Gareth Southgate and England - Right man, Wrong role

For all that Hodgson’s belligerent attitude at Tuesday’s bizarre press briefing has rightly been picked apart, the most damning words came from the mouth of Martin Glenn. On two separate occasions, the FA chief executive admitted, “I’m not a football expert”. Which immediately begs the question, ‘Then what on earth are you doing selecting the next England boss?’

Glenn, whose last role before taking over at the FA saw him in charge of a biscuit company, will be joined by David Gill, who has spent much of his career kow-towing to Sir Alex Ferguson in the Old Trafford boardroom, and Dan Ashworth, who worked closely with Hodgson as technical director at West Brom before joining the FA, on the panel to appoint England’s new manager.

None have any meaningful experience of playing the game; none have any meaningful recent knowledge of the demands and requirements levelled at an international head coach.

Yet the future of the England football team, not to mention the chance to avoid yet another embarrassment to rank alongside Monday night’s, falls squarely on their shoulders. Glenn has promised to “consult extensively”, which will presumably mean Hodgson and Gary Neville being asked for their thoughts, and could also mean the likes of Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer being canvassed for their opinions. There will also be another “definitive review” to go alongside the ones that proved so ineffective in the wake of Bloemfontein and Brazil.

Ultimately, though, it will come down to Glenn, Gill and Ashworth, sitting in a room and grilling the two or three candidates who make the final shortlist. Not so much ‘Three wise men’ as ‘Three non-football experts, trying to do a football expert’s job’.

Other leading countries don’t get themselves into this mess because they recognise the need for extensive international football experience at the head of their footballing organisations.

Franz Beckenbauer became vice-president of the German FA in 1998 and spearheaded his nation’s successful bid for the 2006 World Cup. He was also heavily involved in the appointments of Jurgen Klinsmann and Joachim Low that did so much to transform Germany’s previously-ailing fortunes.

In Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Holland, former players are cherished. Only England ring-fences its most important administrative roles and regards experience in the business world as more important than anything achieved on the football field.

That is not to say there is not a place for business acumen in an organisation as large and multi-faceted as the FA. But when it comes to obviously footballing decisions, the lack of footballing knowledge stands out like a sore thumb.

Sir Trevor Brooking spent three years on the FA board as director of football development, and drove through important reforms relating to the adoption of small-sided games at youth levels, but he left seemingly disillusioned with the politics and bureaucracy that continue to be so influential at the top of the organisation. ‘Jobs for the boys’, as long as those boys have the right background and wear the right blazers.

Something has to change, and that is where Southgate should come in. Bright, erudite and passionate about making a difference to English football, the current boss of the England Under-21s is the perfect candidate to breach the divide between the pitch and the corridors of power.

He was appointed as the FA’s head of elite development in 2011, and immediately threw himself into a series of debates about how to restructure youth football and the professional academy system.

He also played a key role in developing plans for the national training base at St George’s Park, and while he left his former role in 2012, he has continued to be an integral part of the FA system thanks to his three years in charge of the Under-21s.

That spell initially saw him installed as the favourite to succeed Hodgson, with the FA keen to appoint someone in a caretaker capacity to enable them to wait for potential candidates such as Arsene Wenger and Claudio Ranieiri to move on from their current club duties.

Rightly, Southgate has concluded that he is not cut out for the role. It would be unfair to judge him on his time at Middlesbrough, when he suffered relegation amid a period of financial belt-tightening, but his career since hardly screams of an international success story in the making.

Lacking any kind of experience in the upper echelons of European club football, the leap to the England senior job would have been too big for him. He would have struggled to command the respect of England’s senior players, and it is hard to imagine him reading the riot act or inspiring a squad that have displayed a host of old failings during the last three weeks in France?

There are better candidates out there, although there is no guarantee that the current FA set-up will be able to either identify or recruit them. It would be better, surely, if Southgate was on the other side of the fence, vetting potential managers, drawing up dossiers on their strengths and weaknesses and taking charge of the interviewing process prior to their appointment.

It doesn’t have to be the former Middlesbrough centre-half of course. Lineker, Shearer, Chris Waddle and Danny Mills have been talking a good game in the last few days – might it be time for one of them to put their money where their mouth is and make a meaningful contribution to the English game? Instead of sitting in a TV studio, why don’t the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen and Paul Scholes look to get involved?

At the moment, former England internationals seem to regard a position within the FA as either an unrealistic ambition or something they would not want even if it was available. That has to change, and appointing Southgate to a senior administrative position would be an ideal start.