Southgate second guesses selection of Barkley

He is tactically inept, dull and it really is a disgrace that our England national teams are managed by incompetent, useless idiots who should never have been appointed, or even offered those jobs.

The 3 men running our national teams at the moment are:

Senior team: Roy Hodgson- A few Scandinavian titles, managed Switzerland nearly 20 years ago, sacked by Liverpool, last club job, West Brom. Mid table dinosaur.

Under 21s - Gareth Southgate - Relegated Middlesbrough, out of top flight management for 6 years

Under 20s - Aidy Boothroyd - Relegated Watford, playing shocking football in the process, earning him the nickname Â’HoofroydÂ’. His last two jobs in club management were at Coventry and Northampton. He was sacked by both. He left Northampton bottom of the football league.

How have these men, with terrible CVs riddled with failure, been able to get anywhere near the national set up?

How can we expect England to be successful in the future when the seniors are being managed by an inept dinosaur who should be nowhere near international management whatsoever, and the young players coming through are being developed by Southgate, who is a dreadful manager, and Boothroyd, who left a club bottom of the Football League?

As for DykeÂ’s claims that England will win the World Cup in 2022, not a chance. In terms of technical skill and ability, English football is light years away from Germany, Spain, Holland and the South American giants.

In fact even the USA have a chance of winning the World Cup before England.

IÂ’m looking forward to next season as Martinez is in the hot seat from the minute pre season starts.

No excuses, just results and entertaining footie, not much to ask for.

Of course not! But it could be that playing two holding midfielders and insisting on "KEEP YOUR SHAPE LADS" just results in a lack of dynamic play.

Ross should release a simple statement "it wasnÂ’t my fault guv, I wasnÂ’t even there."

What's the point of going to a tournament like this with basically a team made up of players from the Championship? They were on a hiding to nothing and we got what we deserved, precisely nothing!

In other countries around the world, wages are lower and there is still immense kudos to be gad from being selected to wear your nation's shirt but nit here, because the national team at all levels has become secondary to the massive paycheques these lads pick up in the Premier League. Until playing for England is regarded with the importance it deserves, we can't hope for success at any level from our national team.

I think it was suggested on the commentary of England - Italy game that none of the Italian players in the U21 team had played at senior level and that they had double the number of Serie A games between them than the English team had Premier League games. I havenÂ’t checked my facts so feel free to point out the error....

So that could suggest that the Italian senior team doesnÂ’t need U21 players at all because they are okay without them or that there are U21 players in their senior squad who also donÂ’t drop down as their U21 squad is okay without them.

The funny thing is the Italians go home anyway on the head-to-head rule as they lost to the Swedes who qualify. Of course the irony is England beat Sweden!

My last point is that perhaps Gareth Southgate should have stuck with the same defence that played in the first 2 games. They had only conceded one.

Like the BBC, the FA is a venerable old institution run by a bunch of decrepit white men totally out of touch with reality, terrified of making radical changes. The boat is not to be rocked at any cost as we are all in this together blah, blah, blah.... This is why we will never win anything at any level ever again.

Surely the managers within the national setup should be at least good enough to hold a post with a Premier League club in the top six or eight? Southgate wouldnÂ’t get a job with a struggling Championship club.

HeÂ’s talked utter claptrap before, during and after the tournament. One of his latest sidesplitter comments was that he would wish to continue. I fucken bet he would, otherwise heÂ’s out of work and if he was extremely fortunate to land a janitors job somewhere heÂ’d be working a bloody sight harder for a fraction of what heÂ’s banking at present.

HeÂ’s an utter waste of space.

TheyÂ’re terrified of foreign managers after being slated for appointing Sven and Capello, and anyone who they consider Â’outspokenÂ’ is ruled out immediately. ThatÂ’s why Hodgson got the job over Redknapp, why Greenwood was appointed over Clough.

And another thing, you need friends in high places. Southgate is good mates with the FA Technical Director Dan Ashworth, so straightaway thereÂ’s no chance of him being sacked.

And who knows... Connections in the corridors of power at FA headquarters could actually get Southgate the England job if he wanted it.

Steven Gerard, has already said that the new England headquarters is fucking boring, so they have learnt nothing from Lilleshall, except they probably spent even more money on this facility.

Go and watch our Under-7 leagues in January, kids play in the mud, and the parents shout "Get it away". A friend whose son once went to represent Liverpool schoolboys Under-11s in Barcelona told me a good story that epitomises the way we are getting taught.

The kids were warming up before the game, when a Spanish coach came over to one of the parents and said, "Are you English"? He replied "Yes," and the Spaniard said, "I know; only the English all want to warm up by the goal."

When Murray won Wimbledon, the English spent seven times more on coaching than the Polish, who produced 3 or 4 quarter finalists that year, so itÂ’s not just football where we lag behind, unless you want to be a coach, of course!!

