The England managerial conundrum

They call it the most demanding job in world football. I call it the most messed-up situation since the un-manageable days of the Real Madrid galacticos. The galacticos fell. England has fallen. What to do?

In my view, the English FA is paying for it's own mistakes. Appointing Steve McLaren was the first mistake that they made, albeit a calamitous one too. The former Middlesbrough man had no credentials to take up the job and it was just a repayment of the numerous years he spent as the assistant to the Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Add to that, his horrendous tactics, lack of man-management skills, the failure to recognize the strengths of his pool of players and create a winning team...and you could go on and on.

There are two routes that England and it's hugely-disappointing FA can take up. The long route is to analyse applicants, interview them, work on their vision and choose the best from the lot. The shortcut is to make a phone call to one certain loner in a country called Portugal.....