So its the final weekend of qualifiers with England, Scotland, N.Ireland and Rep of Ireland all still in with a shout of the playoffs at least.

We should seal it tonight I think, gonna be a close game as we saw at Wembley they are no pushovers and as there record suggests they are hard to break down, might not score many though which is what lets them down, a point is enough for us and I think they will take that as well as it keeps them in pole position for the playoff place and might be enough if Wales beat Switzerland.

I predict a tight 1-0 win for us though.

Scotland should beat Liechtenstein but then will need to beat Spain which is a massive ask, N.Irelands chances are slim after there defeat in Estonia whilst Rep of Ireland should be good enough for the 2nd spot at least and the playoffs.

I wonder if Rooney's dad and uncle had a bet on Waybe getting sent off? :rolleyes:

COME ON SCOTLAND!

3 match ban for Rooney, probably a game more than he deserved but no sympathy from me.

Lets face England arent going to win the Euros with him so it makes little difference, depending on the draw it will be struggle to get out of the groups because quite frankly we arent even one of the elite European teams.

Devestating news regarding gary speed, as a wales fan, naturally i'm gutted as we were on the rise to something pretty wonderful as a team, but of course football isnt the critical point in moments like this.

The thoughts go to the family and friends, and the whole of football, not just Welsh football, but all connected, as football lost one of the good guys today.

RIP Gary. That really was a shock yesterday when I read that.

Sad indeed, leaves me wondering WTF was going on in his private life to make him want to hang himself; it certainly doesn't look like it was anything to do with his professional life as he was doing so well.

RIP Indeed

A very sad weekend for Football, like Gal says something must of been going on in his personal life that not even close friends seem to know about

Very sad and he was doing a great job as Wales boss with some of there good young talent coming through he seemed to be the perfect man to lead them at this time

RIP Gary

First of all let me point out that I don't like John Terry and don't like him being England's captain.

That being said, I find the outbursts against Capello for having the temerity to disagree with the FA ridiculous. (We all know what FA really stands for, but this is a family site, so I won't spell it out!)

It's the FA that are interfering with the manager's right ot select his team and captain; can you imagine how Fergy would react if the Man U board started dictating to him who he could pick?

Yet more evidence, as if any was needed, that the FA are completely out of touch with reality!

So Capello had resigned, nice one FA, way to prepare for the Euros this year. If they give the job to Redknapp I'll be supporting the same teams as Chipper in the summer!

Give it to Pardew, he's worth a go.

I'm, however, hoping Redknapp gets it and Spurs implode. Followed by Redknapp steering England to three successive loses in the Euros and him being hounded out 'Schteve Mclaren style'...

we will welcome you to the Anyone but England camp Gal. :)

He's engineered all this anyway and wanted a reason to resign. He shouldnt have had the chance though, or been given a 2 year contract before the WC, after what happened there he should have been sacked.

Harry is clearly the only legitimate candidate, anyone else is 2nd best. Pardew has ruled himself out and the only other candidate is Hodgson, no thanks. I am traditional in wanting an Englishman.

As for Capello, the fact he wanted Terry to remain captain implies that he wanted Terry in his starting lineup. For that reason alone i'm happy Fabio has gone because Terry is simply not good enough to start, he has been dreadfull this season.

Innocent until proven guilty? yes i agree but in this case anyone who has seen the footage knows exactly what Terry said so i have no problem already treated himn as guilty.

Sorry, but I find that ridiculous. It's the FA that's been doing the engineering, they know that as soon as they started interfering in the manager's team selection there could only be one of two outcomes. Either they apologise or he resigns.

So Terry isn't good enough to play for England! So who is, face it England are a second rate nation in football terms, the fact that Looney is considered essential should prove that. The guy should never be allowed to pull on an England shirt again after his antics.

As for blaming Capello for what happened in South Africa! Yes he should shoulder his share of the blame, but the dreadful truth is the players he had available simply weren't good enough. Not helped of course by the fact that Looney went AWOL, again.

If there's one thing I blame Capello for it's not having the guts to tell Looney that he'll never play for England again whilst he's manager.

