If England don't qualify for the World Cup it's simple... Roy HAS to go

PUBLISHED: 17:18 EST, 8 October 2013 | UPDATED: 03:05 EST, 9 October 2013

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The end does not have to be nasty. Roy Hodgson does not have to be reimagined as a vegetable, or ridiculed, or abused in the street: but if he does not get England to the World Cup, his position as manager is plainly untenable.

It is simply a matter of fair play. Hodgson will have had his go — two goes, actually, considering he had a free swing at the 2012 European Championship, without prejudice — and it will be time for someone else to take his place. It does not matter who, right now.

There are enough English candidates out there and if none have the c.v. of Pep Guardiola, then whose fault is that? The point is: managing England is a two-year job. Get through qualification, see how the tournament goes and then review.

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Maybe another two years are merited, maybe not. The fact remains, though, that any manager who does not progress beyond phase one does not deserve a second chance. Hodgson reaches Brazil or he leaves. It really is that simple.

Strictly, the matter should not arise. Montenegro are missing their highly regarded striker and captain, Mirko Vucinic, for Friday’s game, plus first-choice goalkeeper Mladen Bozovic and central defender Marko Basa, with full-back Miodrag Dzudovic also doubtful.

Ukraine, meanwhile, are being forced to play an important match with Poland behind closed doors. If England win and Ukraine do not, a draw with Poland next week will be enough to win the group. And England should take three points from Montenegro on Friday night.

Yet, there are, obviously, other permutations. England win, as do Ukraine, who then play San Marino in their final match. In this scenario, England must also beat Poland, to avoid finishing second and entering a World Cup play-off.

England draw, or lose and then risk being overtaken by two nations in the final round of fixtures, failing to make it to Brazil at all. That is the moment at which a future under Hodgson can no longer be entertained.

The England manager has a bottom line: he qualifies. If he falls short of even this meagre achievement it is time for new ideas. That is only fair.

England managers tend to depart amid rancour. Graham Taylor was reliving his experience as The Turnip this week, recalling the time two yobs threw their pints of beer over him at Brentford for failing to reach the 1994 World Cup finals. Steve McClaren will forever be recalled as The Wally with the Brolly, despite subsequent evidence that he is a talented coach.

It does not have to be this way. Hodgson is not a bad man. If England fail to qualify he will be hurting as much as any of us, if not more.

He will not deserve vitriol — he just won’t deserve to be England manager any more.

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The FA have always misjudged the post. They still give out unnecessary, four-year contracts. Yet, after Don Revie’s experience, surely only a foreign manager could be financially enticed away from England?

If we regard this post as the pinnacle for any Englishman — and it is — then why are the FA frightened? If Hodgson qualified for Brazil and enjoyed a good World Cup, he wouldn’t be looking to depart before the 2016 European Championship.

Conversely, if England did not reach Brazil, a contract that expired in July would be less costly to cancel than one running for the best part of three years.

Sir Bobby Robson stayed on having failed to reach the 1984 European Championship and six years later lost a World Cup semi-final on penalties.

Yet might that have happened with another manager in charge, too? And would England have lost all three games at the 1988 European Championship finals, as Robson did?

Future plans: Hodgson is fully behind England's new training centre at St George's Park

The cupboard was not exactly bare at the time. Brian Clough, Howard Kendall, Terry Venables. Bob Paisley only retired in 1983 and was interviewed for the manager’s job of the Republic of Ireland in 1986.

Hodgson is doing well, we hear, based on keeping England’s noses in front in Group H, plus his commitment to the future at St George’s Park.

Yet, being England manager is not about seminars. It is about accruing the results that give those lectures context. If the FA wanted Hodgson to shape England’s future they should have made him technical director and charged another man with qualifying.

As it is, Dan Ashworth, Sir Trevor Brooking and Gareth Southgate are nurturing the next generation and Hodgson is tasked with finding a way past Montenegro and Poland. Nothing else matters. If he cannot do that, he may as well treat the green shoots of recovery with Rosate 36.

Next generation: Sir Trevor Brooking and Gareth Southgate are key to the development of England's future stars

Next generation: Sir Brooking and Gareth Southgate are key to the development of England's future stars

It cannot be that, amid failure, Hodgson soldiers on due to a lack of alternatives, either. We do not know that another manager would not have qualified. We cannot say with certainty that there are no better ideas out there.

With luck the matter will not arise but, if it does, that should be Hodgson’s last day in the job. It does not have to be ugly, but it’s only fair.

It cannot be that, amid failure, Hodgson soldiers on due to a lack of alternatives, either. We do not know that another manager would not have qualified.

We cannot say with certainty that there are no better ideas out there. With luck the matter will not arise but, if it does, that should be Hodgson’s last day in the job. It does not have to be ugly, but it's only fair.

