The World Cup and Where to Watch (And Where not to Watch) In and Around Hedge End

Apparently the Football Association, or the FA, is the governing body for football in England, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man – I’ve been doing some research. But I still haven’t been able to find out why the team is allowed a foreign manager.

The criticism of Fabio seems to be along the lines of he's such a strict manager that he's effectively stifled the flair the players need to show at this sort of level if they're going to win games. Seems fair to me.

Brazil usually win tournaments by doing something completely unexpected, don't they. SImilarly, England's best moments have always been when they do something unexpected, but Fabio seems to have kicked that out of them.

For instance, Theo Walcott was dropped, so I hear, because he didn't follow instructions in some of the warm-up games. But that's exactly what we've needed in the two games so far, i.e. players doing the unexpected. Whilst the opposition know the system Fabio is playing and they know the players will do exactly as they're told, England are very easily countered. Theo should thus have been picked precisely because he didn't follow orders...!

The England football team currently seem to have adopted the old politically incorrect stereotype of the Germans, as seen in "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" i.e. we now do everything by numbers, exactly by the book and are far too thick to improvise. The England football team perhaps need to get back to our own politically-incorrect national stereotype, as portrayed in TMMITFM, of bungling upper-class twits keeping a stiff-upper lip, improvising, bending the rules (OK, cheating!) and expecting that it'll all come right in the end because we're English dammit and it doesn't really matter anyway because it's been a jolly spiffing wheeze....

Continuing that train of thought. The politically incorrect stereotype of the Italians from TMMITFM are of ambitious, hopelessly optimistic, hoplessly impractical, well-dressed, god-fearing half-wits. Maybe appointing an Italian to manage the England team football team wasn't such a good idea after all...!

As for England players being English, there are some obscure rules about who qualifies to play for England and I think it depends on the players parents nationality too. For instance, Matt Le Tissier was a Channel Islander, so not really English. He thus had the choice of playing for France or England. If he'd chosen France, which would have better utilised his sort of flair/skill, I think he'd have been a world-cup winner.

I’ve heard a lot of criticism of Fabio Capello following last night’s England match – anyone like to comment on this? But also, could anyone please tell me why if England players have to be English, it’s ok to have an Italian manager?

Not many pubs in Hedge End itself...
Shame the Fountain was sold off to property developers...