Last Updated: Tuesday 08 June 1999 14:05
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| Features > The Patrick Barclay Column |
'Keegan Must Learn It's Results That Keep The Public Happy'
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KEVIN KEEGAN comes up with so many ideas that they cannot all be good. But to read of his latest brainwave - taking England's players "out to the public", who would be able to join in coaching exhibitions at the NEC in Birmingham or Wembley - was to wonder if our beloved leader had been touched by the sun that ushered in June by the Thames.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I reckon what the public want from the players currently training under Keegan at Bisham Abbey is a string of wins leading to a place in the Euro 2000 Finals next summer. Those are the sort of PR exercises that matter. If England beat Sweden at Wembley on Saturday, and Bulgaria in Sofia a week today, they will have no need of meet-the-people sessions - and, if they lose these games, the people won't want to meet them anyway.
There is a disturbing lack of realism about Keegan's scheme. It seems to imply a belief that he is still in charge of a club, with the players at his beck and call, when the truth is that their principal employers have an entitlement to all of their working time except in the build-up to internationals. Can you imagine managers like Alex Ferguson happily waving off key members of their teams to conduct "coaching exhibitions", whatever these may entail? If Keegan wants to prolong the honeymoon stage of his relationship with the managers, he must think again.
Yet he is fortunate that Manchester United's ascent to the European club pinnacle has preceded the two end-of-season internationals that could continue England's renaissance. The players will be stimulated and full of pride. It is the perfect preparation for the visit of the Swedes, whom Keegan has promised to confront with a very different England from the side overcome in Stockholm nine months ago.
So far, so good. But as we celebrate the rehabilitation of one of his predecessors, Graham Taylor, it is as well to remember that the England job is about results rather than public relations - and the only exhibition that should concern Keegan this month is that of six more qualifying points on the Euro 2000 board. |
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