With the sacking on Steve McClaren after the appalling display against Croatia the other week, which resulted in us failing to qualify for Euro 2008, the search for a manager is now on.  But who are the candidates and who should get the job?  Should he be British or does it not matter?

Well there are lots of names that are being thrown into the limelight that are candidates to get the new job, but one thing is for sure – the FA better get the job right, because this could be the last chance for a long time before we can have the possibility of winning a major championship.

Lets start with the English candidates and then move on from there.  I suppose that high up the list would be Sam Allardyce.  He was in contention when the job was available last time however was never really considered in the end by the FA.  At the time he was manager of Bolton, and doing very well, with Bolton in the top 8 in the Premier League and also getting them into Europe.  He is now managing Newcastle and languishing at the lower end of the table and therefore I think that this will rule him out.  Next on the English would probably be Stuart Pearce.  Former player and manager of Manchester City, he is currently the coach of the Under 21 side.  Talk has been that he could co-manage the national side with Alan Shearer.  The final, and perhaps best English candidate would be Harry Redknap (sorry mum!).  Currently the manager of a successful Portsmouth side Harry has been around the English game for a long time.  He knows the players and seems to be a very good man-manager, a quality that is surely wise to have when you are the England boss.

Then there are the over-seas candidates.  One name that has come up in discussion is Fabio Capello.  He is a proven winner with some great sides like Milan and Real Madrid and perhaps more recently with Roma.  He would be a sound choice, but he has no experience of the English game and has never managed an English Premier League side.  This could be a problem and I don’t think he would come across well with the press.  Martin O’ Neil is another option, although he has said that he is not interested.  The Irishman made his name as manager of Leicester in the ‘90s and he also took charge of a good Celtic team.  Now managing Aston Villa, he wouldn’t be my choice.

So that leaves just one candidate.  He managed at Chelsea until the start of the season and I have to say that I have never liked him from day one.  However Jose Mourinho has the right qualities to be the England manager.  He is arrogant, to take the media attention away from the players, he is not frightened of making tough decisions and he is a proven winner.  He has one the Champions league with Porto, two Premier League titles with Chelsea and two domestic cup competitions with the same club.  As he has managed in England he knows the English game and many of the players and therefore this would be a benefit.  So although it pains me to say it I think that he would be the best candidate for the job at this time.

But what is the rush.  We have nothing to play for until the world cup qualifiers start in later 2008.  So why rush to get someone in the job straight away.  I say wait until the right man comes along and if he is English then great, but if he isn’t then it doesn’t matter.  In my opinion England don’t need a football coach.  Let’s face it if you are playing for England do you need coaching?  I don’t think so as you are good enough to play for your country.  Therefore what we need is someone who can pick the players that they want and that will work, preferably without changing them too much and then get a system that works.  They need to be able to deal with the press well and have good man management skills.  All of these are qualities that Jose Mourinho has.  Harry Redknap also has these however he is not a proven winner.

Oh, and by the way for a stab in the dark, what about asking Sir Alex Ferguson to leave United and come and manage the English national side?  That would be interesting.

Well we are know 1 week into the house moving epic and we are finally settling down with most things how we want them. The only thing that is now crucial that is not yet ready is the Internet.

With nearly everything as it should be I thought that I would just post some pictures of the new house as it is when we have everything in place.

We have spent along time getting to curtains up and also making all the rooms look more homely rather than just being boxes piled into corners of the rooms. It takes forever. I reckon that we must have had at least 50 boxes of stuff. That doesn’t even count all the larger items of furniture and our clothes which came in suitcases (well mine were in a rucksack and Helen’s in all 4 of our suitcase. I think that her shoes took up 49 of those boxes!).

To make matters worse I have been struck down with a ‘soft flu’ (Helen says that I have got man-flu but what do women know?) which has meant that I have been off work for a few days.

Still we are finally getting settled in the new house and starting, finally, to feel like the move was a good thing. Below is a gallery of some images of the move.

I have been a football fan since about the age of four and in that time I have seen the national team go from pretty good (Mexico ’86), to really good (Italy ’90), to absolutely disastrous (USA ’94 or not!), to pretty good again (Euro ’96) and then slip back to average again from ’98 to 2006.  But what happened last night was just a disaster.  So I thought it was time to ask why?  What has gone wrong?

It was the summer of 1966 when English football hit its peak.  We won the world cup at Wembley beating the then named West Germany by 4 goals to 2, with Geoff Hurst scoring an amazing hatrick.  Unfortunately I was not around when this happened and after the events of yesterday evening I am beginning to wonder whether I will be around if and when the next time this happens.  It would be a great shame if another England team could not repeat what the great England team of the 60s and early 70s produced.  Since 1966 we have only managed to get to the semi-finals of a major tournament twice – the world cup of 1990 when we were beaten by the Germans (who went onto win the world cup that year) on penalties and in Euro 96 when once again we were beaten by the Germans (who also went on to win that tournament to) on penalties.  Maybe if it wasn’t for the Germans we would have won two major tournaments since 1966!

