Who’s looking forward to the results of that ‘root and branch’ examination into England’s Euro failure?
We might as well write it off now. That examination is going to be as far-reaching as a trip to the bog and as revealing as an England ‘star’s’ autobiography.
That’s because the man in charge of the investigation is the very same man who plummeted our footballing hopes head-first into this whole sorry, gut-wrenching mess.
Bungling FA chief executive Brian Barwick has made some huge foul-ups in his time but not even he will hang himself by coming to the conclusion we all already know: He’s to blame.
Yes, Steve McClaren had to go after Wednesday night’s disaster against Croatia. That was a given. He had already said there would be no excuses if England failed to qualify, so that outcome was inevitable.
It was slightly disappointing he didn’t fall on his sword but if I was given the option of hanging on a few more hours and then receiving £2.5million, I think I’d probably have taken the same path too. It gave him time to pack his Bermuda shorts and tanning lotion as well.
But McClaren was always the wrong man for the England job and he was always out of his depth. You can’t blame him for being handed his dream job on a plate. It was Barwick who blundered most gravely by making the appointment 18 months ago.
After the Wembley horror show, McClaren wasn’t given any second chance. He didn’t expect one but, likewise, Barwick shouldn’t be afforded the same luxury either. He has to go as well and he has to go now.
It was very loyal of the rest of the FA board to come out as one and publicly say it was a joint decision to give McClaren the job – but just as the manager ultimately pays for his team’s failings, the chief executive has to be accountable for his organisation’s errors.
In any other business, Barwick would have been given the chop but – and this can only happen in English football – instead this CEO is able to give himself the task of rooting out all the evil and working out just what went wrong. I wonder if any of those roads will lead straight back to him?
Let’s face it, as apologetic and determined as he is, Barwick won’t come to that conclusion, stand up and announce that it was all his own fault. Not even he is that stupid.
Instead, there will be talk of change, talk of “getting the right man”, talk of learning from these mistakes, talk of blueprints, foreign players, grass-roots football... There will be plenty of talk – and Barwick will be the man doing it – but the whole issue isn’t as big as many people are making out.
Yes, we do have an over-inflated opinion of how good our players really are and hopefully this week’s shocking events will knock that straight back out of us as a watching public and the players themselves.
But all that does not mean they aren’t good enough to win a major tournament. Greece managed to win the last European Championships. No-one could argue their players are technically better than ours but they had organisation, leadership, tactical awareness and determination.
Find a manager who can instil all those attributes into his side – Jose Mourinho, Martin O’Neill – and England have taken the first and most important step towards recovery. The only problem is, Barwick is the man leading the hunt. Let’s just hope he doesn’t make another almighty gaffe.