is nobody talking about Gerrard? He is undoubtedly top quality for liverpool, scoring goals, making tackles and carrying them single handedly at times. But for England, apart from maybe the last couple of months, he is rarely at that level. He doesn't score as much, doesn't make those crunching tackles as often and generally goes missing. He has sometimes been played out of position, i realise, but even when he has played where he likes to he hasn't played to the standards he could and certainly not to the standards of Lampard. I don't think we should drop Gerrard but i just don't get why so many people are jumping on the 'Drop Lampard' bandwagon.

Next: David Beckham has not played well at this World Cup and not played well often enough for a while. I think it's right that he has stepped down as captain and I respect the fact that he has the balls to give up something that clearly means so much to him. It does anger me though when people say he has done nothing for England or that he has always been over rated. How quickly people forget the fact that he was clearly one of the top players in the world for a few years at least. How quickly people forget how he wore the arm band with pride and often led the team almost on his own. How quickly people forget the Greece match. One match, i know, but it epitomises the passion he felt, how much he wanted to win for England and score for England. He has probably not been that good since but please don't dismiss one of the best players this country has had in the last decade as nothing.

Again don't get me wrong I'm as gutted as anyone that we haven't won anything and we should have done better with the players we have but not everything that is wrong with the world is Sven's or Beckham's fault. In the end we lost and we just were not good enough.

Maybe I have been watching something else to other people but these are just my views.

Terry for captain.

And breathe...

[Ric Flair]

Being a national manager is the hardest job in football, yet people often think it's the easiest because you have a whole nations footballers to pick your team from. But in reality you are geared up for one major tourament every 2 years and that tournament is 6 or 7 games long and anything can happen in a cup situation against strong opposition. If it was a 38 game league then you'd see the quality coming to the top all the time, but in tournaments there are always massive surprises and add to that our knack for not having the bottle results in us failing at the closing stages.

In reality we a top 8 team in the world, but even being any higher doesn't result in winning major tournaments. Brazil, Argentina, Holland and Spain are all out and they were being heralded as serious contenders for winning it not so long ago. It's a cruel world, i'm feeling especially down because although Sven was abit of an idiot and made mistakes we have now got to endure a period of time under MaClaren who hasn't the pedigree in the domestic game that Sven has. I know that doesn't mean he'll automatically be a failure but he's just the sort of person who the media will be able to ridicule and bully like they have done with past managers.

If we are to have any success as a nation then we need a character who the media can't belittle, somebody who can take the pressure off the players and instill some belief in them that might just carry us through.

Anyway, thanks for some good memories Sven. I hope you enjoy your £20 million, it's not your fault you were paid 50 times more a year than the Argentinian manager and I hope you go on to be a success back at domestic level to show some of these bafoons in the English media that it's not as easy as they think.

[breadandcheese]

Honestly, I think Sven is the biggest pirate in football. He has raped this game of £25 million for very little to show for it.

As Ric says, we are a top 8 team in world football, based on the players we have. It is not good enough for Brian Barwick or anybody else to come out and say that Sven got us to 3 major tournaments as if qualification alone is a success. With the players at our disposal, we should be qualifying for tournaments. Not to qualify is down to bad management and should be instant dismissal.

To get to the quarter finals is an achievement, yes, but I point you to Sven himself, who knows we should have achieved more with the players at our disposal.

Klinsmann, came out and said anything less than semi-finals for Germany would be a disaster. This with a German team who player for player has nothing on the great German teams of yesteryear. Compare this to England with the best group of players for many decades.

Fact is, this team woefully underperformed from the very start of this tournament to the very end. A lot of players failed to perform for one reason or another. We were told that this was the fittest this squad has ever been, so Gerrard and Lampard can not have had the excuse of tiredness. So what was it? Good players do not turn poor overnight, so what caused them to play poorly?

Sven's domestic record is not exactly great either. In Italy, he was always known as the unlucky loser. It was only until he was bankrolled to the tune of millions, Abramovitch style at Lazio that he finally won something.

In my mind, Sven is a conman of a coach. He was lucky to have followed Kevin Keegan, looking like a tactical genius next to him. That was why he seemed a breath of fresh air. Add to the mix his constant looking towards Man Utd and Chelsea for a job when he was supposed to be the England coach only adds to the anger.

At the end of the day, going into a world cup with 2 crocked strikers and Walcott, experimenting with the team at the world cup, rather than in any previous friendlies is shocking. However Sven may argue, it was clear to see England never had a game plan for the world cup. It was a constant muddle the whole way through. Any good team needs meticulous planning. We did not have that.

With regards Walcott, let me put it another way for those that backed the decision at the time, Lee Marshall and Junior Lewis all have more premiership experience than Walcott. Even, Elvis Hammond has more premiership experience than Theo Walcott.

