It's not second-choice-Steve's fault. The FA should have listened to Boro fans

I would like to say, "I told you so." But I won't.

Just as most Boro fans have long known, Steve McClaren may be a good coach (apparently confirmed by Roy Keane, of all people), but he’s no manager and he never will be.

Of course, he should go, but it’s also unfair to sack a manager after a handful of games; if you ever thought that there was no chance of winning anything under Sven, it’s even less likely under Mac. Managers may change, but the ineptitude of the FA is eternal

Fortunately, I couldn’t see the England embarrassment against Spain over here in Munich. I watched an average Germany side easily beat a decent Switzerland team. That a team as obviously limited as Germany can stroll to a World Cup semi-final, see off less-than-average sides such as the Swiss and still instil fear in much more talented sides speaks volumes.

There cannot be a more pessimistic nation than Germany. The best social system in the EU, the best transport system and the biggest exporters in the world (ok they have huge unemployment problems, but this is changing) and an economy, unlike Gordon Brown’s, that is not based on rampant consumerism, which will eventually implode. But go on the Straße and talk to your average German and they’ll whinge about how they’ve never had it so bad. My only reaction is to sigh, “Try following the England bloody footie team! Then you’ll know real failure.”

Before the 2006 World Cup every German fan I spoke to told me that the best Germany could hope for was not to be humiliated on home territory. And they were terrible … before the tournament, that is. Gerrard, Rooney, Cole (probably both), Ferdinand, Neville, Lampard. Everyone single one, plus more, would get in the German team. Few German players would get a look in – if talent were the criteria – in the England team. But as recent German teams have shown, it’s not only about talent.

Get a new manager, or coach, or whatever it’s called nowadays, and get the players playing simple English-style football. We can’t keep the ball as well as the Dutch or Argentines, we haven’t the skill of the Brazilians, we don’t have the intelligence and durability of the Germans, but we have a little bit of everything, and bags of commitment for good measure. Old fashioned? Probably. It’ll probably come unstuck now and then, but whether it’s a manger from the British Isles or from Outer Mongolia matters not one jot – it must be better than what we’ve had for the past few years.