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TOTALLY F.A.RCICAL 11-8-04
I debated long and hard about whether to comment on the Eriksson situation last week and eventually decided to leave the situation alone until it was resolved.
Resolved is quite a strong word when you think about it. It implies that a situation, scenario or incident has been brought to complete and total closure as a result of decisions made and the action taken to put those decisions into force. So working on that basis, we can safely assume that the Eriksson case is not resolved then.
Reams and reams have been printed over this sorry saga and whether you have chosen to read an article written by a tabloid columnist, a collection of fan opinion or an insight from the professional world, every single writer bar none that I am aware of, has said the same thing. That the Football Association comprises a collection of incompetent amateurs running a high level professional sport.
How are we supposed to take the England team seriously when ultimate responsibility for the team's welfare and organisation is held by these dithering, spineless baffoons? How on earth can we hope to lift the 2006 World Cup when the 'Club Directors' are too busy playing politics to concentrate on the collective task of securing England's success? Would you let these people manage your business? No, I suspect not.
Nobody has ever really got to the bottom of why the England manager has been constantly pilloried by the media for many years now. Theories abound, for example, it is a demonstration of the passion that the nation holds for the England side. Bloody rubbish! The England manager is slaughtered by the press year in and year out because he is the public face of a stinking organisation that is not fit to represent our national sport. Has nobody at the FA ever heard of PR? Their actions answer that question in full.
The core of the FA is now so rotten that England's World Cup chances currently stand at nil. And when the next failure occurs, what price will the faceless men in charge of the FA have to pay? Also nil. Yet for most of us, if we do not do the things that we are employed to do in our professional lives, we are likely to be replaced.
After our inevitable failure at Euro 2004, every single member of the organisation should have gone. Their positions could have been filled with real football people, not glorified admin clerks, establishment beaurocrats and braindead jobsworths. As for Eriksson himself, he should have been fired without question but unfortunately, the FA lacked the guts to do it. I am not suggesting that he should have been fired for having sex with a PA. He should have taken the bullet for lying when asked a question by his bosses. But lying about things is a commonly known Eriksson characteristic. This is the fourth time that he has lied whilst holding the post of England manager. He lied about speaking to Chelsea, he lied about speaking to Manchester United and he lied at his job interview when he told his potential employers that he was a good manager.
Yet the players themselves appear to hold him in high regard. I suspect that this is because whilst he is in charge, they are able to call the shots.
The positives that can be taken from this farcical scenario are, for us, the Boro support, that the danger of losing our manager has now passed. And on a national level, the fact that Eriksson's bosses are now gunning for him may rouse him into getting some results for us. But probabaly not. Sven, you shame your country. And an FA with more balls would have prevented you from doing the same to ours!
Now, on to a more positive note. The Taming of the Geordies will take place on Saturday, despite our reluctant neighbours' attempts at postponing the slaughter on medical grounds. I am so happy that the summer is almost over and the Premier league is back because the next phase of our golden age is now here. A season of further success is now upon us and this is undoubtedly the best time ever to be a Boro supporter. For the moment, I only have three words to say about the massacre that will take place at The Riverside on Saturday evening. FOUR NIL BORO.
Until next week.
Steve
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