There have been great moments in the times when I have watched England.  A few spring to mind.  Firstly the World Cup of 1986 when we played Argentina in the quarterfinals.  It was the infamous hand of god moment and we only lost the game 2 – 1.  Yet again we were beaten by the eventual winners of the tournament (a pattern developing here!).  Still the game was very exiting to watch and the fact that we were cheated made it easier to take.  Secondly, Italia ’90.  There were a few games that are memorable here.  Firstly the quarter final against Cameroon.  Linker scoring twice from the spot and coming back, and we had just beaten Belgium with a last minute winner from David Platt.  Then there was the semi final against Germany, as I have already mentioned.  Thirdly has to be the goal Michael Own scored against Argentina in France ’98.  That lit up the tournament but once again we went out on penalties.  I supposed the last real exiting good times for England was the 5 – 1 win over Germany in Munich on our way to qualifying for the 2002 world cup in Japan and Korea.  This was a great feeling, but I couldn’t help feeling once we had beaten them that we still hadn’t won anything.  And guess who ended up in the final of that tournament against Brazil? (who incidentally we had been beaten by in the quarter final).  Yes you have guessed it the Germans.  Since then it has mainly been doom and gloom cumulating in the defeat last night meaning that we do not qualify for the 2008 European Championships.

So what is wrong?  Why are we not succeeding in a game we invented and in a game in which we have the best domestic league in the world?  Well here are my thoughts on the reasons why.

First and foremost we have an inept fear of losing.  Watching those players out on the pitch last night it was clear that they were in fear.  A fear of losing the match and not qualifying.  When you are feeling like this, it is clear that you are not going to perform your best.  Any manager that comes in to manage the England team needs to find a way of removing this fear and allowing the players to go and play fear free.

Secondly, changes.  The England team is changed far too much.  How many times is the formation changed for different matched and the personnel that are playing different from the last match?  Too often in my opinion.  You look at the successful teams around the world and they play the same players for most matches, except when injuries arise.  You can look at the Croatians last night.  They had pretty much the same starting line-up as other games playing in the same formation.  Take Italy, the world champions.  They are still playing Paulo Maldini in defence even though he is about 40.  This is probably not because he is the best in that position, but because it gives continuity and that works.  For goodness sake select a team and a formation that works and then stick with it.

Thirdly, playing like a team.  This relates to my last point in that when we play we often look like a team of strangers.  This probably links with the fact that the team is changed all the time.  When playing for the national team you are not playing with the same players week in week out and therefore it is crucial to keep things similar so that team understanding can be developed.  This cannot happen when different players are constantly used and formations and tactics changed.

My final point comes down to the premier league and English players overseas.  There are loads of foreign players in the premier league.  Take Manchester City who have a new manager (funnily enough a former England manager – Eriksson).  They are now up in the top six and how have they done it?  They have brought in about 5 new players that are all from overseas.  There are too many foreigners taking the places of good English players, which means that they do not play week in week out for their clubs.  Take the forwards who finished the game last night.  Peter Crouch, doesn’t play that much for Liverpool because of Dirk Kyut, Fernado Torres and Voronin.  Darren Bent and Jermaine Defoe haven’t really played for Tottenham that much because of Berbatov and Keane.  This needs changing.  The other thing with English players is that no many of them (only Beckham but he doesn’t count as he is in the USA, and Hargreaves who played for Munich before the summer but is now at Manchester United) play abroad in other countries.  This enables them to gain more experience of different styles of play and to monitor how other countries play and gain success.  Look at Brazil.  Not many of their players play in Brazil.

It is clear that there is a lot to think about in order to get the state of the English game back on track.  Do the public want the best domestic league in the world or do they want the best national team in the world?  Maybe we need to make that choice sooner rather than later.

Back in early July we went round to some friends for a bacon butty breakfast.  After we had eaten, we decided to nip round the corner to take a look at some of the new houses that the developer was building at the other end of the estate to were we were living at the time.  This small innocent visit has developed into a full-scale move that has culminated in us moving house this weekend.

After we went to take a noisy, Helen said, “lets just be nosy and pop into the sales office to see how much they are”.  My reply was something along the lines of why bother, as we are not buying; however in true husband and wife fashion she managed to drag me into the sales office.  We got discussing the price of what is now our house and low and behold it seemed a rather good deal.  We were always planning to take the leap from a 3 to 4 bed house and this seemed like a good opportunity to do so.

