Tennis is the new football? God I hope not...

Football? So England have crashed out of the World Cup. Again. Hardly surprising when you consider that the Premier League is the most commercially viable (and therefore most rewarding) league in world football. When you remember this, who would want to bother playing for their country? Clearly not those chaps who wore the 'three lions' on their shirts on Sunday. More apt would have been 'three lion cubs'... ignoring the goal that was(n't), the save and the ball hitting the bar... clearly boys were sent to do the work of grown ups.

And after all this... the guy I feel most sorry for isn't even English. Watching Fabio Capello today being interviewed on TV, after the disaster of his first tournament in charge of 'Football England', he was apologetic, humble... desperate. He said, (in broken English) that he wanted to stay in the job and put things right. (Cynics might suggest he's got '12million' reasons for staying in the job...)

Was it made clear to him at the outset 'the poisoned chalice' that the England football team has become? Was it in his job description that whatever the contest... England will win? No matter what and under any circumstance. But wasn't the target for this tournament the quarter-finals? With that sort of approach they didn't deserve to win... but they did only miss the target by one game. So through rose tinted spectacles... not that bad really?

But is it really possible for him to stay in the job? Sections of the fickle public have already made their minds up. Officially, he'll find out in a couple of weeks time when some people, who no one has ever heard of..., who run the English FA..., decide whether he is still in charge of the national team. HIDEOUS! This decision won't be taken by these people at all. The decision will be taken in the court of public opinion, championed by some sections of the press and these 'decision makers' will sack Capello in the hope that they will keep their own jobs and of course, their huge salaries.

Honestly, I am gutted for him, but I don't really see a way back for him from this. I hope I am wrong but if I'm not, who will replace him? Redknapp Senior? Beckham? Hodgson? God forbid, Shearer? The manager should stay and the manager's managers should go. Or at least some of them. Clearly the FA is now 'top heavy' and it is time to wield the axe... (The removal of the 'get rid' clause just prior to the start of the tournament demonstrates how inept they are. Doesn't it?)

Soundbites for the press followed by knee-jerk reactions are one thing; but if you take your eye off the ball (no pun intended), you may end up throwing the baby out with the bath water...

Up until two weeks ago, Capello could do no wrong. He had won trophies as a manager everywhere he went. He didn't win one here. It just happened to be at the World Cup... he just happened be in charge of England.

Not being a huge football expert, I have always said that a manager can only say so much. Once the whistle is blown it is up to the players. Sure the manager will shout instructions to his players... but can't the opposition hear them too? Just a thought...

And so to the tennis. And Andy Murray... isn't he doing well? The only guy to the quarter-finals without dropping a set and with some big fancies now starting to struggle, he should win... right?

But hold on a minute... here we go again! Andy Murray could become the first British Men's Singles Champion since 1936 and then again he might not. England could have won the World Cup a second time but they didn't. If Andy Murray fails, it won't be for the lack of trying. When England failed in South Africa? I think it was...

So what do we learn from all this? Looking backwards is not gonna win the next big trophy. England could be football world champions but aren't. Murry might win Wimbledon. That'll be up to him and his opponents. But the point is this; singing about the past will not get your heroes to the place you want them to be.

I think it is time some sports grew up. They need to stop banging on about the past. It was more than a lifetime ago in my case. The future is where new champions will appear from. And if the Dutch happen to appear as champions of football in a week or so... then so be it. I'll be gutted that England didn't win. But I will feel somewhat compensated by my own little victory. I backed the Dutch before the tournament kicked off to be outright winners. They have it all to do with Brazil as their next opponents but at least they have given me a run for my money which is way more than England would have done...