Rudderless England dread of Finnish touch

That bitter loss, bringing down the final curtain at the old stadium, resulted in the resignation of coach Kevin Keegan, whose frank appraisal was that the job was beyond his tactical capabilities.

England are now essentially rudderless as they bid to pick up the pieces.Keegan’s assistant Howard Wilkinson has the thankless task of turning the ship around against Finland on Wednesday and may even be in for the duration after several potential successors to Keegan ruled themselves out of the job on Monday.

Former England skipper Bryan Robson said he wanted more experience with Middlesbrough before throwing his hat into the ring while Peter Taylor of Leicester and French World Cup-winning coach Aime Jacquet also ruled themselves out of contention, as did Sunderland’s Peter Reid.

FA executive director David Davies maintains the post is veted by the majority of modern managers.But they are not exactly queuing up to take the hot seat, seen as an “impossible” challenge.

Even if the FA do go down the route of appointing a foreigner, even that could see a narrow choice as Arsenal said their Arsene Wenger would have to be “crazy” to do it, though they revealed he will be given permission to speak to England officials.

Robson spoke for an increasingly less silent majority when he came out in favour of former coach Terry Venables to replace Keegan, having worked alongside him in the run-up to Euro 96.

“I said, when I worked with him, that Terry Venables was the best coach I had ever worked with,” said Robson.

But England now have to take a step into the unknown in the knowledge that sections of the FA are not in favour of Venables, who stepped down four years ago when embroiled in a legal battle with former boss and Tottenham Hotspur chairman Alan Sugar.

Nonetheless, he has the vote of British bookies, who have installed Venables as their 4-1 favourite.

England’s gloom deepened on Monday when skipper Tony Adams and defender Graeme le Saux were both ruled out of the Finland clash.

Arsenal centre-back Adams injured his back in a training session at Bisham Abbey while Le Saux was already struggling to be fit after receiving a kick during the Germany match.

Adams’ withdrawal along with that of Beckham leaves Wilkinson with a captaincy headache as second-in-command Sol Campbell is already missing from the squad.

Curiously, England’s Group Nine rivals Germany, runaway favourites to win the group following last Saturday’s Wembley win, have a coaching conundrum of their own as Rudi Voller insists he will be stepping aside next summer for Bayer Leverkusen boss Christoph Daum.

Daum is mired in controversy as he tried to counter allegations of drug taking, involvement with prostitutes and financial impropriety.But he has the support of German legend and Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer as well as caretaker coach Voller, who has led the National Mannschaft to three wins in three outings.

Finland want to prove the adage that there are no easy fixtures at international level any more and have three secret weapons in their squad who know all about the British game.

Their most potent weapon is Jonaton Johansson, who has scored five times in the Premiership for Charlton this season, while Sami Hyppia marshalls the defence just as he does at Liverpool, who have made him their skipper.The other British-based Finn is Hearts keeper Antti Niemi, who as an adopted `Scot’ will be only too pleased if he can keep out the Auld Enemy.

Partnering Johansson should be Barcelona misfit Jari Litmanen, who has failed to establish himself at the Nou Camp but conquered Europe while he was with Ajax. Finnish coach Antti Muurinen says his team must be ready to face an English backlash post-Keegan.

In Wednewday’s other Group IX match, Albania host Greece in Tirana. In Group II, Ireland, bouyed by away draws at both Portugal and Holland, play Estonia in Dublin.

Ireland manager Mick McCarthy warned his men to ensure their previous good work does not go to waste against a side which has six points after seeing off Cyprus and Andorra.