Reading between the lines: Anton Zingarevich could be ready to quit the Berkshire club

Another bitter sugar daddy

It is now being suggested that Reading’s sugar daddy is looking to get out, only 18 months after getting in.

Anton Zingarevich is open to offers for his 51 per cent, after a September deadline passed for his purchase of the remaining 49 per cent.

Another owner who failed to recognise that investments can go down as well as up; not to mention football clubs.

Only a true chiseler would argue Januzaj was English

There is a wonderful song by The Fall called The Chiselers. 'Get in touch,' sneers the band's frontman Mark E Smith. 'They're skint.' He could have been writing about the Football Association. Bereft of ideas, short of young talent, their latest scheme is to raid the coffers of other countries.

It is now clear that they are planning to renege on the Home Nations Agreement that states players cannot be recruited purely on residency.

'He is desperate, they are desperate,' sings Smith. Too right they are. And a great many share their desperate opportunism, just as they did when British athletics, wrestling, rugby and cricket treated international sport as if it were just another extension of the club game and sought to throw money at buying up the best.

Man of the moment: Januzaj has made an electric start to his career at Manchester United

Around this time, some twerp usually mentions xenophobia, so one more time: it is not xenophobic to believe that international sport has specific parameters and that, if we lose sight of this, there really is no point to it.

If what we produce in this country, from coaches to players, is not good enough, then tough. We have to improve, not seek to steal Belgian nationals such as Adnan Januzaj to mask our inadequacies.

Cunningly, FA briefings are equating Januzaj's case to other contested players such as Victor Moses and Lewis Holtby. Apples and oranges. Moses had five years' education in England before the age of 18. He was perfectly qualified to play for this country, but chose Nigeria. Holtby has an English father. England was an option for him, too, but he picked Germany.

Saido Berahino of West Bromwich Albion came to England from Burundi at the age of 10; Raheem Sterling arrived from Jamaica aged five: they both qualify as Moses did.

Apples and oranges: Holtby has an English father but pays for Germany, Moses has opted to represent Nigeria - while Sterling and Berahino (below) have chosen to represent England

Apples and oranges: Holtby (above, left) has an English father but plays for Germany, Moses (above, right) has opted to represent Nigeria - while Sterling and Berahino (below) have decided to represent England

The Liverpool defender Tiago Ilori, who was brought up in Portugal and has played for that country at Under 20 level, was actually born in London to an English father. If the FA wish to compete for him, that is their right.

Januzaj is different. He has no connection to England other than Manchester United possessing the wealth to take him from Anderlecht as a teenager. Even if the FA were to double-cross the other Home Nations, it would mean putting his international career on hold until 2018. Why would the FA pressurise a young man like that?

Januzaj was born in Belgium and may harbour a desire to represent his father's country, Albania. Only a real bunch of 'chiselers' would try to make an Englishman of him.

VIDEO: The Fall - The Chiselers

And while we're at it...

Kevin Ball has been treated disgracefully by Sunderland. Not because he didn’t get the job. Sunderland gave the position to their preferred candidate, as is their right. It was the way they used Ball first that stinks.

He was left in charge for league matches with Liverpool and Manchester United, which ended in predictable defeats; once those were over, Gus Poyet was appointed, just as he could have been two weeks ago.

Poyet’s name was in the frame from the moment Paolo Di Canio was sacked. Within days he was talking openly about the job. Clearly, he could have been installed in time to play Liverpool that Saturday.

Revolving door: Poyet has replaced Di Canio in the Sunderland hotseat after Ball was overlooked for the job

Instead Ball continued as caretaker. Another week went by with Sunderland supposedly considering all options. Another loss, Manchester United out of the way and Poyet turned up with his first match the visit to 15th-placed Swansea City, who haven’t won a league game at home this season.

Ball was just a patsy. Had he pulled off two unlikely wins against overwhelming odds, he might have been promoted. Instead, while Sunderland’s performances improved, nobody was paying attention.

Roberto De Fanti, the director of football, already had his man — but didn’t have the confidence to give him a tough start. Ball has every right to resent this.

Relatively, Southampton have had it easy. They are yet to play one of the Champions League elite this season but a 1-0 win away to Liverpool was mightily impressive. Follow that up credibly at Manchester United when the Premier League resumes and they will have to be taken seriously.

So it was hugely refreshing to hear coach Mauricio Pochettino say that reaching the Champions League — not the Europa League, note — is his ambition this season. There is nothing wrong with aiming for the top.

There is a lot of change, vulnerability and inexperience up there this season; more than ever, a big-thinking little club should dare to dream.

Euro ambition: Saints boss Pochettino is targeting a place in next season's Champions League

Words changed but the attitude remains

We live in a post-modern world. Everything is knowing, everything ironic. Ironic sexism, ironic racism. We are too clever by half, really.