[Daggers]

Honestly, I think Sven is the biggest pirate in football. He has raped this game of £25 million

No he didn't.

He was given it by the FA.

Your anger on this issue is misplaced.

I may agree he was NEVER worth it, but he is not to blame for taking their stupid contract...

[Anish]

Honestly, I think Sven is the biggest pirate in football. He has raped this game of £25 million for very little to show for it.

As Ric says, we are a top 8 team in world football, based on the players we have. It is not good enough for Brian Barwick or anybody else to come out and say that Sven got us to 3 major tournaments as if qualification alone is a success. With the players at our disposal, we should be qualifying for tournaments. Not to qualify is down to bad management and should be instant dismissal.

To get to the quarter finals is an achievement, yes, but I point you to Sven himself, who knows we should have achieved more with the players at our disposal.

Klinsmann, came out and said anything less than semi-finals for Germany would be a disaster. This with a German team who player for player has nothing on the great German teams of yesteryear. Compare this to England with the best group of players for many decades.

Fact is, this team woefully underperformed from the very start of this tournament to the very end. A lot of players failed to perform for one reason or another. We were told that this was the fittest this squad has ever been, so Gerrard and Lampard can not have had the excuse of tiredness. So what was it? Good players do not turn poor overnight, so what caused them to play poorly?

Sven's domestic record is not exactly great either. In Italy, he was always known as the unlucky loser. It was only until he was bankrolled to the tune of millions, Abramovitch style at Lazio that he finally won something.

In my mind, Sven is a conman of a coach. He was lucky to have followed Kevin Keegan, looking like a tactical genius next to him. That was why he seemed a breath of fresh air. Add to the mix his constant looking towards Man Utd and Chelsea for a job when he was supposed to be the England coach only adds to the anger.

At the end of the day, going into a world cup with 2 crocked strikers and Walcott, experimenting with the team at the world cup, rather than in any previous friendlies is shocking. However Sven may argue, it was clear to see England never had a game plan for the world cup. It was a constant muddle the whole way through. Any good team needs meticulous planning. We did not have that.

With regards Walcott, let me put it another way for those that backed the decision at the time, Lee Marshall and Junior Lewis all have more premiership experience than Walcott. Even, Elvis Hammond has more premiership experience than Theo Walcott.

Completely agreed 100%.

There were many people on this site who loved the fact that Sven selected Walcott, and they said he could make the same impact as Rooney did at the last Championship (and Owen in '98). Sven decision to take Walcott smacked of lunacy of the highest order - I even said it then - and Sven's reluctance to even put him on is a clear admission of his error.

He has fooled many people in this country into thinking he's done a good job, and that we'll now struggle to qualify without him. McLaren isn't great but I have no worries about us not qualifying - we'll be top seeds in our qualifying groups for the next 4 years or so, so we'll continue to be paired against the likes of Moldova and Liechenstein.

[Manwell Pablo]

Completely agreed 100%.

There were many people on this site who loved the fact that Sven selected Walcott, and they said he could make the same impact as Rooney did at the last Championship (and Owen in '98). Sven decision to take Walcott smacked of lunacy of the highest order - I even said it then - and Sven's reluctance to even put him on is a clear admission of his error.

He has fooled many people in this country into thinking he's done a good job, and that we'll now struggle to qualify without him. McLaren isn't great but I have no worries about us not qualifying - we'll be top seeds in our qualifying groups for the next 4 years or so, so we'll continue to be paired against the likes of Moldova and Liechenstein.

we'l im glad ur so F**king confident, however what looked like a easy Euro qualfying group when drawn doenst look so rosey now. Croatia are no ones fooles and will give us 2 hard game. The Russians now have Guus Hiddink, right them off at your peril. Add Isreal to the equation who had a bloddy good go at the Irish Swiss and French in a tight World Cup qualfying group and I would be very worried about it. It's a good job second place will do us really. Still, If Mclaren "isn't great" we're not going to qualify.

Sven doesn't need to fool anyone he's record stands up, on paper he is the best England manager since Alf Ramsey, of course the reality is completely differnt but he is by no means a failure. He has suffered all of about 5 maybe 6 competive defeats? if you take out the penalty losses then its even less still. he made some bad descions but so have all England managers, as will Mclaren. You will miss the days when a Quarter final was a absloutle minimum for a England team. That seeding situation could dissapear in much fewer then four years as well.

