Did You Not Like That?

Roy Hodgson only became England manager by virtue of not being Harry Redknapp.

After England were all but eliminated by a country with a population a third the size of Greater London, Roy Hodgson is "adamant" that he will not resign in the wake of the country's worst ever World Cup performance.
But it is an outrage that Hodgson was ever appointed in the first place.
The man has only won one league title (the Danish) in a quarter of a century and, with England eliminated at the group stage for the first time since 1958, he should have the decency to step down post-tournament.

But with £3.5m per annum plus fringe benefits and perks, Roy is not going to resign!

There were 72 support staff for the England World Cup debacle...
... if you give 72 monkies a typewriter, they don't produce Macbeth.

But surely we could expect something more than Noddy?

We detail why this was a project doomed to failure.

Roy Hodgson 

"I don't think we let the country down" - Roy Hodgson.

Hodgson appears to have far too great an affinity with a few agents - Stellar and Base represent the goalkeeper and the entire defence (that would be the defence that has just been responsible for losing the first two tournament games for the first time in England's history).
Hodgson himself is represented by Base.
Meanwhile, remember the two outlier selections for Euro 2012 - Kelly and Butland - they too were both Stellar clients at the time.
Key Sports' players gain special privileges too.

Non-meritocratic selection from an already limited pool of players is not a strong strategy.

Furthermore, in a fair world, Fulham would have been relegated when Hodgson was manager there but were saved by a match of highly questionable integrity that resulted in Reading being demoted in their stead.

Without making any allegations of shenanigans, the very fact that Hart, Johnson, Jagielka (Stellar) and Baines, Cahill, Hodgson (Base) are effectively in control of the entire global betting market on England World Cup games (and these markets have been colossally liquid in Brasil) should be a cause for concern.
Everybody has a price.

Joe Hart 

In the two games to date, Joe Hart has been the weakest performer via ratings and the primary reason for the underachievement of the England team.

Versus Italy, there were six shots on target - two goals, two shots hit the woodwork with Hart nowhere to be seen, another shot was cleared off the line by Jagielka and Hart dangerously fumbled the only other effort.

Versus Uruguay, 2 shots, 2 goals.
There was no spring in his step in attempting to save the first goal and he appeared the antithesis of Peter Schmeichel as he made himself as small a target as possible for the second goal.

Perhaps if the man focused on football rather than on the financial lubrications of Head & Shoulders, Gillette and Doritos, a more professional performance might be achieved.

Incidentally, and once again not intending any suggestions of anything, the turnover on these England World Cup matches has been in the billions.
At some point, a manager/agent/defence triumvirate (or an agent/goalkeeper one) is going to exploit that opportunity for excessively astronomical levels of profit.

Dr Steve Peters 

The appointment of a psychologist to help the team prepare for the World Cup was a good idea...
... thinking that Dr Peters was the right man to do that job was myopic.

He was chosen for his work at Liverpool.
But Liverpool won nothing last season despite the benefit of no Champions League matches and a bizarre tilt in refereeing decisions.

The key disastrous strategy took place in the game last night.

England players (including his Liverpool colleagues) were instructed to ignore Luis Suarez in the tunnel prior to the game in the mistaken belief that this would undermine the Uruguayan's sense of self.

There could not have been a more self-harming strategy.
You don't wind up a highly talented street-fighter who knows your weaknesses.
Suarez was energised by the collective slur.
England gave the South Americans a goal start!

After Peters monitored Suarez from close quarters throughout a season, how could he fail to diagnose the Uruguayan's psychological state?

Of course, in a corrupted future, such psychologist input could be a benefit to the short-selling of one's nation for proprietary profit. But only in a corrupted future...

Strategic Own Goals 

The list of strategic errors is endless...

Dyke offering the cutthroat gesture at the World Cup draw.
Hodgson dissing the good people of Manaus turning the game into an away match.
Dyke saying Blatter should resign on the eve of the tournament and Triesmann joining in for good measure.
Dyke refusing to offer Hodgson job security pre-tournament.
Not man-marking Pirlo.
Winding up Suarez and then marking him with a player who is repeatedly devastated by the Uruguayan in Merseyside derbies.
Not playing for a draw after equalising against Uruguay.
Hodgson hadn't even done the sums on qualification thinking that England were out of the cup after last night's defeat when, in fact, they could be backed to qualify at around 17/2.
Australia have somehow managed to cover 26km more than England in their two matches. Why wasn't more fitness work undertaken.

Did nobody want England to succeed? Why would that be?

The Gravy Train 

Alongside the underperformance of the team and their management and accomplices, English football has sent over a whole squad of undesirables to leech off the game that they are happily destroying.

The potential choice of punditry is extensive.
So how have BBC and ITV ended up with two representatives of leading bookies, a former Ladbrokes ambassador, a player who defended his brother when the latter was convicted of matchfixing charges, a player charged with illegal betting in the Premier League earlier this season, a manager who utilises PESs, two individuals with knowledge of matchfixing in England and Alan Shearer?

The disinformation from the bookies' representatives has been extensive to the detriment of the viewer who has no idea of the corruptions at play. Viewers have been repeatedly fed incorrect inputs that result in financial loss if acted upon.

There is a charming circularity here in that the footballer (Danny Murphy) who scored the goal that kept Fulham in the Premier League in the corrupted match which sent Reading down is now on the BBC team misinforming us about the World Cup!

These people are hijacking English football for proprietary and non-meritocratic benefit...
... or perhaps something still worse.

In the words of Stuart Pearce: “Other countries must look at us and laugh at times, they really must.”

Sack the lot of them!

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