Jurgen Klinsmann is ready to become the new England
manager, but the Football Association will have to move fast as he
weighs up a host of offers from Europe including one from a major
Champions League club. The German is now the top candidate to
replace Steve McClaren. The Mail on Sunday understands he is keen
to discuss the prospect and prepared to move to London for what he
sees as an exciting challenge to relaunch his coaching
career.
But FA chief executive Brian Barwick, who plans to discuss his
strategy with director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking
on his return from today's World Cup draw in Durban, wants to take
his time appointing a new coach following the humiliating failure
to qualify for Euro 2008. Barwick will also consider the merits of
Fabio Capello before making a decision on Klinsmann and has not
given up hope of landing Martin O'Neill, despite the Aston Villa
manager's apparent refusal to put himself forward for the
job.
But Barwick, who used Klinsmann as an analyst when he was head of
BBC Sport, will be under pressure to make a quick decision if he
wants the 43-year-old German who has already turned down
opportunities to coach Chelsea, Tottenham and the USA. Klinsmann
fulfils many of the criteria Barwick is looking for,having turned
round a struggling German national team. He took over at their
lowest ebb in 2004 and inspired them to reach the World Cup
semi-finals in 2006 before resigning.
He would command respect in the dressing room and would also be a
popular choice among press and public, given his reputation in
England. This would outweigh the negative associations of having to
turn to England's fiercest football rival, Germany, to save the
national team. However, Klinsmann's tactical judgment is unproven
given that he has only ever coached the German national side, This
meant taking charge of friendly matches for two years before he
oversaw only seven competitive games at the World Cup. There he
relied heavily on his experienced No 2, Joachim Löw, who is now
Germany manager.
Capello, the former Real Madrid, AC Milan, Juventus and Roma
manager, is more experienced. He yesterday made it abundantly clear
that he wants the job during television interviews and that the
pressure associated with the job would not put him off. 'I would be
proud if I could coach England,' said Capello. 'I believe all
coaches or managers would want this chance to coach England and
take on such a difficult challenge.
'Great challenges have always fascinated me and I still can't
understand why a national side that has been made up of so many
great and very great players has not been successful since 1966. 'I
know the English media make their voices heard and are fairly
severe with anyone involved in the national side. But I have been
given a thorough training with the Italian and Spanish media,
particularly in my last year with Real Madrid.' When The Mail on
Sunday contacted him yesterday, Capello said: 'I think the
interviews I've already done are sufficient for now. We will leave
it at that for the moment, if you don't mind, because that is the
way I would like to do it.'
The FA have not given up on O'Neill and Barwick will want to speak
to the man he also successfully employed as a pundit at the BBC
before accepting that the Villa manager does not want to be
considered. O'Neill was Barwick's first choice to replace Sven
Goran Eriksson before Premier League chairman Dave Richards
persuaded the decision-making committee that McClaren was the best
candidate. O'Neill is in a much stronger negotiating position now.
His observation that he believes he could be the right man for the
job might be taken more seriously than his affirmation that he
wants to stay at Villa.
Among the fringe candidates, Alan Shearer would be considered a
huge risk at this stage, given his lack of any coaching experience.
Guus Hiddink, who has now suggested he may not continue with Russia
after Euro 2008, is understood to value his private life too much
to take the job. If Klinsmann is to be installed, he has already
indicated he would be prepared to move from California to London,
which would be ironic given that he consistently refused to move to
Germany to manage his own national team. Klinsmann told German
newspaper Bild Zeitung last April: 'I wouldn't rule out moving back
to Europe.'
