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England’s early exit from the World Cup has triggered an inevitable inquest about the state of English football. However, before considering the various aspects of this debate, there is one question that has to be faced up to: do fans care more about club or national football? The ‘correct’ answer in the current context is the national team, but do all fans really hold that view? And would they still hold it if any remedy undermined the performance of their club side?
The inquest has triggered another debate about the role of the Premier League in English football. There is an evident link between the number of foreign players in the Premiership and the development opportunities for English players. However, if one thinks that is the problem, solutions are not readily available. The number of players from outside the EU and associated countries is controlled by the issue of work permits and the conditions for these are likely to become more rather than less stringent as part of the broader immigration debate.
What one cannot do is limit the number of players from other EU and EEA countries. This would be a violation of the fundamental principle of freedom of movement of labour within the EU which was upheld in relation to football in the Bosman ruling. It might be argued that the clause on the special character of sport in the Lisbon Treaty changes this and that is a nice point for sports lawyers to argue. However, my view is that it does not override the freedom of movement principle. Hence, any attempt to limit the number of players from elsewhere in Europe, which includes French players of African origin, would be open to an immediate challenge in court and I think that the European Court of Justice would rule against any such interpretation.
One of the characteristics of English football, more so than in many other countries, is that the manager or coach gets blamed for everything that goes wrong. It is true that he selects the team, decides the tactics and is held responsible for maintaining the morale of the team (although one would think that most players would not need that much motivating to represent their country in a World Cup). However, he is not actually on the pitch.
The England team contains some talented individuals. Some of them, particularly Wayne Rooney, appeared to be off form or perhaps carrying an injury. What was noticeable more generally was that they failed to work together effectively as a team which many ‘lesser’ sides managed to do much more easily. This could be related back to the Premier League again where England players are accustomed to competing against each other for their clubs. Radio 5 reported that in a snap question and answer session, Wayne Rooney was asked whether he would prefer to win the Champions League or the World Cup. He answered without hesitation: ‘Champions League’.
Fabio Capello was quickly confirmed in his post as England manager. Cynics claimed that this was because of the new contract he has signed shortly before the World Cup which meant that his early departure would cost the Football Association (FA) a lot of money. However, the team’s performance under Capello’s guidance in the qualifiers was impressive and he restored a much needed sense of discipline to the England team. Arguably, he went too far in the other direction, but hopefully he has learnt from that and will seek a happy medium in future.
It is true that his previous track record of success was with clubs rather than in international tournaments which have a very different atmosphere and pose very special challenges. Nevertheless, if one did get rid of him, where are the alternatives, if one wants an English manager? It is true that Capello’s English has not progressed as much as one would hope, but it’s much better than my Italian. Roy Hodgson has gone to Liverpool. Harry Redknapp has been talked about and he is undoubtedly a very talented manager at club level, but there are a few question marks about his reputation.
One issue that has been raised again by the events in South Africa is the competence of the FA. Wigan’s Dave Whelan even suggested that the Premier League should be put in charge of the national team. The Coalition Government has made it clear that it is not going to let the issue of the FA’s governance structures rest. However, it is going to put the issue on the back burner until December when the question of England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup will have been resolved. Paradoxically, the bid has been going quite well.
Perhaps one good thing that has come out of the disallowed Lampard goal is a new look by FIFA at goal line technology.
Blatter had always been personally opposed to goal line technology. One of his key arguments was that the game should be universal so that it should be played in the same way on a park pitch as in a major stadium. However, this argument does not really stand up to scrutiny. Sunday league teams don’t have fourth officials in radio communication with the referee.
A more serious argument is that it would be the thin end of the wedge and would lead to arguments for the use of technology for offside, penalty decisions etc. This would then disrupt the flow of the game which is one of its attractions. However, there is a special case for deciding whether the ball has crossed the line. The fourth official could check a replay in a matter of seconds and notify the referee. If one did want to introduce it for penalty decisions, one could allow each team to make a very limited number of appeals in each game, just as happens in tennis.
Cricket, rugby and tennis have all been prepared to use technology. Football is evidently a more conservative game and some would say that that is one of its attractions. Sepp Blatter argues that incidents are part of the fun of the game. I don’t think those England fans who went to South Africa would see it their way and their distress was compounded by the lack of acknowledgement given to them by the well-paid English players. The debate about the state of the game will continue for many months.
Wyn Grant is a regular contributor to Albion Road and also the publisher of footballeconomy.com, a website covering the business and economy of the game of football. |
