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A TV cutaway shot as old as televised football itself. A top-division game, a lingering shot of the stands and the posh seats and there in overcoat, aside some simpering dignitary or other, is sat the England manager. Cue Kenneth Wolstenholme: “There’s Alf Ramsey, perhaps wondering if Sheffield Wednesday’s Johnny Fantham should be recalled to repeat his Owls goalscoring feats for England. Though perhaps West Ham’s Geoff Hurst might get the call.” From Brian Moore to Martin Tyler, “Motty” to “Clive” to Peter Drury’s Super Sunday’s poetry recitals, it’s all part of the routine. An England manager should be seen and not heard and sometimes spotted leaving early to beat the traffic on the M6. An England manager should know their Toddington from their Watford Gap, their Pease Pottage from their Knutsford, and be able to quote the price of a Wildbean Cafe meal deal without looking it up for their expense claims. An England manager is a knight of the road, forever clocking up the mileage in their speedy saloon, unstinting in their efforts to find the next Kalvin Phillips, the one player who can unlock a team’s potential.
I loved the picture of Jude Bellingham seeing red from yesterday’s Quote of the Day, although I still can’t shake the notion that the real reason for his comically astonished fizzog is that Vinícius Jr has just revealed the true age of Luka Modric to Birmingham’s finest export” – Colin Reed.
Gosh, it must have been 40 years ago when I wrote (yes, a letter) to the great Patrick Barclay. I’d railed against a totally unnecessary change of team colours (memory thinks it was those serial offenders Aston Villa). I must have included my work phone number because he rang me (after a journalist’s liquid lunch) and totally agreed with me. Others in the personnel office of Lincolnshire county council neither shared my excitement nor understood the seriousness of a proper football reporter actually ringing me! And then agreeing with me. RIP Patrick” – Ian Dovey.
As a long-suffering Bristol Rovers fan, your photo of Bert Tann retrieving his golf ball from a stream (yesterday’s Memory Lane, full email edition) reminded me that he was our manager when I was growing up. This prompted me to do a bit of research and, to my surprise, I found out he managed them for 18 years but was only their second longest serving manager. By the way, when I started supporting Rovers they were in the bottom half of Division Three. Sixty odd years later they’re still there. The photo could be a metaphor? Rovers groping for success?” – Andy Smith.
I was amazed to see the item on Bert Tann. As a Bristolian I remember him as long-term manager of Rovers in the 1950s and 1960s, when he had a policy of ‘no buy, no sell’, relying on recruiting local talent. Imagine any club trying that these days. It wasn’t a wildly successful policy, but as a Bristol City supporter I was OK with that” – David Sage.
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Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/feb/18/football-daily-email-thomas-tuchel-england
Author : John Brewin
Publish date : 2025-02-18 16:08:29
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