Capello is out, Pearce in – for now. Simon Hattenstone finds the debate about the England management alive and kicking at Wembley
Ding ding! All change! And so the England management merry-go-round turns one more time. Out with unsmiling disciplinarian Fabio Capello, in with unsmiling patriot Stuart "Psycho" Pearce. Though, in truth, probably not for long.
England's current caretaker manager is possibly the most invested we've had (he's even been known to fly a St George's flag in his garden) but he's also likely to be one of the more transient.
At Wembley, Pearce's future was road tested in a meaningless friendly against Holland, in which England were beaten 3-2 by a last minute goal. He's already said he fancied his chances at this summer's European Championships. He is thinking ahead, and his squad is practising penalties for the day they are knocked out in the quarter-finals, if things go well.
But, and this is what makes him so likeable, he's also suggested he isn't quite up to the job – "lightly raced" was the apt analogy he used for his management career thus far.
To be fair, most recent England bosses have been lightly raced. Whereas the first two professional gaffers (Walter Winterbottom and Alf Ramsey) clocked up 252 matches in charge between them, their 14 successors have averaged only 30 games. That's barely a pastime, let alone a career.
After Ramsey brought home the World Cup in 1966 (still England's only proper trophy), the job became the most desirable in English football – the pinnacle for any aspiring manager. Since then it has become one of the most lucrative (Capello collected £6.5m a year) but also the most thankless of jobs – even Stephen Hester might think twice before taking this one on.
The pre-match atmosphere at Wembley was muted – fans wearing mutual scarves, half England half Holland, more noise from the jingling charity buckets than the singing.
All the talk was about the new England manager. One fan, Steve Heppell, thought Pearce should be given the chance: "I think he lacks a bit of confidence, but he could do the job easily." But he was in the tiny minority. Even his son Adam thought the former England fullback was not ready. The job, he said, should go to Harry Redknapp, the current Tottenham manager. "Harry for now and groom Pearce as successor."
"It's got to be Harry," said Mark Whalley, who had come from Preston with his family.
Did they think the manager had to be English? "Oh yes. It's the passion," said his wife Paula. "They've got more passion." Mark added: "You couldn't understand Capello."
Over the past five decades, so much has come between England managers and success – cowardice (the FA was too scared to give the job to Brian Clough in his prime), the United Arab Emirates (Don Revie ran away to the UAE), alleged dodgy dealings (Terry Venables quit to clear his name), Turnips ("Swedes 2, Turnips 1 – Graham Taylor's nemesis), God (Glen Hoddle's controversial views on disability and karma cost him his job), sex (Sven-Göran Eriksson), brollies (Steve McLaren) and now an over-robust defence of the captain.
When sports enthusiast and theatrical absurdist Sam Beckett said: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter, Try again. Fail better," he could have been talking about the England job.
Truth is, in recent years most have failed worse.
Which takes us to the latest crisis. Months away from the European Championships, no captain to talk of, no manager, and we've not even got to the team. It could be a script from a surrealist sitcom – England manager sacked for backing captain. But of course, it's never quite as simple as that. The captain in question, John Terry, is facing a court case after being charged with the alleged racist abuse of Anton Ferdinand (who just happens to be the brother of Rio, a rival for the captaincy – relationships are never simple in the footballing world). It was said that Terry had lost the support of much of his team, and he had to go.
There are more contradictions in the England football philosophy than you'd find at a Walt Whitman conference. Footballers and fans have suggested in recent weeks that we've had enough of Johnny Foreigner. To understand English culture, and any associated bigotry/jingoism/racism, we need … an English manager.
What's more, we need an English manager with history – step forward Pearce, who has been upset by the fact that the media has thought it necessary to remind the nation that he had to apologise to England team mate Paul Ince after racially abusing him in 1994, and that his brother Dennis Pearce stood for the BNP in the European parliament election of 2009. Pearce said, rightly, he couldn't account for his brother's politics and that the Ince incident was history. But that's the point of history – it doesn't go away.
While there was little support for Pearce as full-time manager, nobody was crying for Capello. Shaun Wicks, one of a bunch of students from Brompton Academy, on a FA leadership programme, said it's simple why Capello had to go. "'Cos he weren't a good manager."
His ICT teacher, Lance Lindsay, one of only a few black people in the crowd, thought it was right that Terry was relieved of the captaincy. "As captain, you portray a certain image. There's leadership and morality, and obviously if you don't have any you shouldn't be captain."
In all likelihood, the job will go to Redknapp – the people's champion, the man who was cleared of tax evasion at Southwark crown court last month, and hours later tipped as heir to Capello. In a robust defence, he showed why he was the right man to fail better than his predecessors – he wasn't a fancy-pants, art-loving, super-literate European, he was good old English 'Arry who didn't write, didn't read, didn't text, didn't email and didn't break the law.
Of course, he is the perfect man to lead England. It's not just he fact that he's English. Underneath the arch, the ballgirls gathered before the match. "Say Harry Redknapp," Katie Taylor told her friends. "Is that the one with the really fit son?" asked Abbie Jones. The others nodded. "Yeah, Harry for me," she said.
As for racism, alleged or otherwise, all were from the no tolerance school. "No racism should be accepted whether you're captain or not" said Rebecaa Dignall.
Pearce is an honourable man, the first to bow to a superior candidate. When managing Manchester City, he refused a contract because he said he didn't deserve one (he was right). When Clough, his club manager, told him he didn't deserve to be picked for England ("I hear you've been picked for Engand, 'well you're not bloody good enough, not in my opinion. Now get out,'" he took it in his stride. And let's face it "The game's afoot ... cry God for Psycho, England, and Saint George" never had much of a ring to it. Harry's time has surely come. All change!