20 Jul 2016 23:53:23
Here's a surprise but not that it really matters. I'm Irish! Anyway, I like to follow managers and I think big Sam is a good appointment for England.

I know that won't go down well with some but I like him. One thing he always done was get the best out of the players he has. Some say he's negative. I don't agree. Never really had a top job and I for one am glad he is soon to be appointed England manager.

Improvement on Hodgson who I was surprised got the job seeing Redknapp was hot favourite. Best of luck big Sam. In my heart and sole I believe if anyone can improve England big Sam can!

1.) 21 Jul 2016
21 Jul 2016 07:33:42
Me too NB in case you couldn't tell from my drunken leprechaun avatar!

Anyway I thought Steve Bruce would have been a good choice. Might have shook it up a bit. Big Sam feels like very little change from hodgeson.

2.) 21 Jul 2016
21 Jul 2016 07:36:21
I am utterly stunned that this man is now England manager. It used to be a job coverted by the best managers around the world but now we have this fella and Steve Bruce being interviewed.

If someone could point out what he has achieved for him to even have been a name on the list.

The whole FA want sacking. They're a disgrace.

3.) 21 Jul 2016
21 Jul 2016 09:11:40
For me it is the right decision to hand the top job in English football to an Englishman. There was no need to go out and find a foreigner, handing them obscene amounts in wages when a man from these shores can disappoint the nation for peanuts!
It is worrying that the two home grown candidates were Sam and Bruce, two men who have excelled in the second tier of our game yet not done more than really survive in the EPL. That is possibly due to the shortsightedness of the chairman in the top league, it has been fashionable to employ foreign managers in the top jobs in the premier league era. Out of the two then SA is the right choice, he has handled some star players such as Djorkiaef, Okocha and Kevin Davies (haha joking on the last one) , he has always embraced new methods such as being one of the first clubs to use pro-zone. His style of football isn't as crude as it used to be years ago, he had the irons playing some decent stuff in his last season with them. He just seems to have more about him than Bruce. The one thing they both have in common is the ability to get the best out of their players and good man management skills are high up the list for a national manager. I think big Sam just edges it over SB.
BJU, as much as I think the FA is an outdated organisation I don't think we can sling mud at them just yet. We are beginning to see the damaging impact that the premier league was bound to succumb to. First it is the small pool to pick a manager from, the fact that there are only really two choices in the home grown stakes, speaks volumes about how many managers actually get a chance in the top flight. The second will be the players. The percentages a year or so ago were staggering, something like only 34% were eligible to play for England. This figure will drop again if teams don't utilise their academies and promote youth players to the first team.
Finally, can SA be any worse than we have had in previous years? Let's at least see him pick a squad and play a few games before demonising the man!

4.) 21 Jul 2016
21 Jul 2016 09:48:28
BlueJohnUns the best managers in the world and who would they be? The best managers in the world would want to manager their own national teams, if they couldn't or didn't have that job then you need to know why? They would also need to have actually won a trophy with their national team and be fluent in English so it narrows the field down a bit. At least Big Sam will be less likely to pander to either the media, players, agents or their clubs. I think this could be the making of the English team, who quite frankly, are crap at the moment.

5.) 21 Jul 2016
21 Jul 2016 10:30:51
@sa90 you can talk about the amount of players in the game but that team that went to the Euro's had more quality than Portugal or ICELAND! As for English managers I couldn't give two hoots where they came from as long as they know how to win or have a clear long term plan to enhance English football.

Look, Hodgson and McClaren are managers that just don't cut it and we all knew we wouldn't win the Euro's or WC's with them in charge. Now we are going to do the same thing again and bring in a manager who's best described as someone you bring in to help keep a club in a league. Not to win anything.

It's not even as if he likes youth or develops them. He likes buying old bludgeoning players and telling them to kick the opposition off the park rather than playing attractive winning football. It wouldn't surprise me if he brought Kevin Nolan out of retirement and made him captain!

Sorry but that is not what I want to see my England team do. We should have followed the German philosophy before getting Hodgson and thinking 4 to 6 years down the line. Instead we continue to make the same mistakes.

6.) 21 Jul 2016
21 Jul 2016 11:30:49
Sorry but that England team had more quality what than Portugal? Their passing, their ability to break down a defence, in fact the only thing they were better than Portugal at was freezing and the inability to change game plan on the pitch. That was not down to the manager that was the players the manager pick the players but at the end of the day the players lost the ICELAND fixture. I would rather win with a poor dull performance than play so called attractive football and loose. Have we not had two seasons of the later under RM?

7.) 21 Jul 2016
21 Jul 2016 11:51:20
I think Fat Sam is a decent appointment. He is more flexible than Roy, his footballing style has improved, and he has a plan A, B and C in matches. I don't mind someone who is prepared to play route 1 when we are struggling against more talented opposition. Too many managers are scared to look negative nowadays.

8.) 21 Jul 2016
21 Jul 2016 12:42:45
Each unto their own I suppose. Anyway, I've lowered my expectations like the rest of you though now and am looking for a solid 3rd or 4th place finish in the group stages. Just not sure if it is the qualies or the tournement itself.