Years ago a Local Councillor commented to me about one of my pieces of theatre – I asked him "Weren’t you in charge of school dinners last year?"

I really don’t care about England football in many ways but sometimes I dread Everton players going anywhere near these frauds. Hodgson – I wouldn’t let him make my tea.

Brian Clough told it like it was and did the job, a proper job, his face and his attitude wasnÂ’t right, it didnÂ’t fit in with the way the FA works and wants. It didnÂ’t matter that Clough was far and away the best man for the job.

Trevor Brooking has made a career working for the FA, he offers nothing to the game but he conforms so he stays.

As Joe Mercer once said, It was ever thus.

I agree completely re Southgate though. We need better managers at international level. Hodgson made big tactical errors last summer, and Southgate couldnÂ’t get the team firing. Hodgson should have gone last summer, and Southgate should go now.

I’m sure that some of our players were tired – so we should have rotated more and brought in a couple who have played less football (like Oxlade and Barkley).

In my profession, I would have been sacked for allowing standards to drop as low as Southgate was happy to accept. And yes, we quite rightly criticise Barkley for some very iffy performances but you have got to say that our Under-21s were dreadful from a home perspective.

Garbutt was not good but there were a lot worse... Nathaniel Chalobah – what a joke. I saw him in the first game and could not believe how bad he was, giving the ball away. I thought he was a cert to get dropped... but no, there he was again in the second game, giving the ball away, and – surprise, surprise – he plays in the third game, still giving the ball away, and he is a Chelsea player.

Then Kane was not good... Ings terrible. It just reinforces that at international level we are light years away.

Will Southgate get the push? Not a chance – a rise and more TV appearances when he will be the font of all knowledge – like those other great managers Hoddle and Souness.

Wales had a similar situation and played their star players. Worked really well. Got us up the rankings and boosted confidence. Look where we are now!

"There was a need for an end product, for attacking menace.... which Barkley should have been challenged to deliver as a starter, a senior figure, because some of his coaches, past and present, fear that he lacks game intelligence. Looking to 2022, we cannot be sure if Barkley is the unarguable future of the national sideÂ’s midfield or another English footballer lacking a bit of nous."

I think the answer will present itself to us next season.

And before anyone starts raving...The same goes for the rest Ireland,N-Ireland,Scotland,Wales.

As for Barkley, if we got a load of money for him I think we should take it...I just can not see what others seem to see in him.

IÂ’m sure he must have got his badges now but unless my memory is fooling me IÂ’m sure that he never had any badges when appointed as Boro manager and was given special dispensation in order to take the post.

I take your point that Southgate is no Jose Mourinho but neither do I think he is a terrible manager. England have chopped and changed managers for years. We went out and acquired one of the best managers of his generation in Capello and still nothing changed.

I think Tony Abrahams (post 14) has hit the nail on the head. England fail at tournament because we are way behind our European counterparts when it comes to coaching kids. Get Stuck In... Get Rid of it. IÂ’m sure we all heard far to much of that growing up. Youth coaching is what needs to change and it will take years before we start to see the benefit.

I think you are spot on about America winning the World Cup before we do. I would not be surprised...

The minute an English player can run in a straight line heÂ’s worth 㿀m. Many of them flop after one good season, many of them struggle to impose themselves on the game.

I think the talent is there, but soft mentally weak youngsters are being coached by mentally weak ex-players with a history of choking.

Christ, IÂ’m starting to sound like my Dad!

Why we even have an under 21 side is beyond me. All you get is championship players and premier players who barely get a first team game managed by a second rater.

If they are good enough stick them into the full England side and bin the under 21Â’s.

I am still waiting for him to play 90 minutes for both sides properly?

I think, frankly, that big Sam, given the authority to go for it like fuck, could win the European Championship for England. We could call it austerity football.

Just reading what you said about big Sam.

If England had given the job to Jack Charlton, he would have got England to finals and probably won a trophy. I base my opinion on the type of football he played while manager of Ireland and the players that England had available at that time. It may not have been pretty, but it would have been effective.

Same scenario with our rugby team. Ruthless buggers win things not nice PC Yes-men.

As for the Europe debate, we are like sheep following any "ethos" that happens to be en vogue. From 1958-1985, British teams won 29 European trophies and came runners up in 16. Uefa couldnÂ’t wait to ban us, as they couldnÂ’t live with our pace, desire, and directness on the pitch.

Andy is right, Uefa tolerate Britain, but canÂ’t stand us really. I am one of "the coaches" that are referred to, but I teach kids to be direct, pass quick and accurately, shoot on sight. Thousands of positive, attack-minded British kids are being ruined by this pretentious concept of passing it backwards rather than risk losing it.

The old adage applies for me, "Be prepared to lose so you can win."