My first instinct was to start this piece with the words “today Steve McClaren faces his first real test as England manager” but, after giving it a couple of seconds thought, I realised that just isn’t true.
This afternoon’s match against Andorra may be Steve’s first competitive match in charge but the reality is that it should be anything other than a “real test”.
No matter what the man himself, or his deputy Terry Venables for that matter, would have you believe there are easy games in international football. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is most certainly one of them.
I am sick and tired of managers coming out with pre-match excuses to justify why they only managed a draw with a team of part-timers or why their 1-0 win against a bunch of amateurs was a good result.
The basic, unadulterated, truth is that there are certain games which teams like England should win by a four or five goal margin without breaking into a sweat. And the match against Andorra is one of them.
Today England might be without a few key players like Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville. But this match is one that Andorra should lose heavily even if McClaren were to play the entire Colchester United team as his starting 11.
The likes of Gerrard, Lampard, Crouch, Defoe, Ferdinand and Lennon should be able to rip these part-timers to shreds and nothing less than that will do.
To be fair, neither McClaren nor Venables have said anything too negative in the build-up to this match. Both admit it, is a game England should win easily, at least on paper.
And I have to express my admiration for Steven Gerrard who has gone on record saying the fans deserve a stylish and comprehensive victory after far too many poor performances in recent months.
In terms of quality, experience, ability and skill the reality is that Andorra are in a completely different league to England. They are from a country whose entire population could fit into one side of Old Trafford, with enough room to spare for all the WAGs to squeeze in too.
McClaren’s first match in charge ended in a resounding and comprehensive 4-0 victory over Greece and, while he might not admit it publicly, anything less than a similar scoreline today will be a failure.
Too often in the past we have been told that in qualifying it’s only the result that matters, getting the win in the bag and ensuring you make it through to the finals.
Well, no more.
We long suffering England fans have had to put up with five years of Sven-inspired dullness which has made watching the national team hard work and uninspiring.
We deserve better. And the better has to start today. And continue on Wednesday.
In terms of opening fixtures, McClaren couldn’t really have asked for anything better than he has got. Greece in a friendly, followed by Andorra and Macedonia in qualifiers is just about as easy as it gets.
So turn it on England. Let’s start feeling proud of you again.
Transfer window
Normally the summer transfer window creaks shut quietly in the middle of the night with little passing through it in either direction. This year, however, the last day of shopping was a hectic merry-go-round for many of the major clubs.
There were, of course, the surprises like the fact that anybody, even a suddenly affluent club like Portsmouth, were prepared to pay a million quid for Andy Cole. Shouldn’t he have retired by now? Or, at least, realised he is crap and drop down a dvision or two.
And there were, equally predictably, the moves that were inevitable like Reyes moving to Real Madrid and Steed Malbranque opting for anyone other than Fulham.
But there were some major surprises too, most notably over at West Ham with the London club appearing to pull off the coup of the season by signing Argentinian pair Tevez and Mascherano.
This duo had been linked with just about every major club in Europe and, without being disrespectful to the Hammers, the mind boggles as to why they would chose Upton Park to launch their European careers.
According to most estimates, the two between them would have commanded a transfer fee of anything from 40 to 60 million pounds sterling and I just can’t see that sort of money being splashed by West Ham.
Rumours have already started that the deal was funded by Roman Abramovich with a view to the two players being sold on to Chelsea at a later stage. Possibly, but a bit too cloak and dagger for my liking. We will have to wait and see how that one pans out.
On a very positive note, Ashley Cole finally completed his move to Chelsea with William Gallas moving in the other direction. I say positive as it means we don’t have to talk about it anymore which is a huge relief.
As for my own club, well, it was an exciting day as the Blades were linked with a whole host of decent players including David Nugent and Danny Murphy. We ended up buying someone called Colin Kazim-Richards from Brighton for tuppence.
It’s going to be a long, long season…
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