FA locates foot in crosshairs

The ridiculous Sven-Goran Eriksson saga reached an apparent climax yesterday as the FA announced he would be leaving his job as England manager after the World Cup.

Two things to note about Svengate. The first is how monumentally ridiculous this entire episode has been. For those who haven't heard: the tabloid newspaper News of the World played a hoax on Sven by arranging an interview with a fake Arab sheikh in which he revealed the following completely unshocking revelations:

A) Rio Ferdinand is a bit lazy.
B) Michael Owen isn't at Newcastle because of his deep abiding love for Tyneside culture.
C) David Beckham would really, if he had his druthers, quite like to be out of Real Madrid.
D) Sven was thinking of leaving the English post after the World Cup, maybe to land at a cushy position in Aston Villa.

Let's just say that A, B & C are hardly points of contestation. As for D, fully three-quarters of national team managers leave after the World Cup, and even though his contract ran to 2008, surely no one but the most naive FA official could have dismissed the possibility of him bowing out after Germany.

Secondly, I agree with the general consensus in the non-tabloid press that this is an idiotic act of self-immolation. How can this possibly do anything other than undermine the preparation for the World Cup, either by promoting squad disunity or by encouraging Sven to phone it in? In the now unlikely event that England do well this summer, the FA are going to look even more stupid.

By the way, this Football365 petition is quite brilliant.

UPDATE: Not so general, apparently. The Mirror's point is worth comment:

"If anything, precedent suggests knowing a manager is due to leave after a tournament inspires players to greater heights more than it impedes them," [The Mirror] wrote]

Both Bobby Robson and Terry Venables had already announced their departures when they led England to the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup and the 1996 European championship respectively.

But both Robson and Venables left of their own accord prior to those cups. And not even dodgy dealer Venables had the tempest of scandal that Sven, for absolutely no good reason, has had to endure.