WHAT’S the rush with England? With Big Phil out of the way Steve McClaren is a shoe in. The succession will be routine and dull. Why the hysteria? And why now?
Do the FA really have to bring the circus to town slap bang in the middle of our UEFA Cup preparations? We have enough trouble with the tabloid clowns as it is without having to fend off an England, England, England media frenzy in a week when frankly, no-one on Teesside gives a toss about the national team.
This week is about one lion, not three. This is Boro’s week of European glory and we must be totally focussed. For the blundering FA not to realise that underlines the chaotic, cack-handed and insensitive way they have handled the entire process of recruiting a manager.
The timing is appalling. It is disruptive. It is distracting. It can’t but take the manager’s eye off the ball, no matter how steely minded and determined to display his credentials by winning this game he is.
By rushing through this decision and putting McClaren at the eye of a media storm the FA have shown breath-taking arrogance and total disregard for Boro and for our UEFA Cup aspirations. It is an insult, and it is potentially very, very damaging. They could not have disrupted Boro so completely had it been calculated. It is as if they do not want one of their member clubs to succeed.
It will also take away our moment. If Boro win this cup it will be a momentous occasion of great pride and joy, a watershed in our history and an occasion demanding respect and recognition.
But we won’t get that because the entire national media will be gushing about the manager and the implications for the national team. Our long awaited glory will be seen entirely in an England context. The game, the team, the club, will be a footnote in history.
We was robbed. Again. For conspiracists with an ingrained belief that football’s powers that be have it in for Boro (how else could we have been denied glory for so long?) this is a Godsend. A confirmation that the FA actually does work to undermine Boro wherever possible.
The question remains as to why the issue should come to the boil now. England have a manager who is picking the squad and preparing the World Cup campaign. What would be the problem with delaying it by a week?
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