Who's Running The England Team Anyway?

Filed in archive England on November 24, 2006

England assistant coach Terry Venable piped up again this week, claiming "we" (he and Steve McClaren) were fitting cheeky (see picture) Man City midfielder joey Barton for an England shirt.

"I know that you've got some more lads who are going to push - Joey Barton has done extremely well recently - so we know exactly what's going on," stated Venables.

After the 3-5-2 debacle I worry about whether Mad Mac and El Tel are on the same page. It was apparently Tel's idea to play 3-5-2, but Mac's idea to do so with defensive wingbacks Gary Neville and Ashley Cole instead of the more attacking Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stewart Downing. I'm not happy with this sort of mix and match half and half approach to managing the England team. They're like an elderly couple that can't agree on which five star restaurant they want go to, so settle for a trip to KFC instead. Only last KFC was a 2-0 defeat away to Croatia.

So, I'll be interested to see whether Barton actually makes the next England squad or, more likely, what sort of half-arsed compromise England's bickering management team come up with instead.

ps If you arrived on this page looking for video of Joey Barton's bum-baring incident, then 1) shame on you, and 2) you can find it here.