‘England have botched supervisor hunt – Lee Carsley exhibits you get what you pay for’
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham had better start working on Plan B when it comes to finding a new England boss.
And the B stands for ‘botched’. Because that is what the whole process has now become. And whose fault is that, then?
In an act of staggering arrogance, the FA believed it could just hire another manager on the cheap in the shape of Lee Carsley. Promote someone from the U21s because he works at St George’s Park – and hope for the best.
READ MORE: Lee Carsley stance on getting England job unclear as he gives FA ‘world class’ message
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But you tend to get what you pay for in life, and Bullingham could be forced to stump up a high price indeed. There’s a reason Pep Guardiola earns the thick end of £20m-a-year at Manchester City. Because he’s the best in the business and guarantees success.
It’s quite obvious Carsley is uncomfortable being a manager more than a coach. And on current evidence, it’s also unlikely he will be the next full-time England boss.
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But if Bullingham is struggling to absorb these facts, he shouldn’t be. Did he not do due diligence on Carsley before and after Gareth Southgate stood down?
Evidence suggests the answer is no. Because Carsley was promoted to the ‘impossible job’ and given six games to make it his own. Heck, he didn’t even have to apply. Although, it has to be said, anyone who thinks leading managers actually fill in an application form is living in cloud cuckoo land.
In the meantime, despite the application process ending in August, the FA have still not interviewed at least one alternative candidate. So those eggs Bullingham has thrown into his one basket are in danger of ending up spread right across his face.
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It has resulted in the laughable scenario of England having a generational group of talent, but no stand out person to manage it. No one to take the national team to that final frontier and benefit from the fine work Southgate left behind.
Whatever Carsley says or doesn’t say, the feeling is he doesn’t want the job and Bullingham is now scrambling through his in-tray to see who else actually applied. Has Guardiola? No. Jurgen Klopp? No. Thomas Tuchel? Maybe. Graham Potter? Definitely.
Guardiola and Klopp are too expensive and in work. Tuchel is a hot head who could cause a row in an empty room. It would end in tears. While Potter has been sat on his backside since getting chewed up and spat out by Chelsea. Eddie Howe, meanwhile, would cost a fortune to prise out of Newcastle.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Combine all of the above, with doubts about the qualifications of Bullingham to even appoint an England boss in the first place – and it all adds up to a complete mess. Those with a wicked sense of humour have suggested the FA could promote Jude Bellingham to player manager. In fairness he runs the show anyway, so why not?
The England job is a part time one, so Bellingham could combine it with his proper job at Real Madrid. He could even appoint England captain Harry Kane as his assistant. Sounds like madness, doesn’t it? But madness is what has now engulfed the whole situation. And the fire raging around Bullingham and his FA bigwigs is going to leave them all badly burned.
