The most onerous challenge for the Football Association in its search for a new England manager may no longer be whittling down a list of impressive coaches, but convincing the successful candidate that they will still have a career of note when it all falls apart.
This is a post that invariably ends in tears and ignominy; the departing manager’s stock plummets to such an extent that redemption is often impossible. There can be little wonder, then, that the list of names to replace Roy Hodgson is perhaps more underwhelming than ever before.
Managing England has never been the most attractive proposition, despite the undisputed honour of leading the country, because the demands are so incomparably high. Yet arguably, at no point in history does it appear less appealing than now – especially when Greg Dyke, the outgoing chairman, is wondering publicly why anybody would take it in the first place.
For all the positives of leading England, there must be five negatives. It is not just about the results and performances on the pitch. Every action away from the job is treated with the same intense focus as a prime minister and, as seen by the ugly, gruesome and unnecessary attacks on some players from certain tabloids, often subject to the most poisonous of coverage.
Hodgson, it must be recorded, was treated lightly compared with some predecessors and it was not until the gamble to tinker excessively with the side before the 0-0 draw with Slovakia that the knives were sharpened.
The job’s thankless nature is illustrated brilliantly by a cartoon on display at the National Football Museum in Manchester by Mike Stokoe, that depicts three round suits sitting across a table from a Fabio Capello lookalike above a quote that reads: “And if you lose one game on the trot you are sacked.”
Hyperbolic satire that may be but sometimes the reality is too close for comfort. It does not take long to scan through a list of previous managers to come to the conclusion that all left tainted by the job to some extent. Even Alf Ramsey, wrote Arthur Hopcraft, was “not a popular man, either with other professionals in the game or journalists”.
Sir Alex Ferguson described the post in one of his autobiographies as “a bed of nails I was never tempted to lie on”. He was offered the role twice and being Scottish was not the only reason to reject it. “The England job requires a particular talent – and that skill is the ability to handle the press,” he wrote. “If one person gives you favourable coverage, the others will hound you.”
Ferguson goes on to highlight Steve McClaren trying too hard to look after some while simultaneously alienating others as a case in point. Even at Newcastle last season, tiresome lines about umbrellas were all too common and it is hardly a wild assumption to suggest McClaren will be shadowed by his failings at Wembley no matter where he ends up in the future.
And while the ability to keep callous elements of the fourth estate appeased is an issue that runs through all tenures, the FA has always had a tendency to go for the antithesis of the previous manager when it comes to appointments.
Essentially, that means one of the association’s key desires this time is to bring in a younger man. Hodgson’s methods, especially towards the end, were viewed as dated and a coach, as Roy Keane put it brashly a few weeks ago in a slightly different context, “who’s got the whistle around his neck and a clipboard” appears sought after.
To give the FA some credit, it has spread a wide net as far as seeking viewpoints on who should lead the team towards the 2018 World Cup – stretching as far as using a newspaper columnist – but few of the promising young managers appear genuinely interested.
And who could blame them.
Now so more than ever, international management is a job for the old and wise, for many a step towards semi‑retirement. Of the 25 coaches at the Euros (Iceland have joint managers), Antonio Conte is the only one who can be considered with great certainty to reside among the elite. Last season the average age of a Premier League manager hovered a shade over 53. At the Euros, 11 are over 60 and the youngest, Wales’s Chris Coleman, is 46.
Entering international management at a young age is for the majority a hiding to nothing and when it comes to England, history suggests complete rehabilitation is unlikely. All remain tainted in various ways, incessantly referred to as the former England manager no matter their subsequent achievements.
In which case why would, to use one popular example, Eddie Howe be tempted away from an exciting project at Bournemouth that not only spares him the extracurricular demands but also presents an opportunity to record tangible yet realistic success?
It would be equally illogical to think Brendan Rodgers, who has subsequently ruled himself out, could have been lured away from Celtic before he gets his teeth into life at Parkhead.
That is also before considering the staccato nature of internationals, where the scrupulous nature of younger managers would undoubtedly be curbed. The intensity level is quite different – Hodgson and many others have highlighted the challenges associated with getting a team to bind in minimal time – and the role requires a different skillset.
Above all, Hodgson’s replacement will require one commodity in spades. Thick skin – for more than one reason.
