He duly disappeared

He duly disappeared.Campbell, who had not played right-back for five years, looked as if he did so every week. The joy of winning, and the relative ease with which it was accomplished, should not be allowed to obscure the fact that England still have a long way to go before they can look ahead with confidence to Euro 2000.
Qualification seems probable after Saturday’s 2-0 win, not least because of the poverty of Scotland’s attack. However, England did not always pass the ball well and, though their self-control was a tribute to the way Keegan had prepared them, their inability, for long periods, to retain possession was not.Keegan, who said he gave the team eight out of 10, took another selection gamble on Saturday, playing Sol Campbell at right-back and Jamie Redknapp in the Bermuda Triangle position of wide left. KEVIN KEEGAN has never been a conventional manager and he hinted, in the aftermath of Saturday’s Anglo-Scottish dust-up here, that he could well change a winning team for Wednesday’s second leg at Wembley

This may seem surprising but it would also be wise. Please make yourself heard cheering on England rather than inspiring Scotland.”With at least one eye apparently on England’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup, David Davies, the FA’s executive director, said: “There will be a worldwide audience for the Wembley game, so it’s an opportunity for our fans to set a good example.”.

The cacophony of boos and jeers which rung around Hampden rendered it impossible to hear the tune or the words sung by the England team and more than 5,000 visiting supporters.
Given that it was the British national anthem being played – not the English national anthem, as the match programme stated – the reaction of the Scottish fans has led to critics.Keegan would not publicly be drawn beyond expressing his “disappointment” at the amount of booing, which was the loudest that many observers had ever heard inside a sporting arena during a national anthem.The England coach routinely issues an appeal before matches at Wembley over the public address system for the visiting team’s anthem to be respected by home supporters.But he felt the need to issue a public statement three days before the game urging restraint from England fans to ensure the Scottish players are not given any extra inspiration to overturn the 2-0 deficit.Keegan said: “While we were all disappointed by the national anthem being booed on Saturday, it did help make our players even more determined.”So before anyone thinks about booing `Flower of Scotland’ just think what it may do to their players. “When I watched that Under-15 game I felt like smashing the television set,” Cartwright said “No encouragement for initiative, no sign of class. After all these years the game at that level is still in the hands of educators who can’t see beyond winning. Is it any wonder that there wasn’t much evidence of class at Hampden?”England’s victory there was achieved by standing up to passion and Paul Scholes’s eagerness to fulfil a role seen by some of us as that of an old-fashioned inside-forward.

Up and down, getting it, giving it and putting his name on the scoresheet It’s called commitment Style is something different.. KEVIN KEEGAN has made a direct appeal to England supporters ahead of Wednesday’s second leg against Scotland at Wembley not to respond in kind to the deafening booing of the national anthem at Hampden Park. At an age when they should be encouraged to explore the extent of their talents the players were constrained by imperatives that called their coaches into question.At a birthday dinner in London on Saturday night I fell into conversation with Malcolm Allison, now in his seventies, and John Cartwright, who once headed the old Football Association school of excellence at Lilleshall Both are in despair of coaching in this country. Keegan reverting to the more direct method that was ideal for Saturday’s encounter but has failed too often in the past against more sophisticated opposition.Proof that the ills besetting British international football can be found in development policies came last Thursday night when England narrowly defeated Scotland in an Under-15 match. Despite Brown’s assertion that Scotland spread enough alarm in England’s penalty area to deserve goals when Kevin Gallagher shot against David Seaman’s legs and Billy Dodds struck the underside of the crossbar, too much of their possession was held in midfield when penetration was the priority.Given the circumstances England’s jubilation was understandable but nobody should get carried away with the idea that they are fully capable of improving upon a 12th-placed Fifa ranking if Wednesday’s match at Wembley provides the expected formality of advancement to next summer’s finals in the Netherlands and Belgium.A domestic dust-up obviated the need for Keegan and his cohorts to agonise over the problems brought by more subtlety than Scotland had in their locker and it has become pretty obvious that Keegan puts greater store by the traditional British virtues of pace and power than his predecessors, Glenn Hoddle and Terry Venables.The modernisation Venables and Hoddle pursued has clearly been set aside.