Candidates fill the 'No' lobby

Tommy Docherty, a man with a ready quote for most situations, summed up life in charge of a football team. "Management these days is like nuclear war," he said. "No winners, just survivors."

The most primitive urge of all, the need to survive, is coming into play as the search to replace Terry Venables as England coach lurches towards a compromise. At one time, only the best was good enough to lead the nation's football team, now it would seem we will have to make do with either the bravest or most foolhardy.

Gerry Francis, who has always come across as a sensible man, confirmed that opinion yesterday when he said the England job was not for him. He joined a herd of managers like Kevin Keegan, Bryan Robson, Ray Wilkins, Joe Royle and Glenn Hoddle who had looked at the spirit-buckling pressures inflicted on Venables and his predecessor, Graham Taylor, and decided the chances of a happy life would be improved by remaining at their clubs.

Who can blame them? It takes a soul of granite consistency not to flinch when confronted with "Turnip" headlines and even those with the necessary iron would probably prefer not to have their private lives investigated with the toothcomb intensity that the tabloids apply. The England job has become the most difficult of them all.

So where does the the growing list of refuseniks leave the Football Association? Graham Kelly, the governing body's chief executive, says the preference is for an former England international, but the perfect man appears to be an impossible dream.

If the denials are taken at face value, the only Premiership managers who would meet the criteria are Brian Little, Colin Todd and Alan Ball and none has had sufficient success at club level to merit proper attention. The FA will have to compromise or change someone's mind.

Of the latter category, Robson would seem the most amenable, given that his "no" was the least emphatic. A man whose patriotism was as fierce as his tackles might leave the Riverside if he was persuaded his country was in a desperate position.

If the FA did bend, Howard Wilkinson would appear a natural candidate. He never played for England, but his esteem at Lancaster Gate is high and he has something on his c.v. that, among current English managers, only Howard Kendall can match: winning the championship. He has also not ruled himself out.

A final compromise may yet prove the most attractive, however. One man will become available in 1997 who has played for England and had international management experience. The FA could ask Robson or Keegan to carry the burden on a part-time and temporary basis and wait for the candidate they most crave for the job. Then Terry Venables would become the most successful survivor of them all.