If England Were For Englishmen Again

[White Noise]

Martin Samuel: The moment when Roy spoke our language



By Martin Samuel


PUBLISHED: 22:28, 19 June 2012 | UPDATED: 01:35, 20 June 2012



So what difference does it make having an English manager? Here is one.

In the early hours of Monday morning, a young man by the name of Danny Fullbrook died. He was the chief football writer of the Daily Star newspaper and had been ill for some time.

Before his press conference at the Donbass Arena, Roy Hodgson, who knew Danny, offered a brief message of sympathy and condolence, as did England captain Steven Gerrard. It was the right thing to do, and very well received by Danny's colleagues.


Sincere gesture: Roy Hodgson and Steve Gerrard paid tribute to Daily Star's Danny Fullbrook, who died on the day of the England press conference ahead of their Euro 2012 clash against Ukraine



And this is not to say it could not have happened had Fabio Capello still been in charge, because the Football Association are decent folk and would have ensured that it did, but it would not have felt the same.

Capello would either have had to defer to Gerrard, for his more personal recollections - he mentioned Danny's son Edward - which would have merely underlined his separateness from English football, or would have read a statement in his stilted third language, which would not have  contained the same affinity. Hodgson knew Danny as an English football writer, in a way that Capello, through no fault of his own, could not.

He would also appreciate the closeness of the group of journalists who follow England, and that it was a sad day for them. These are nuances, tiny details maybe, but multiply them many times, through every facet of training, tournament and hotel life, and that is what is gained, and why it feels right to have the England team managed by an  Englishman. Maybe Hodgson will prove good enough, maybe not, but this feels like us. It is the best that we can do.
It was a Saturday, October 23, 2004, when Bill Nicholson died and that afternoon Tottenham Hotspur lost 2-1 to Bolton Wanderers at White Hart Lane.

Jacques Santini, then  Tottenham manager, refused to speak afterwards because he was angry about the result. It was explained, more than once apparently, that his view of the game was less important than being seen to pay respectful tribute to the greatest manager in Tottenham's  history, but he remained adamant.

Here was a man who had clearly taken little interest in Tottenham's proud past, because if he had, he could surely not have delivered such a snub.

It does not have to be this way. Soon after Nicholson died, so did Emlyn Hughes. The newly installed manager at Liverpool was Rafael Benitez. He admitted that he was not familiar with the one known as Crazy Horse, but added that any player who amasses 665 games for a club as special as Liverpool, many of them as captain, must be pretty special, too.



Handling it better: Rafael Benitez was far more impressive when dealing with the death of a club legend than Jacques Santini (right) was after the passing of Bill Nicholson

'In Spain we say that you feel the colours of your club,' Benitez continued. 'Not many can say they have done that in the way Emlyn Hughes did. He is a reference point for the players and the manager, he is a part of the history of Liverpool.' It is to be hoped that Santini, who had been sacked by Tottenham four days earlier, stayed around long enough to hear what he should have said in Nicholson's memory.



So this is not to say a foreign coach cannot understand English culture or English football. Benitez knew that a club's traditions, their history and the people who shaped it, are important. Either he made it his business to find out about Hughes, or he was  intelligent enough to take a briefing from club officials.

Santini was clearly too wrapped up in himself to care, and not thoughtful enough to accept good advice when offered. Benitez won the Champions League in his first season; Santini got sacked in the first week of November. These events are probably not unrelated.

Capello was a good England manager in so many ways but he was, at heart, a hired hand. There is no great legacy from his presence, other than a rather painful lesson that at international level success cannot be bought, even for £6million annually.
As for his methods, they came so staunchly from his homeland that any progress he did achieve must be considered an Anglo-Italian partnership. Many of his backroom staff flew in specifically for matches from their homes in Italy, and would converse in Italian at the team hotel.

No matter how connected Capello felt to England — and nobody can doubt his ambition — there was always the sense that a level of command had been grafted on at the top, like an occupying force. The players have huge respect for Capello as a football man, but they are right in saying that the atmosphere is different when everybody speaks the same language. It is no longer them and us. This is us, standing or falling together.
Taking the pre-match warm-up there is Ray Lewington, late of Chelsea, Wimbledon, Fulham, Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, Brentford and Watford.

There is Gary Neville, 85 appearances for England, eight league titles and a Champions League winner with Manchester United.



Lost in translation: While it is not his fault, Fabio Capello would have struggled to convey the same sympathy


Dave Watson — Barnsley, Oldham Athletic, Huddersfield Town, Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest, Birmingham City — shares goalkeeping coach duties with Ray Clemence, 61 England caps, three European Cups and five league titles with Liverpool.

These men represent England, but are representative, too. Some will argue they are not the best men for the job. Indeed, experience suggests that any positive statement about English football at a tournament is 90 minutes away from humiliating collapse. Yet this mood is not reliant on results or progress, tactical enlightenment or whether the players can pass like Spain.

This is about two men, on behalf of English football, paying a gentle but meaningful tribute to a young man with a family, whose life ended too soon. And it is about the simple sincerity of that gesture.

For, whatever the future holds for Hodgson and England, in its  creation and motivation this regime is sincere; and there is not so much of it about these days that we can afford to take earnest intentions lightly.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2161738/Martin-Samuel-Roy-Hodgson-spoke-language.html#ixzz1yJU20Kbs

[mr-ska]