Should we make it there Euro 2008 will be a tough tournament. There will be no Paraguay and no T & T in the group stages just extremly capable European teams, there will be no easy knockout tie waiting for us if we stumble in the group stages like the WC. What will more then likley be faced with us a European super power or (if we are lucky) one of the host nations. This country is going nowhere under Mclaren and he will be lucky to still be in his post come July 2008 nevermind make it to the latter stages of three tournaments in a row.

It is time for Sven to go but out of him and Mclaren I know which one I prefere, the FA should of thought about this descion a bit more instead of going out of its way to pick what it thought was the best English candidate.

[Nationwider]

Completely agreed 100%.

There were many people on this site who loved the fact that Sven selected Walcott, and they said he could make the same impact as Rooney did at the last Championship (and Owen in '98). Sven decision to take Walcott smacked of lunacy of the highest order - I even said it then - and Sven's reluctance to even put him on is a clear admission of his error.

He has fooled many people in this country into thinking he's done a good job, and that we'll now struggle to qualify without him. McLaren isn't great but I have no worries about us not qualifying - we'll be top seeds in our qualifying groups for the next 4 years or so, so we'll continue to be paired against the likes of Moldova and Liechenstein.

I was one of them! I was all for taking a complete wild card selection, and it was nice to see SGE prepared to deviate from the squad that we though he'd be taking since the start of the season.

What I didn't factor in was that he wasn't going to then use him - THAT was lunacy! **I said all along England should have taken two more strikers - Sheringham and A.N.Otherwithpace. Any bugger can manage an international team and play negatively for 0-0 etc. It's when you've got to change a match to actually beat world class opposition - that's the tricky bit that was beyond SGE.

Agree with you about Steve Mac. Euro '08 qualifying should be a breeze. Has he got the guts and the flair to take us that extra yard???? I hope so!

**Pointless hindsight alert

[Ric Flair]

we'l im glad ur so F**king confident, however what looked like a easy Euro qualfying group when drawn doenst look so rosey now. Croatia are no ones fooles and will give us 2 hard game. The Russians now have Guus Hiddink, right them off at your peril. Add Isreal to the equation who had a bloddy good go at the Irish Swiss and French in a tight World Cup qualfying group and I would be very worried about it. It's a good job second place will do us really. Still, If Mclaren "isn't great" we're not going to qualify.

Sven doesn't need to fool anyone he's record stands up, on paper he is the best England manager since Alf Ramsey, of course the reality is completely differnt but he is by no means a failure. He has suffered all of about 5 maybe 6 competive defeats? if you take out the penalty losses then its even less still. he made some bad descions but so have all England managers, as will Mclaren. You will miss the days when a Quarter final was a absloutle minimum for a England team. That seeding situation could dissapear in much fewer then four years as well.

Should we make it there Euro 2008 will be a tough tournament. There will be no Paraguay and no T & T in the group stages just extremly capable European teams, there will be no easy knockout tie waiting for us if we stumble in the group stages like the WC. What will more then likley be faced with us a European super power or (if we are lucky) one of the host nations. This country is going nowhere under Mclaren and he will be lucky to still be in his post come July 2008 nevermind make it to the latter stages of three tournaments in a row.

It is time for Sven to go but out of him and Mclaren I know which one I prefere, the FA should of thought about this descion a bit more instead of going out of its way to pick what it thought was the best English candidate.

Well said. I hope i'm proved wrong, but I don't think this nation will get to three consecutive quarter finals in a row for a long while.

[macbeth]

Well said. I hope i'm proved wrong, but I don't think this nation will get to three consecutive quarter finals in a row for a long while.

at least 8 years

[breadandcheese]

No he didn't.

He was given it by the FA.

Your anger on this issue is misplaced.

I may agree he was NEVER worth it, but he is not to blame for taking their stupid contract...

The FA are muppets, but the reason I call Sven a pirate is based on his consistent loyalty to money and scouting of other jobs from the very early years of his England reign.

Remember when Ferguson was going to retire. Sven was casting his envious eye over the top job at Man U. It was only because Fergie reversed his decision that it did not get anymore serious than one or two meetings with Peter Kenyon.

Remember when Chelsea were looking for a new manager after Ranieri. Pini Zahavi had a meeting or two with Sven and Kenyon. Sven was certainly interested again. Would he walk out? No, the FA had to come up with a bumper contract of £5 million per year (which I want it known I objected to at the time. Like most on this board, if a manager or player will only stay if he is given a bumper payrise off any recognised scale, good riddance).

Not forgetting his Arab sheikh sting where the lure of money again made him come out some outrageous statements on thinking about coaching Aston Villa if the sheikh pumped money into it.

View this all against the backdrop of his career, as Blackburn fans will know, when he agreed to manage them after Ray Harford (he signed this as well). Of course, you won't remember him managing Blackburn because a better offer came along so he reneged.