So what was so good about the offer?  Well firstly the house was going to be bought by someone else and then it fell through due to personal circumstances.  This meant that all the upgrades that the previous buyer had purchased (stainless steel appliances, upgraded kitchen units and worktops, dishwasher etc.) were left in the house and we not at extra cost.  Secondly the plot itself was great.  Big, south facing garden, and it is very detached as there is a road to the left and someone else’s garage to the right.  Also the huge garden was already turfed which would have cost a lot.

The upshot of that morning was that we put our house up for sale, which sold in a week.  This meant that we could immediately offer on the new house and then it was off and running with a sale and a move that was looking like it would go through towards the end of the summer.  However all was not so smooth, as the buyer eventually pulled out due to him being very picky with the planning permission over the conservatory.

At the end of the summer with the house seemingly slipping away from us, we were flown a lifeline with another buyer coming in for our house.  Although the offer on the table was not a good, it meant that the move could be back on and that the plot that we had set our hearts on could be ours once again.

So that brings us to this weekend.  Thursday morning and the move was scheduled to happen around mid morning.  I had hired a van, which was collected early morning.  We loaded the van and packed as much as possible into boxes ready for the move.  At half ten we had a call from the solicitors that the money was in the system and it shouldn’t be long now.  Half two came by and still there was no call.  The van still packed and we were no were near clearing the house, we began to worry about whether the move would go through at all.  Would we have a bed for the night?  Finally very late in the afternoon we got the call and the keys were ours.  By this point we were very tired and had to start moving things into the house.  By the end of the day we had just got the bed in the bedroom and slept on a bare mattress with a duvet cover.  We were shattered.

The next day came and with new found enthusiasm were must have been running on adrenalin at this point as I had gotten no sleep the night before.  This was mainly because of having no real bedding and the fact that we had no curtains up and it was like sleeping in daylight with the lights from the houses opposite.  We spent the day getting straight and being able to live in, fitting lights and all the fixtures and fittings such as toilet roll holders and towel rails etc.  We also hung pictures and put up curtains and curtain rails hoping that the nights sleep would be better.  It was but still not brilliant with so much to do.

Saturday morning came and this was the day that the carpets were going to be fitted.  The whole house had to be floored, carpet in every room except the kitchen and utility.  Two gentlemen came at around 0930 and they worked and worked and worked for 7 solid hours until they had the entire house completed.  They were brilliant and did whatever we asked them.  Could have asked for a more professional job to be done.  Now came the exiting bit as we could start getting the furniture into place now that the flooring was down.  Helen and I worked until around 2330 on Saturday night, only stopping for a bite to eat of oven chips, breaded fish and mushy peas.  We sat in the kitchen with the borrowed portable TV watching I’m a Celebrity eating our fish and chips, before getting back to work.

We had a lie in on Sunday morning, which I think was a good idea.  Writing this on Sunday evening I am absolutely shattered and the thought of going to work tomorrow is not one that I want to contemplate.  I would rather spend to day recovering from what has been a very hard, but enjoyable four days of quality time with friends and family helping out with the move.  Thanks to all that helped and feel free to drop round when you can!

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Watch the Video Diary - Coming Soon!

The day of the house move. This video tells the story of the day!

Yesterday evening I was proud to be invited to the launch of Accelero. Accelero are the Young Enterprise company of Ribblesdale School. It was a brilliant event with over 100 people attending the dinner and dance evening, which was also a celebration of Enterprise for Ribblesdale School.

For those of you who are not sure what Young Enterprise is, it is basically where a group of young people (in the case of Acclero, year 11 pupils) form a company and then trade business with that company for a period of 12 months before the company is folded at the end of the academic year. The young people are the ones in charge and the teachers (me being one of them) are just there to advise and offer support and guidance where necessary. It is a great learning experience for all those who get involved. Not just for the youngsters who are part of the company but for those like me who are there to help and support and also for those parents of the young people involved. It really was an occasion to be proud of.

This years Young Enterprise group have decided to call their company Accelero. Their motto or tag line is “accelerating towards a greener future”. I am sure that from this information it is clear as to what field their company is going to produce and sell. There are three main products that the company are producing. Firstly, a product which is produced every year by the company - the leavers book. This contains photographs of all the school leavers of that year and is a great memento of the pupils of that year group for both the young people and some of the teachers. The company take the photographs, collate the book and even get sponsors together to help fund some of the costs. The second product is a board game. This game is called E-Mission. he E standing for environment in this case. The idea of the game will be to educate young people about the environment by including things like recycling and climate change. Learning will take place whilst enjoying playing the game itself. The final product is perhaps the most innovative yet. The government have a big agenda (and rightly so) about teaching the nation youngsters about climate change and global warming in the hope to enabling us to live greener life styles. With this in mind Accelero are going to be producing Schemes of Work and Teaching Resources such as worksheets etc. which will be sold to primary schools. 10 one hour lessons will be included in the product with the aim being to get youngsters more aware of the issues surrounding climate change and global warming.

