Wilkinson gets FA coaching job

FOR Howard's end read Howard's way. Four months after the abrupt conclusion to his eight year reign as manager of Leeds United Howard Wilkinson was sworn in yesterday as the English FA's first technical director.

He did not swear on a footballing bible because writing a new testament for the coaching structure of the English game is going to be the 53 year old Wilkinson's principal task. At the moment he has many ideas and a blank sheet of paper.

However, the immediate effect of Wilkinson's arrival at Lancaster Gate will be to reunite the academic and professional sides of the English game. Crucially, he is to remain chairman of the League Managers' Association.

Charles Hughes, the FA's director of coaching, is due to retire in just over 12 months' time but in reality the Hughes era was finally ended by yesterday's announcement. Hughes, though a gifted organiser with an immense work capacity, has been criticised for his remoteness from the professional game.

Yesterday the new technical director was flanked by the present England coach, Glenn Hoddle, who made it quite clear where the divisions of responsibility would now lie. "Who plays for England and the way we play will be my decision," Hoddle explained.

"And I'm the only person who will be responsible for results.

"I'll be at the cutting edge, as Howard has been for the last 16 years in a result oriented job. Now we will be responsible for producing a better coaching structure, and the production of quality coaches is very important. I wouldn't send my child to a school which did not have qualified teachers in it."

Wilkinson did his best to scotch early doubts about his appointment which have stemmed from the direct tactics, allegedly from the gospel according to Charles Hughes, which he employed both with Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds. "Forget any preconceptions that you may have," he told reporters. "Reserve judgment until you've read the script.

"A lot of assumptions have been made on my behalf about what I think and how I believe the game should be played. Someone told me once Never trust your assumptions because they generally lead you back inside your own head, which may not be a very `pleasant place to end your journey'."

If this sounded like typically unfathomable Wilkinson he was quick to add: "I think it was Eric who told me that." Wilkinson, of course, was the Leeds manager who sold Cantona to Manchester United whose manager, Alex Ferguson, was present yesterday.

As to what Wilkinson will actually do, well Keith Wiseman, the chairman of the FA, has told him that "your job is to direct the production of a structure in England that will raise playing standards in our young players to world class levels." To which Wilkinson's response was: "Is that all?"