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Tides in English sport change as confidence is restored
14th October 2009
Wind the clock back two years; English sport was in a slump. England’s football team had just had one of the most embarrassing and excruciating nights in its history. A 3-2 defeat to Croatia at the “Home of football”, Wembley, left the Football Association humiliated along with the disappointment of having to oust the first English England manager for 5 years. The whole organisation was ashamed and fans have never really forgiven them for it. Steve McClaren was a proven coach but never a proven manager. In fact his only previous job as manager was at Middlesbrough, where mass sums of money spent on players and low league positions left fans ironically forwarding his name for the England post and even throwing season tickets at him. His win rate as Middlesbrough manager was just 39%. He was never good enough for the role, simply easily available and willing for the job. Too much emphasis was placed on finding an English manager and when we didn’t qualify much of the blame was pushed onto a “lack of players at grass roots level”; this was never the case. Look at the current team, under a foreign and proven manager in Fabio Capello, with young players like Theo Walcott, Gabby Agbonlahor and James Milner excelling at club level and whenever they’re picked for the national side. This transformation hasn’t happened overnight, the problem with English football was never that there were too many foreigners in our game, but too many fools in charge of it. In the midst of the “respect” campaign a new found respect has been found for our national teams.
A similar theme was running through England’s cricket team, this time two years ago too. The degradation of a white wash defeat at the hands of Australia in the ashes (the first in 86 years) spelt the end of Peter Moores’ tenure as head coach. The series had been widely anticipated as a result of the “greatest series” in 2005, which England won, regaining the ashes after 16 years of Australian supremacy. It seemed that the two silver linings in English sport were formula one and rugby. England had unexpectedly reached the final of the rugby world cup in 2007, only falling to the mighty hands of South Africa. And in formula one Lewis Hamilton had burst onto the scene as a media sweetheart and with his youth he soon became a smash hit all over the globe; finishing second with McLaren Mercedes in the formula one world championships.
Now in 2009 there is a vastly different story in English sport. Rugby’s squeaky-clean image has been dramatically tarnished with the “Bloodgate scandal”. Parallel issues have been uncovered in formula one where leading teams have threatened to leave and Renault have admitted to cheating in the game with Flavio Briatore, a leading figure being banned. Also continuous scepticism over Max Mosley’s integrity after a series of suspect events has left the sport with an image of corruption and negative undercurrents. England’s cricketers however have bounced back, winning the 2009 ashes test against Australia and running to a 6 wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the opening match of the champions trophy. This has resulted in a new found optimism in the sport. And with a 100% record in competitive games under Fabio Capello and on the back of world cup qualification secured in an emphatic 5-1 win over Croatia at Wembley, England have put their demons of two years ago to bed. Confidence in the national side has been restored and many all over the world are tipping England as surprise favourites for next years finals in South Africa. It may have taken humiliation and frustration to get here but English sport is on something of a high, unless you are a rugby or formula one fan that is.
A similar theme was running through England’s cricket team, this time two years ago too. The degradation of a white wash defeat at the hands of Australia in the ashes (the first in 86 years) spelt the end of Peter Moores’ tenure as head coach. The series had been widely anticipated as a result of the “greatest series” in 2005, which England won, regaining the ashes after 16 years of Australian supremacy. It seemed that the two silver linings in English sport were formula one and rugby. England had unexpectedly reached the final of the rugby world cup in 2007, only falling to the mighty hands of South Africa. And in formula one Lewis Hamilton had burst onto the scene as a media sweetheart and with his youth he soon became a smash hit all over the globe; finishing second with McLaren Mercedes in the formula one world championships.
Now in 2009 there is a vastly different story in English sport. Rugby’s squeaky-clean image has been dramatically tarnished with the “Bloodgate scandal”. Parallel issues have been uncovered in formula one where leading teams have threatened to leave and Renault have admitted to cheating in the game with Flavio Briatore, a leading figure being banned. Also continuous scepticism over Max Mosley’s integrity after a series of suspect events has left the sport with an image of corruption and negative undercurrents. England’s cricketers however have bounced back, winning the 2009 ashes test against Australia and running to a 6 wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the opening match of the champions trophy. This has resulted in a new found optimism in the sport. And with a 100% record in competitive games under Fabio Capello and on the back of world cup qualification secured in an emphatic 5-1 win over Croatia at Wembley, England have put their demons of two years ago to bed. Confidence in the national side has been restored and many all over the world are tipping England as surprise favourites for next years finals in South Africa. It may have taken humiliation and frustration to get here but English sport is on something of a high, unless you are a rugby or formula one fan that is.