Sport 13-10-2000 Forget World Cup 2002 Hopes Says Wilkinson who: Howard Wilkinson what: Says England should concentrate on Euro 2004 where: LONDON when: Yesterday snippet: "Howard Wilkinson has told his England successor to forget about qualifying for the 2002 World Cup," says The Mirror today. "In an astonishing postscript to Wednesday`s goalless farce in Finland, England`s caretaker boss believes the next manager should consider tearing the team apart and concentrate on rebuilding rather than earning a place on the biggest stage on earth". "Abandoning the next World Cup is a serious possibility," said Wilkinson yesterday, suggesting that it would take as long as two years to create a world-class England team. "The new manager will have to ponder on that one." Richard Williams in The Guardian agrees with him. "You know what the psychotherapists say: when you have a bad experience, try to take the good out of it," he writes. And in this case, the good "is the knowledge that an era is over" and it`s time to call in a much more youthful team made up of Martyn, Beckham, McManaman, Owen, Ferdinand, Dyer, Brown, Barry and Gerrard along with "the cream of the recent Under-21 squad, such as Joe Cole, Jon Harley, Michael Carrick and Carl Cort". But "to abandon hope and tell Adams, Keown, Ince, Wise, Seaman, and other thirtysomethings that the plan is to prepare for Euro 2004 in Portugal would be an extreme solution to the problem," argues Matt Dickinson in The Times. England may be no match for France or Brazil, but the likes of Beckham, Scholes, McManaman, Owen and Gerrard "should be capable of at least reaching the quarter-finals". [... more]

What The Papers Say is delivered to thousands of readers every morning by web, WAP and email. Sign up today!