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‘England coach will not be a mercenary’

By Editor
27 October 2016   |   12:30 am
England’s next manager will “not just be a mercenary for short term gain”, says Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn.In the last 20 years, only Roy Hodgson and Sven-Goran Eriksson have managed England through three tournaments.
PHOTO:AFP

PHOTO:AFP

England’s next manager will “not just be a mercenary for short term gain”, says Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn.In the last 20 years, only Roy Hodgson and Sven-Goran Eriksson have managed England through three tournaments.

Gareth Southgate has been in temporary charge since Sam Allardyce left his post after a newspaper investigation.Glenn said previous foreign managers “haven’t maybe left the international set up in a better place.”

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 live, he added: “In the past we’ve gone for foreign managers who’d be attracted as they might help us win a tournament.”Glenn said the FA now wants “somebody there for the long term” and that the next manager would have to address the “fear factor” of playing for England.

“We have been very successful at winning tournaments in the development teams,” he said. “The under-21s, the under-19s, when we put our boys up against the best in the world we are winning.

“We’re not translating that enough when it comes to the senior team. We think the difference is psychological preparation, this fear factor when you put on the England shirt.

“The manager we hire will really understand that and will have detailed plans to address it.”England won their first game under interim manager Southgate, a 2-0 success over Malta in a World Cup qualifier. They drew their next qualifier away to Slovenia 0-0.

Southgate will remain in charge for the qualifier against Scotland at Wembley on 11 November and the home friendly with Spain four days later.Glenn said that Southgate would “still be in the frame” even if England lose their next two matches.

“He will almost certainly be a candidate. It’s up to him to decide whether he wants to do it,” added Glenn.“The preference would be for English because the missing link I think in getting consistent England performances in tournaments is linked to this issue of fear and pride, so the team identity.

“I don’t want to rule out candidates who are not English that would also be terrific and also wanted to do the job for the long term. It would be crazy to narrow the pool so much but our preference would be for English.”

Ex-England boss Sam Allardyce stepped down after just 67 days, admitting he had made an “error of judgment” in advising undercover reporters that it was possible to “get around” player transfer rules.Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Glenn described the loss of the England role as a “personal tragedy” for Allardyce.

He said: “The FA is responsible for a lot of things, in particular people look to us for both making and applying the rules.“The issue we had with Sam was that in implying he could help people circumvent the rules, we felt in every other situation in the next few years – any marginal call we took about fining a club or a player – we would have that thrown back in our face.‘‘

“We have to apply the rules consistently. This would have impaired our ability to do that.”A recent Daily Telegraph report claimed that eight current or ex-Premier League managers had taken bribes for player transfers.

However, Glenn said he believed the game in England was “fundamentally clean”.“There is clearly evidence of some misbehaviour around agents and cash, there’s no doubt about that,” he added.

“We have a big integrity unit which other FAs around the world seek to copy. I think the game is clean. There is a lot of money in the game and with money comes temptation, but, fundamentally, this is a clean game.”

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