Foreign choice a 'knee-jerk reaction'

Chris Kamara, the former manager at Bradford City and now a television pundit, has criticised the Football Association for its decision to choose Lazio's Sven Goran Eriksson as Kevin Keegan's successor as England coach.

Chris Kamara, the former manager at Bradford City and now a television pundit, has criticised the Football Association for its decision to choose Lazio's Sven Goran Eriksson as Kevin Keegan's successor as England coach.

Kamara joined a long list of critics, which includes the League Managers' Association chairman, John Barnwell, and the Professional Footballers' Association chief executive, Gordon Taylor, when he said: "This strikes me as yet another knee-jerk reaction and it gives off completely the wrong signals."

"Adam Crozier [the FA's chief executive] said that Eriksson has not taken the job for the money, which is the type of thing you would use to justify appointing someone for a club job. What happened to the sense of pride at managing your national team and what gives Crozier and David Davies [the FA's executive director] the necessary credentials to make this decision?

"I am not surprised the LMA and PFA are so upset. For a number of years, they have been pleading for a link with the Football Association and a consultation role in decisions like this.

"Yet Crozier comes in with no experience, initially asks for Bobby Robson to do the job, then within a week brings in Sven Goran Eriksson. What message is that sending out?"

Kamara maintains that Terry Venables should have been asked to succeed Keegan. "It was a sad day for English football, there is no doubt about it," he added.

The LMA claims it fears for the future of England's top young coaches following the appointment of Eriksson as the new national coach and is pressing the FA to put in place a structure so that the best of them can be fast-tracked to the top.

"Where's the encouragement for our young coaches?" asked Barnwell, the LMA's chief executive. "It is the responsibility of the FA to produce better coaches in harmony with the LMA and the PFA. It is not the responsibility of the Premiership clubs, as they're usually run by PLCs with results the criteria.

"The FA has a duty to monitor young coaches who are doing well at their clubs and bring them into the national set-up."