So, back to last night then. It was great to see so many people there. The night started with a gathering in the bar with people chatting and having drinks. Then it was to a sit down meal of Melon and Prawns to start with, followed by a traditional Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding dinner and finished with chocolate profiteroles and coffee.

Before the meal 4 members of Acclero delivered a key note speech to the audience about their new company and why we should be involved with such an innovative product. They even took questions from the floor about their products, their funding and why they though that they would make money. With many of them at just 15 years old they were outstanding and a credit to the school, their parents and the community. Well done to all of you.

Once the speeches and the meal was out the way it was time to get down to business and the selling of the shares. Shares could be bought for £2 and so I invested my last £2 coins in my pocket into what I believe will be a good investment. If the return is anything like the year before then I should expect to receive around £6 back come this time next year.

After a lot of dancing and partying the night was over. If the next 7 - 8 months are as much fun for the company as the launch evening then we are in for a fantastic time, winning lots of prizes along the way. Good luck Acclero.

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Accelero Web Site - acceleroweb.co.uk
Ribblesdale School

We have once again this week been hearing about the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes (JCDM) at Stockwell Tube Station in London.  This week is was calls for Sir Ian Blair, the police chief of the Met to stand down over this mistaken shooting.  I suppose the question that this post is discussing is where the police to blame for the shooting?

First of all let me start of by saying that I do not condone what the police did that day in the tube station.  They shot an innocent man which is tragic.  It shouldn’t have happened.  How it happened has been discussed over the last 2 years and been in and out of the news all the time.  On the BBC website you can see an in depth look at the events that led to the shooting of JCDM.  From what I have read and heard it seems that there was a clear case of mistaken identity.  The man was simple in the wrong place at the wrong time.  However if JCDM was not doing anything that was perceived as threatening that day, as we are made to believe then why did the police shoot him?  Although armed officers were deployed, I am sure that it was not the intention of the police to use them unless absolutely necessary.  Therefore surely something must have happened in order for the shooting to take place.

I am not an advocate of  police carrying guns.  I have written about guns in society and commented on a number of other blogs about them, particularly the situation in the USA.  I believe that police carrying guns only encourages criminals to do the same.  Look at the situation in the USA, where they have a much higher rate of gun crime than we do and their officers carry weapons.  That said, I do believe that there are occasions where armed officers are necessary in order to diffuse a situation with certain criminals.  I suppose that a suspected suicide bomber in a tube station would be one of those times.  Potentially there could be hundreds of casualties and/or fatalities if the suspect was not stopped.  These armed officers play a crucial role in the policing of this, and many countries, and the job that they do, is one that I would never want to be placed in.  The pressure those officers are under deciding on whether to shoot or not is amazing.  The man (or woman) who actually shot JCDM must now live with the fact that he shot an innocent man for the rest of his/her life and that must be very difficult.

However with all the bad press coverage that the police have got for the day that happened, this is only making the situation for the police and the shooter even more difficult.  On that day in Stockwell tube station I can only assume that JCDM did something that made the officers there feel the need to shot him.  Indeed the BBC website states the JCDM was aggressive towards officers and behaved in a way that made the officers think he was guilty of the charges they thought he was guilty of.

It comes back to the respect that the public now hold for the police.  Maybe I am old fashioned but when I was young I was brought up to respect the police.  When I was a kid and was walking down the road with or without friends and a police car or officer went of walked past, it made you a little fearful.  You had the respect for them and the job that they were doing.  Many people do not have this respect these days.  I have often watched ‘Road Wars’ and ‘Street Wars’ on Sky One of a night and you see some of the incidents and abuse that they have to put up with and it is wrong.  Young men (and woman) hurl abuse at officers in drunken states and then they are released in the morning without charge or any punishment whatsoever.  This is wrong.  On the day of the shooting, I am almost certain that the police would have warned JCDM before they opened fire.  They would have given him a command to surrender before shooting.  Why didn’t he comply?  It is thought that JCDM may have had illegal drugs in his pocket which maybe why he failed to comply with the officers instructions.  However with an officer with a gun pointing at you, not doing what he/she asks of you is surely not a smart thing to do.

I suppose what I am trying to get across is that we do not want to end up in a situation in the future were there is an armed officer that could prevent a criminal or terrorist from causing massive casualties and fatalities because in the back of his mind he/she is worried about what will happen to them if they do end up killing the criminal.  These officers should not have this doubt in their mind, as the decision making that they have to do his hard enough without this.  Maybe this will serve as a lesson to all those who do not obey what the police instruct them to do.  That said my sympathy goes out to the family and friends of JCDM, as it must be hard to forgive the shooting of an innocent man.

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The Shooting of JCDM in Pictures
Menezes ‘aggressive’ to officers
Calls for Sir Ian Blair to Stand Down
What happened: Death of Jean Charles de Menezes
Road Wars on Sky One