That Short List May Not Be So Short

It’s GOT to be Steve McLaren. It’s all very well scanning the globe for the best possible candidate, and interviewing everybody, but what England really need is an English manager, born and bred (no offence, Arsène), who has excelled himself in international club competition. Sam Allardyce is a very good candidate, but McLaren has just proved that he has the very qualities that the FA should be looking for – the ability to get the most out of limited resources, and the ability to pull off a result against the odds at the highest level of international competition.

Oh, come on. Leaving aside the issue of whether it’s necessary for the England manager to be English (I don’t think it is), how does beating Basel qualify as “the highest level of international competition”?

Limited resources? The English football team? Despite the mental anguish of the backline and the gambling problems of the frontline, the English manager has a huge depth of talent at his disposal and has had for the last 10 years.