Now before the obvious answers come back of there's no loyalty in football. This is the international game. Representing a country. Beckham may not have had a good world cup, but he would always wear the England shirt with pride. He would have worn it for free (which admittedly is slighlty easier when Real Madrid are paying you £100,000 a week or whatever it is). So when managing a national side, you should have respect for the country you are trying to improve. The international game should always be different from the club game in that respect.

[macbeth]

The FA are muppets, but the reason I call Sven a pirate is based on his consistent loyalty to money and scouting of other jobs from the very early years of his England reign.

Remember when Ferguson was going to retire. Sven was casting his envious eye over the top job at Man U. It was only because Fergie reversed his decision that it did not get anymore serious than one or two meetings with Peter Kenyon.

Remember when Chelsea were looking for a new manager after Ranieri. Pini Zahavi had a meeting or two with Sven and Kenyon. Sven was certainly interested again. Would he walk out? No, the FA had to come up with a bumper contract of £5 million per year (which I want it known I objected to at the time. Like most on this board, if a manager or player will only stay if he is given a bumper payrise off any recognised scale, good riddance).

Not forgetting his Arab sheikh sting where the lure of money again made him come out some outrageous statements on thinking about coaching Aston Villa if the sheikh pumped money into it.

View this all against the backdrop of his career, as Blackburn fans will know, when he agreed to manage them after Ray Harford (he signed this as well). Of course, you won't remember him managing Blackburn because a better offer came along so he reneged.

Now before the obvious answers come back of there's no loyalty in football. This is the international game. Representing a country. Beckham may not have had a good world cup, but he would always wear the England shirt with pride. He would have worn it for free (which admittedly is slighlty easier when Real Madrid are paying you £100,000 a week or whatever it is). So when managing a national side, you should have respect for the country you are trying to improve. The international game should always be different from the club game in that respect.

i agree totally that sven is mercenary but the blame for him being there in the first place must lie squarely with the FA. inasmuch as the buck stops with them.

like you say international football can't be compared to club football when it comes to pride in the shirt etc but it was the FA that chose a foreign manager and showered him with the cash ; Sven is indeed a pirate but we now have got rid of him, however we are still left with the incompetant fools that employed him and i find that more worrying

[breadandcheese]

i agree totally that sven is mercenary but the blame for him being there in the first place must lie squarely with the FA. inasmuch as the buck stops with them.

like you say international football can't be compared to club football when it comes to pride in the shirt etc but it was the FA that chose a foreign manager and showered him with the cash ; Sven is indeed a pirate but we now have got rid of him, however we are still left with the incompetant fools that employed him and i find that more worrying

That, sadly I agree with. I still struggle to understand how such incompetent fools run our national game and indeed FIFA. How do I get onto the gravy train?

[dandannieldanok]

I don't think Sven was all bad, he got us to three out of three major tournaments which might ound easy but others have failed miserably. Plus, you cannot blame our exit on him, yes the tactics were'nt very good but the player's have to take responsibilty, Gerrard and Lampard for example who were awful. I'm not defending his salry though, certinly not value for the money given to him!

[Daggers]

Asked if McClaren must take his share of the blame for England's disappointing World Cup performance he said: "No, don't blame him. Blame me, please."

Before the tourno, I was saying that he had been a good manager for us with a creditable set of results [including the 5-1].

Now though, having deliberated, I am of the opinion he was a disaster for us.

For five-odd years we have played without a fixed formation with an over-reliance on under-performing big names. Whenever it came to tournaments he has ingrained in the players a mentality that we are not good enough and we can not win penalties.

He was more professional than the joke that was Keegan ... but I am hoping that McClaren is a clever man. I hope McClaren is a winning man. I am hoping Venebles is as talismanic now as he was during Euro96.

[davieG]

Before the tourno, I was saying that he had been a good manager for us with a creditable set of results [including the 5-1].

Now though, having deliberated, I am of the opinion he was a disaster for us.

For five-odd years we have played without a fixed formation with an over-reliance on under-performing big names. Whenever it came to tournaments he has ingrained in the players a mentality that we are not good enough and we can not win penalties.

He was more professional than the joke that was Keegan ... but I am hoping that McClaren is a clever man. I hope McClaren is a winning man. I am hoping Venebles is as talismanic now as he was during Euro96.

Venable's is not talismatic that is an illusion, he did ok and we played some good football but we didn't win Euor 96 not even with home advantage, on that basis alone I'd consider him a failure.

[Daggers]

Venable's is not talismatic that is an illusion, he did ok and we played some good football but we didn't win Euor 96 not even with home advantage, on that basis alone I'd consider him a failure.

Ignoring the 5-1, when before or since have we played with such flair, confidence and ability?