So the only person to be arrested for shouting the word Yid at White Hart Lane on Sunday turned out to be a Tottenham Hotspur fan. He may even be Jewish for all we know, although the majority of Tottenham’s followers are not. Nobody in West Ham United’s corner did enough to cause offence.

Does this mean they refused to engage? Not really. They just knew exactly how far to push it.

'He's coming for you, he’s coming for you, we won’t say his name, but he’s coming for you.' That was one song. He who must not be named isn’t Voldemort. It’s Adolf Hitler. That song, with Hitler inserted, used to be directed at Tottenham fans due to their perceived Jewishness.

Changing tack: West Ham fans continued to bait Spurs fans and players... just in a different manner

Here’s another one. 'Without the Y word, you’ve got f*** all.'See what they did there? Mocked the fact that Tottenham had lost ownership of the 'Yid Army' chant, while at the same time taunting them to break ranks in defiant response and get arrested. Maybe one bloke did. He obviously wasn’t in a post-modern place.

So we’re right back where we were last year. 'Always the victims, it’s never your fault,' the Manchester United fans sang at Anfield. It’s a Hillsborough chant, except it isn’t. It’s more subtle than that. Makes the same point, but stays the right side of the law. As West Ham did on Sunday. They sung about Hitler but with a fresh twist, an ironic twist, a post-modern twist. See where we are?

There is no point changing the words if you don’t change the attitude. The song directed at Jermain Defoe was the most offensive language of the afternoon, but as it didn’t involve racism, sexism or homophobia, nobody was interested. And right there is the problem.

Rail roaded: Grant is the new sports minister

The new sports minister, Helen Grant, has something of an untidy past.

In 2012, she claimed the full £1,666.67 expenses each month for a flat in London, despite living in Reigate (07.27am train arrives London Bridge 08.17am, 07.40am train arrives London Bridge 08.19am, approximately 58 trains each way each day, monthly season ticket £243.90 or with Travelcard £312.60).

This was revealed in a Dispatches investigation that asked the colourful question MPs: Are They Still At It? Labour MP John Mann thought Grant was, and called her behaviour outrageous, though she maintained she broke no rules. 'She is a new MP, she is meant to be one of those with a new mindset,' he said.

In the meantime, we await Grant’s first lecture on governance at the Football Association with interest.

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Daddywoodland, Leeds, United Kingdom, 8 hours ago

For once I have to disagree with you Martin. The debacle in Ukraine, playing long ball in the modern game, goes to show that he's just another FA chump without the guts to do what's necessary. Gary Neville wrote here recently about the English style of high tempo, aggressive pressing and direct football (not long ball!) being adopted and improved upon by other top nations. Our players play this way every week in the league and everyone can see it's what needs to happen at international level. Telling the team to hoof at every opportunity makes Roy Hodgson a bad man. If he thought that was best we should just sack him now.

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The Facehead, Newquay, United Kingdom, 9 hours ago

Can we not just admit that we simply aren't any good, we don't need to point the finger at any individual.

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Rolivan, Lorient, 9 hours ago

Not just Hodgson but the whole Hierarchy at the F.A

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Denny, Dublin, Ireland, 9 hours ago

I am an Rep of Ireland fan but I wish England all the best for the next 2 matches. I have some great friends there and follow Liverpool so hoping you can do it- get behind your team !

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steviejay99, Colchester, United Kingdom, 10 hours ago

Why not simply write it into the contract.... Here is a four year deal... but failure to meet a set objective (qualify for the competition) results in the contract being wound up at a certain date (with a notice period built in Say 31st January of the following year). Everybody knows then, they do it with bonuses for success so why not punishment for failure

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jenny b, london, 10 hours ago

Why are newspaper writer's so sanctimonious about everything?? England are top of their group - what else can Hodgson do? Have you seen the options at centre back? They are appalling! Maybe we should sack all the centre back's if we don't qualify because they aren't very good. Regarding the chanting - football fans will do anything they can to annoy the opposition. If you can't handle that then stop going to football. Why should we change to satisfy someone who has never even paid to get into a game? It's always the outsiders who moan the loudest. Try joining in - you might enjoy yourself!

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denstheman, nyon Switzerland, 10 hours ago

With the ridiculous seeding process that grants Engerland as easy group all the time, qualifying is no great achievement

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bergo10, Al-Quds, 10 hours ago

Re: Kevin Ball... As Don Draper once said to a disenchanted junior colleague - "That's what the money's for!"

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bobby dazzler, london, 10 hours ago

No point in changing managers if you are going to trot out the same old Prima Donna's

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harrythemanc, Manchester, England, 11 hours ago

Firstly England are not average. We're currently ranked 17th of 200+ in the world. And that rank of 17th is an anomaly of the international fixtures this year. We're a top twn side and that is plainly not average. Secondly we have 2 home games which we will win. Both of them. And we all know it.