Why Jurgen Klinsmann would be a good choice as next England manager

When England won a World Cup qualifier back in September by virtue of a last-gasp Adam Lallana strike, manager Sam Allardyce credited the good fortune to a lucky coin he had been given.

One can only assume that Big Sam misplaced that coin in the last few days.

The 61-year-old left his position as England coach on Tuesday “by mutual consent” after being caught out by an investigation by The Telegraph. In a series of meetings purporting to be with businessmen interested in investing in soccer, an undercover journalist with the newspaper recorded Allardyce negotiating a $520,000 deal to offer advice on circumnavigating third-party ownership rules that his employers put in place in 2008. He also insulted his predecessor Roy Hodgson, criticized FA ambassador Prince William and called the FA “stupid” for rebuilding Wembley Stadium at great expense.

[ FC Yahoo: Rooney no longer good enough for Man United ]

Allardyce served just 67 days of his $4 million-a-year contract, although he does hang up his national team boots with an admirable 100-percent win record from his solitary game in charge.

The decision to relieve the former West Ham manager of his duties was not a clear-cut one. There are certainly moral objections to getting a man fired through entrapment, and Allardyce technically didn’t break any rules by imparting the knowledge that there are loopholes around third-party ownership.

However, he probably deserves to walk on the basis of being so terribly indiscrete. Not only is it a little greedy to want to supplement the FA’s generous wage with additional work, but he was foolish to express such candid opinions to a group of businessmen he had just met.

[ FC Yahoo: Former Premier League power’s new harsh reality ]

And so, the English Football Association continue to live out their version of Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day.” Once again an embarrassing incident has led to a fresh search for a new manager, and once again the choices for such a poisoned chalice seem quite underwhelming.

Gareth Southgate has been appointed caretaker manager until a permanent choice is made, and many believe he is a leading candidate for the job. Over the summer he led the England U21 side to a Toulon tournament title, he has plenty of experience in the England setup and he has youth on his side.

The bookies’ current favorite, meanwhile, is Steve Bruce, who discussed the role with the FA over the summer before he left Hull City in controversial circumstances. He brings with him a wealth of experience and he has no current employer, but his “traditional” methods wouldn’t exactly help England reinvent the wheel.

Alan Pardew’s name is also in the hat – much to the chagrin of Crystal Palace fans – as is Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe, who would risk driving the momentum of his promising young career off the rails by accepting the gig.

But there is one name that hovers just outside the small cabal of likely candidates, and that name is Jurgen Klinsmann.

Many would scoff at the inclusion of the United States men’s national team coach in the discussion. The 52-year-old German has never managed in England and his stint as gaffer at Bayern Munich did not end in success. It was thought that his reign as Germany manager may have been buoyed by the excellent work of his assistant, Joachim Loew. (In fact, Philipp Lahm delivered a damning verdict on Klinsi in his autobiography: “He didn’t care much for tactical stuff. It was up to the players to come together before a match and discuss how we were going to play.”)

Furthermore, the general feeling among USMNT fans is that they would be fairly happy to see the back of him.

However, in this writer’s opinion, Klinsmann is the best candidate on the England shortlist.

If there’s one thing England does not need, it’s another middle-aged “yes man” who will come in and pick the same old players, play staid soccer and do nothing to reinvigorate a giant that has been sleeping for decades. Most of the candidates on the shortlist fit that uninspiring mandate – but not Klinsi.

The former Tottenham striker was hired by the DFB shortly after Germany suffered a disastrous Euro 2004 tournament. In addition to the duties of coaching the players on the field, he and Loew set about completely restructuring the German game. Much of his work involved putting pressure on Bundesliga clubs to develop youth academies. He spoke to the BBC in 2010:

Within a few years, the DFB ruled that every German top flight club had to have its own academy system to develop the stars of tomorrow. This was the groundwork of Germany’s much lauded 10-year plan to get back to the very top of the beautiful game.

Exactly 10 years later, the Germans won the World Cup in Brazil.

Klinsmann’s plans to shake things up were met with much resistance. He did not achieve results immediately on the field, but he was setting up a system that would fit the specific culture and environment of German soccer in the long term. That’s something he has endeavoured to do in the U.S., and something he would attempt in England.

He may not have coached in England before, but that might actually work to his advantage. He knows the culture very well from his two celebrated stints at Tottenham and he will offer an outsider perspective that Steve Bruce could never hold.

His California-tinged optimism may be the exact elixir that the dour and pessimistic world of Team England needs.

Most importantly, Klinsmann wouldn’t be scared of shaking things up or upsetting the status quo. The man who made Landon Donovan stay at home would surely have no qualms with concluding Wayne Rooney’s flagging international career.

And we must not forget that the German coach is steeped in success. He took Germany to a World Cup semifinal and the U.S. to a Copa America semifinal. That’s more than any England manager has done in the past 20 years. And of course, he lifted a trophy or two as a player – not least the World Cup in 1990.

Would England’s youngsters feel more inspired by the team talk of a world champion who has been there and done it, or Alan Pardew?

It seems that the English FA have two choices: They can select a home-grown manager who will deliver in qualification games and disappoint at tournaments, keeping the team in its perpetual state of “Groundhog Day.” Or they could try something different. They could try an innovator who will bring a fresh perspective, optimism and history of success.

Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting different results. Klinsmann would be a new and exciting path for England. He may not be the perfect choice and he may not work out, but failing to try something different at this point seems like insanity.