And you thought things couldn’t get much worse after Fabio Capello?
Roy Hodgson’s time as England boss is up. And what a way to bow out. His final act was to oversee what’s quite possibly the national team’s most embarrassing result of all time.
Inevitably, the conversation has already turned to who will replace Hodgson, with many assuming that the man to follow him will be another Englishman.
But instead of reigniting that old ‘Sam Allardyce or Harry Redknapp’ debate for the millionth time, we’re looking further afield – even though some of you might not feel too comfortable about a foreigner coming in and taking a job that an Englishman could do just as well…
Here a five potential next England bosses from overseas:
Laurent Blanc
In his last job as Paris Saint-Germain boss, Blanc won trophies aplenty. That said, winning domestic trophies in France with PSG in recent years is a bit like entering an unlimited funds cheat code on Championship Manager.
Having left PSG, he’s available and also has had a taste of international management with France between 2010 and 2012.
Slaven Bilic
Another man to have had international experience, Bilic worked wonders with the Croatian national side between 2006 and 2012. He’s credited by some with for laying the foundations for the current side which, but for a flukey Portuguese counter-attack the other night, might’ve been on for great things at Euro 2016.
He’s a shrewd tactician and his charisma would make him a popular choice.
Being West Ham manager though is a stumbling block. It’s unlikely he’d leave his position and even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to bring Dimitri Payet with him.
Arsene Wenger
Okay, okay… he wouldn’t be everyone’s choice. But given the style of play we’ve seen at Arsenal during his time there, he might be just what’s needed to teach English midfielders to make successful five yard passes again – something they’d clearly forgotten against Iceland at Nice.
His time at Arsenal is coming to an end, too. If Piers Morgan and the anti-Wenger banner-wielding Arsenal supporters get their way, we could be looking at the last 12 months of his time with the club. Perhaps the England job would tempt him.
Jurgen Klinsmann
A German? Seriously?
Yep. He knows the international management scene and, as his work with America showed in the last World Cup, he can get the best out of what seems like a bunch of average players.
And don’t forget, the winners of that 2014 World Cup were his legacy. Joachim Low inherited the team having worked alongside him. If people can get over the fact that he’s German, he might be a sensible choice.
Claudio Ranieri
After last season, you sense that he’d be a popular choice.
The one thing England really need right now is a system that they stick to and, as he showed last season, Ranieri certainly knows how to get a team playing in a certain way.
Would he leave Leicester? Maybe. The club’s owners and fans wouldn’t want it, but given his miraculous achievement last season, perhaps they’d reluctantly accept it.
