Beyond Satire

Chris Saul spotted this superb article in the Gulf News. Enjoy!

Find the scapegoat…

This is the most sensible article written about the England football team following the Algeria debacle:

Is there a point when you have to stop blaming the manager and start asking if there is anyone out there capable of coaxing this generation of players into succeeding at a major tournament?

As the tide predictably begins to turn against Fabio Capello, you have to wonder, if he can’t, then who can? Just to recap on the calibre of Capello.

He did not lose in his first 58 games as manager of AC Milan and he has won nine league titles in 16 seasons, with AC Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and Juventus. He has won the Champions League and coached to success some of the greatest players ever to have kicked a ball. But with England, even he is stumped.

England are a very average but over-hyped team that has been repeatedly built up and knocked down by the British press in recent years. To hear eminent mediocrities such as Graham Taylor rolled out to criticise Capello’s management, you would think that this was a team of proven world-beaters whose talent was suddenly being squandered. When Capello was appointed, I hoped that the selection of such a proven and successful manager would mean that the British press would stop making excuses for the shortcomings of the players and English football culture: how naive of me.