WE wanted roast beef and what did we get? Bratwurst, with Black Forest Gateau for dessert.
Call me old-fashioned but isn’t international football supposed to be about one nation taking on another, with the players enjoying the ultimate honour of performing for their country?
I know the lines have got blurred over the years — under Jack Charlton you were Irish if you liked a drop of Guinness.
But Thomas Tuchel’s appointment does really emphasise one glaring statistic… where have all the English managers gone?
And while every major nation in Europe has enjoyed some sort of tangible success and even some not-so-major ones such as Denmark and Greece, we continue to look back to 1966 when an English manager last led an English men’s team to a trophy.
That’s a bloody long time ago.
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I know we have had foreign-born managers of the England team before — Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello — but they weren’t exactly a rip-roaring success.
And now we have a German in charge, who won the Champions League with Chelsea and by any measure is a fantastic manager.
We must compromise on romantic notions of an Englishman in charge of an English team.
Can you imagine what the boys of ’66 would have made of the England side being run by a German?
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Sir Alf would have been apoplectic. That glorious Wembley day was only two decades after Ramsey’s East End of London had been flattened by the Luftwaffe.
But as I said that’s a bloody long time ago, and these days managing England is the so-called ‘impossible job’.
Some will accuse the FA of having compromised in order to win by appointing a foreign manager.
But I have sympathy for them as the last English-born manager to win the top flight was Howard Wilkinson, back when it was just the plain old First Division.
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We have five English-born managers currently operating in the Premier League although two of them, Russell Martin and Kieran McKenna, played at international levels for Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.
It suggests the nursery is thin on the ground.
But club football is one thing, the national team is another.
And as I’m a romantic at heart, I would much prefer to see our Three Lions led by a lion.
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But what are the FA meant to do when the pickings are slimmer than our goal tally in a penalty shootout.
Tuchel has won some great trophies at a variety of clubs but so had Sven and so had Capello.
The latter was a disaster who couldn’t even be bothered to learn English and enjoyed little or no connection with his players, while Sven did passably, reaching a succession of quarter-finals.
I suppose we can console ourselves with the fact that Gareth Southgate showed it can be done and although he didn’t lead us to any silverware, at least he got damned close.
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I wish Tuchel the very best of luck, as every Englishman’s footballing hopes and dreams are on his shoulders, and at some point he will feel the weight of that pressure.
He has had four managerial jobs in the last seven years and an England contract which is only 18 months suggests this is not one for the long-term.
Inside FA’s thrilling chase for Tuchel
THE FA’s path to securing Thomas Tuchel’s signature was not a straightforward one.
They tried to lure Pep Guardiola from Manchester City over the summer.
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They even made contact with Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti after deciding to target trophy-laden foreign gaffers.
The FA’s determination to go international was summed up by their decision NOT to interview Newcastle boss Eddie Howe.
Initial talks with Tuchel saw him express a slight interest in replacing Gareth Southgate.
But he was waiting to see what would happen at Manchester United, with Erik ten Hag’s future under the spotlight.
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Man Utd owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe eventually decided to stick with Ten Hag – and that opened the door to the FA getting their man.
A.J. McKee has some business to handle on Saturday but if all goes well it looks like he’ll finally get the fight he’s been chasing for over a year.
At the upcoming PFL: Battle of the Giants event, McKee faces fast-rising prospect Paul Hughes in the first bout on the pay-per-view main card but it seemed like a showdown against Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov was inevitable. An injury knocked McKee out of the Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix, which prevented him from chasing the fight back then, but a recent encounter with Usman’s cousin and coach Khabib Nurmagomedov gave him the news he’s been waiting to hear.
“That’s the fight everyone wants is Usman and McKee,” McKee told MMA Fighting. “I think that’s what’s on the roster next. That’s what everybody wants and I don’t think there’s any other fights to make.
“I was down at [Usman’s] fight in San Diego and Khabib [Nurmagomedov] walks by and says ‘see you in Dubai.’ I’m like I’ll see you in Dubai so it looks like they’re pushing for it and I’m pushing for it. So it looks like we’re going to make it happen. There’s really no other fight to make happen.”
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Since moving to lightweight, McKee has gone undefeated with a perfect 4-0 record including a lightning quick finish over PFL favorite Clay Collard back in February.
This time around he’s facing an up and comer in Hughes, who just signed with PFL as a free agent earlier this year and only has one fight under his belt with the promotion. Going from a win over a journeyman like Bobby King to a fight against arguably the No. 1 contender in the lightweight division might seem like an almost unrealistic step up in competition.
McKee can’t get inside Hughes’ head to know what he’s thinking but he plans on showing him there are levels to this game when they meet on Saturday.
“He really hasn’t dealt with any pressure,” McKee said. “He’s just been kind of walking through guys. How’s he going to react when things get a little nitty gritty and sticky? I’m not one to back down. So I’m going to be in his face the entire time. That’s what we’re going to have to see. How does Paul Hughes react when things aren’t going his way? What is he going to be capable of in those moments?
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“I remember wanting to be neck and neck with the best. But it’s like Fast and the Furious — too soon Junior. That’s the quote I’m looking to drop in this one.”
Truth be told, McKee didn’t even really knows Hughes before he got offered the fight because he leaves scouting up to his father and trainer, Antonio McKee.
Maybe Hughes really is the next big thing but McKee promises he’s not going to be the stepping stone on his ascension to stardom.
“I don’t really pay attention [to my opponents],” McKee said. “My dad’s the one who watches video and footage and puts together the game plan. For me, a name is a name. The hit list is the hit list and I’m just going to continue to go in there and take out people one at a time. Paul Hughes, he’s a tough cat. I can’t take anything away from him. He’s been in there, he’s been fighting and I’m just going to go in there and show him I’m a different breed.
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“I’ve been in his position so I know that young, hungry feeling. I remember the first time I fought a vet. My first vet was Pat Curran. So I remember that hungry feeling. I remember wanting that moment. I’m older but I ain’t that old. I’m still holding my ground. I’m going to do what I do best and that’s come out victorious by any means.
“He lacks some game time, but that is normal,” Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola said Friday. “He is feeling very well, doing well, has good sensations and has trained very well this (international) break with us. He is ready.”
Adams was limited to three EPL games last season because of a hamstring injury that sidelined him from Sept. 27 until March 13. He returned for two matches, then didn’t play for Bournemouth after March 30 because of back spasms.
The 25-year-old Adams played a full game for the U.S. when it was eliminated from the Copa América with a 1-0 group stage loss to Uruguay on July 1 and had back surgery days later.
Watch as Great Britain’s Josh Charlton wins silver in the men’s individual pursuit, as Italy’s Jonathan Milan breaks the world record to win gold at the Track Cycling World Championships in Copenhagen.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 245 weigh-ins took place Friday, and the fighters came face-to-face one final time before Saturday’s event.
The weigh-ins took place at the UFC Apex, which hosts Saturday’s event (ESPN+). Check out the video above to see the athletes from all 11 scheduled matchups come face-to-face, and don’t miss the photo gallery below.
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