From Colm :Brexit
Hi Myles,
Interesting comment about the Irish passport, you’re not the only one.
See link below and quote from another of the Palmers. A good few Palmers round here where I live (Co. Kerry) but there’s plenty room for more.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/big-demand-for-irish-passports-1.2699070
Interesting times ahead!
From Ian Byrne : Irish passport
Hi Myles,
In preparation for a possible “leave” vote, I’m also applying for an Irish passport, this is a good link, it costs £231, but well worth it:
From Eggert Teitsson: Iceland vs England
It has been interesting to see the English journalists and supporters abuse the English national team and even more the Icelandic team after the game last Monday.
Some of them have suggested that Iceland is the worst team that have ever beaten England in football. I thought that at least some of the journalists would look at the Icelandic team and ask – what did they do to win us?
I have seen this Icelandic team develop over the last four years from “kick and run” and hope for the best to a organised team that gets at least five good chances to score in every game. Look at the winning goal against England. Every team in the English Premier League would have been proud of that play before the shot, that Joe Hart probable should have saved.
But at last I found a journalist that really summed up what I think and criticised some of the colleagues. Amy Lawrence in The Guardian talks about the atmospere around the Icelandic team, the supporters and the football in Iceland.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jun/27/iceland-england-euro-2016-triumph
From Fritz the cat : Isn’t it time the FA sits down with the PL and sorts it out??
Hi Myles,
Hope you managed to get over the disappointment(s). Who will you be supporting now?
Re: the England debacle, it’s obvious (and has been for a while) that something drastic need to be done. A new manager is not going to fix anything (Ferguson is the only one who could have got England to perform I think, but of course there was never any chance). England has had English managers, foreigners, passionate managers, tactically astute ones, they’ve tried it all.
You could argue that Conte took on an Italy who were just as bad as England at the last WC and turned them into Euro Champions beaters.
But the difference is that Italian players are coached in tactics from an early age. Most England players seem quite thick to me, unable to think with their own head and sniff danger out. Either thick or paralysed by fear of failure, or both. The Iceland players seemed able to find empty spaces all the times. It seems to me the English FA needs to sit down with the FAPL and work out how to change that.
The answer should be quite simple really: just copy the German set-up and import some continental youth coaches to coach the native ones. That would improve the quality of the homegrown players and make the PL product even more appealing.
Germany were a joke in the period 2002 – 2006, it’s not as if they have a god given right to be the best. They analysed their failure, worked out solutions, and they are now world champions. I mean, how hard can it be to try and do something about it?
Rant over, all the best and have a good week.
From Jonny Davis : England lack an identity
I think England actually do have the basis of a good team.
Especially when you look man for man versus the competition. What they lack is a clear identity. Having worked in branding for 10 years i know that if you don’t have a clear identity you will not succeed.
The identity transcends more that a style of play. It is an ethos and a togetherness of thought. In tough times the players and staff can look to this identity and see it as a reason to continue and drive forward.
Iceland have this core identity. They are the little underdog who can work together to deliver more than the sum of their parts.
As an Irishman i believe Martin O’Neill has done the same with our team. Both teams have an incredible bond with their supporters. The football on the pitch is not the prettiest but it’s what needs to be done to deliver results. The fans get behind the team and the team perform for the fans.
The big question is… what is the English identity?
Myles says:
We will find our identity as underdogs as soon as we admit that we’ve been crap since 1998.
THAT’S 18 YEARS AGO.
Losing to Iceland should be a beginning, not an end.
But, frankly, everything about the squad was wrong, everything about the team was wrong, and the manager was a total nincompoop.
Stupidly, I invoked the Titanic. But these days we’re not a big ship like the Titanic.
We’re small these days and English football is a backward, ignorant industry and always will be.
It is beyond reform and incapable of reform.
So I don’t worry about that and rarely even think about it.