FOR 30 years they called it the Impossible Job – but in my book it was always the Ultimate Dream.
In 2012, there was a moment when it looked like this too could become reality, when England were looking for the man to replace Fabio Capello.
I was Tottenham manager at the time and was perfectly happy with my lot.
Why wouldn’t I be? He was one of the best in football. But the chance to manage England?
This was the greatest honor of all and I told everyone who asked.
Even though I hadn’t received an approach from the FA, I received lots of messages from people at the League Managers Association insisting that I would.
Still, I heard nothing, until one day, as I turned on the radio as I was leaving Tottenham, I heard the news that Roy Hodgson had been appointed – and that was that.
As great as it was, it wasn’t a huge disappointment because I already had a great job – although not for much longer, as it turned out – and it didn’t eat away at me.
I don’t like living in the past and my days are not full of regrets.
But I’m also a proud Englishman and it still crosses my mind from time to time, especially during tournaments.
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What an opportunity it would have been to work with players like Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard – it was a great generation.
Mind you, now it’s not bad either, because Gareth Southgate’s England team is – in my book – the envy of the Euros.
OK, it hasn’t been good so far, but we’re leading the group.
And the way our half of the draw opened up is as if someone up there was saying, ‘There you are, now go and win.’
England will certainly never have better opportunities and have a ‘now or never’ feeling about things.
Of course there was some criticism out there, although that’s no surprise after such a difficult climate to leave an easy group.
But if Gareth thinks a few grumbles and throwing away the occasional plastic cup are sticky, he doesn’t know the half of it.
Compared to what Graham Taylor suffered – every day at a certain stage – it is nothing.
Such a great man, a genuinely lovely guy, who was ridiculed across the country. And people think everything was great with Bobby Robson too.
They remember the 1990 World Cup, the tears of Gaza and everything else. But he suffered a lot in the previous years.
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Gareth has certainly had some in recent days – as England manager, that’s part of the deal – but nothing like those two.
Not even close.
I remember when West Ham fans were attacking David Moyes in his first spell there and he said to me: “My God, they don’t play, do they?”
This is what real dick is like – horrible, personal stuff and I hope Gareth never gets anything like it.
He won’t touch wood either, because I keep coming back to the draw – and how it’s being put on a platter for England.
Harry Kane is the best center forward in the world, for everything he has fought for so far, Jude Bellingham was the star of LaLiga and Phil Foden was the Player of the Year in this country.
All men around any other nation would build their team.
They would do the same to Jack Grealish and James Maddison and not even get on the plane.
In the palm of your hand
ENGLAND may have been a horrible place so far, but there’s only one new face I want to see on tomorrow’s schedule: Cole Palmer.
I don’t agree with those who want to see a lot of changes against Slovakia as all the group stage games were horrible.
It’s been very slow, very steady, very safe, but you need someone who can produce that flash of genius – and Cole has that special talent.
He can cause chaos on the left and that would also allow Phil Foden – touch wood, he’s back in camp – to float behind Harry Kane.
Many people are calling for Kobbie Mainoo to come in alongside Declan Rice in midfield.
But I would play Jude Bellingham in a deeper role, with Kobbie coming off the bench again if necessary.
I just hope England are more offensive, more positive and play with more speed. If they do that, I don’t see us having any problems.
And now we have Slovakia in the last 16 tomorrow – a team that has players who were loaned out to places like Norwich and Watford not long ago.
Gareth will no doubt find them well organized, difficult to take down and difficult opponents.
But let’s be honest, compared to top teams – like England – they are rubbish and we should rip them apart.
There is no team that scares me, and after saying before the tournament that anything short of the final would be a failure, I’m not going to change now.
Fingers crossed for all those who underperformed – there are a lot of them – to get their act together.
Few will live with England if they do, believe me.
Gareth won’t worry about dodging plastic beer cups or angry fans – although I think it’s wrong to lay all the blame at his door anyway.
As Taylor used to say, a manager is never as bad as you think and is never as good as he is painted. It’s always somewhere in the middle.
Southgate has done a decent job so far.
The last four World Cup matches and a Euro final are not bad as all the draws have also helped him.
Let’s hope that this time he pushes our limits. They won’t call it the Impossible Job if he does.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
