When Sven was appointed, it was deemed a good idea at the time to install an assistant manager who would be groomed to become the next england manager after Sven...

Yet, this time around there is no mention of any such plan for the future England manager.  They must really have the right man that he will be the England manager until the end of time.  Is he a yes man?

Or is it the FA painted themselves into a corner and didnt have the balls to chuck everything out and start from scratch after the world cup and not only consider who would be the next England manager but lay foundations for the next England hopeful after them?

Ok, its taken me a long while to decide on my reply to this question...mainly because I couldnt quite understand it the first half-dozen times I read it

I personally feel that it is a good thing NOT to have the replacement manager working as an assistant under the current manager. My reasoning is simple; as the assistant the person will have been, over time, trained to think like the actual manager. Therefore when they take over management of the team they will not bring anything new to the mix. It is, imo, fair to say that both their selection methods and tactics will be similar to those of their mentor.

I realise that they have given the job to McClaren but I believe this was the FAs backup plan, implemented after Scolari (unoffically) rejected the position. They did have other people on the shortlist but appointing anyone of those could have had serious reprocussions (poaching out of contract etc) with their associated EPL teams.

I dont think that McClaren was in anyway the FAs first choice and for that reason I dont think that they have given him position because he is a "Yes" man. I do however think that he will be given, at most, 4 years to prove himself but in all honesty I will be surprised if he is still their manager come the 2010 World Cup ! I think the FA know that they need a manager with a different tactical approach to the game, one that fits with the EPL style of play and that it is unlikely McClaren will deliver.

Give it a year or two and I think a totally new manager, probably from the EPL, will be given the job.

What is so hard to understand?

Not necessarily, a good Assistant manager should bring something to the table.  A different perspective.  Your description sounds like they would be trained to become a yes man because they can only agree with what the manager is thinking.

If the FA had to resort to a backup plan they really should have stopped themselves from making a rash decision.  McClaren himself was poached out of contract with Middlesborough.  Didnt he sign a new 5 yr deal recently?  The FA really should have only given him a 2 yr contract .

My main issue with McClaren at the moment is I dont see us changing from how we are at the moment to what we will be like under him.  Surely we should see some of his influence coming through in the way we play and substitutions.     Sven could well be ignoring his advice for all we know.  We havent seen any of McClaren at this World Cup, its all been Sven.