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Magill On Monday - contributed by Daniel Magill
Let me get this straight. The man who less than two years ago was deemed not
good enough to manage England's under 21's has now been brought back to
manage the first team? Don't get me wrong here; I am in complete support of
the FA's decision to bring Peter Taylor back into the England fold, however
if I had been Peter, I'd have told them where they could stick their Italian
game!
The FA's treatment of Taylor following the departure of Glenn Hoddle was
nothing short of a scandal, and it is a testament to the man himself, and his
obvious passion for his country, that he is willing to go back into the
employment of these bungling buffoons.
At yesterday's press conference the thoroughly decent Taylor said that he has
no problems with Howard Wilkinson's decision to release him and is looking
forward to working with him once again. No problems there I suppose, time to
wipe the slate clean and all that. But where was Wilkinson? I have no wish to
further criticise a man who has received more than his fair share of unfair
criticism, but surely if anyone should have been sitting alongside Taylor
yesterday, it should have been Wilkinson. Yes he would have been on the
receiving end of some uncomfortable questions, and yes he would doubtless
have found them very difficult to answer, but he is supposed to be the man at
the top of the team's management hierarchy and his presence may have at least
helped to show that there is no lingering animosity in the air. Instead, all
we got was Crozier and Davies persisting in their fruitless attempts to
convince us that they are in control of matters. Sorry boys, but even the
decision to hold the press conference at Heathrow airport gave the impression
that you weren't really sure who was going to turn up for the job!
Elsewhere, Newcastle Utd should be hanging their heads in shame after their
refusal to allow Bobby Robson to help out the England team on a part-time
basis. For as long as I can remember Newcastle Utd seem to have been under
allusions of grandeur. In recent years Aston Villa, Chelsea, Fulham,
Middlesborough Leicester and Man Utd have all been willing to help out their
country when it came to managerial staff. Not Newcastle though, they're far
too good for that. Robson was plainly thrilled at the prospect of returning
to the England set-up and he should feel rightly aggrieved that the club, for
whom he has done so much, are unwilling to grant him a dream return to
international management.
Finally this week, did you read the weekend reports about Southampton's
Hassan Kachloul who apparently feigned madness in Morocco so to avoid being
called up by the army? Hassan claims that he carried out the elaborate hoax
because he was scared that if he had to join up he would never succeed in his
dream to become a professional footballer. Allegedly, two members of the
Moroccan authorities were sent to investigate Kachloul's mental state, but as
soon as they arrived at the Dell and were welcomed in the car park by Glenn
and Eileen, they hastily returned to Morocco assuring the authorities that
Hassan was safely residing in a British mental home!
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E-mail me with any comments or views: dmabfc@aol.com.
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