As for giving the job to DeadCrap, are the FA sure he'd take the job? If not they are going to look even more silly as the timing of this was obviously geared around there being enough Spuds fans on the jury to secure acquittal. If they are certain, will they be charging themselves with tapping him up?

You're right, the players aren't good enough, but you can't tell me there wasn't a better option than Mathew Upson at CB? He was absolute dire in the 2009/10 season and Fab still picked him to play against the Germans.

I do find it funny that people are expecting Harry, winner of the grand sum of an FA Cup and a promotion to the Prem with Portsmouth, to do better than Fabio, who has won seven Serie A titles at three separate clubs and two Spanish titles. Madness.

Looking back over the last 20 years of England managers there is very little correlation between trophies won at club level and success at international level.

I just hope whoever the new manager uses the opportunity to get rid of the remaining members of the "golden generation" and uses the Euros as development for the next WC. Fat chance i know.

Ultimately i dont really care that much, i have an "interest" in the national team and not much more than that these days. I long for the days of Euro 96 and WC 98 when I cared a great deal.

I agree with that, although the media would make his life hell, it's the bet way to go. As idiotic as it may be, there will still be those who will be clamouring for a recall for Beckham, let alone not picking Gerard or Looney!

As no English manager has ever won the premier league, nor the Champions League it seems it's not just English players who aren't good enough. The last English manager to win the European Cup was Joe Fagan in 1984! How we could do with a Brian Clough-type in charge now...

Actually Howard Wilkinson won it, 20 years ago; before your time I guess A_C. Had you even started school then?

So, it looks almost certain now that Roy Hodgson has got the England job, evidently he's the only candidate. Personally I'm relieved, far better choice than Redknap in my opinion. Although Roy hasn't won anything in this country he has had success elsewhere, and took two teams to a EUFA final, which is more than Redknap has done. Harry's resume contains one trophy, when he bought the FA Cup, and we only had to beat a Championship team (and one not good enough to win promotion at that) in the final.

The thing that may have been a major factor in the FA's thinking is that Harry is a walking time bomb; he's always just one quote away from controversy, and he loves to give journalists quotes!

The people who will be most devestated at Harry not getting the job ironically, are Spurs fans; I've yet to talk to a Tottenham fan who doesn't want to see the back of Redknap.

It wasn't the Premier League, it was the old first division Wilkinson won. As far as I recall.

I think that it's no coincidence that Brooking being on the board decided to go with you Roy over Harry. Brooking knows all about Redknapp's shenanigans whilst he was at West Ham, from the brown envelopes to the back stabbing of your best mate to get the West Ham job.

I thought it was the first season of the EPL, but as you point out, it was the last season of the first division.

Once the EPL was allowed to exist it was inevitable that only the richest clubs would stand a chance; so unless one of those appoint an English manager then it's possible that there never will be another English manager who wins it.

I agree with you that Hodgson is a better choice than Harry Redknapp. Apart from winning the F A Cup with Portsmouth, HR has never won anything has he?

Roy Hodgson seems like a very decent man, and there can''t be many more experienced managers anywhere in Europe, people forget or maybe don't appreciate that he's managed some top European sides like Inter Milan, Udinese, Malmo, Zurich, as well as managed the Swiss and Finish national teams.

His Premier League record isn't too good, but he's a very safe pair of hands and will give us some stability at last after some very odd choices for England manager in the past few years.

Happy to see that Gary Neville has been added to the coaching staff, he was always a pretty decent player who actually looked proud to represent the country. Also his work on Sky this past season shows how football intelligent he is. A nice addition for Roy.

England, somehow, are ranked third in the world in the latest FIFA rankings :lol:

I wonder how much Septic Bladder had on that outcome with the bookies? :rolleyes:

Lol , don't make me laugh again Galraen , I would love to know how they arrive at that ranking . Judging by the euros we were shockingly average and thank god the S.American's weren't there. The Premiership is held up by foreigners I'm afraid and as a City fan I know that only too well . :angry: !!

England games are usually dull affairs, but is anyone really going to watch them play San Marino?

Probably, in the hope of another Stuart Pearce moment! :D

Maybe I should stick a few quid on them scoring within 7 seconds then, or whatever it was :D