Sam Allardyce Was Right Man for the Job, but England Must Go in a New Direction

There was something distinctly Shakespearean to Sam Allardyce's very swift demise as England manager. It was a job he coveted for so long, yet his inherent instincts, his toxic intuition, betrayed him. It was like he couldn't stop himself, unable to stem his urges like so many William Shakespeare protagonists. This was a tragedy for the modern football age.

But regardless of whether Allardyce's exit as the national-team manager was the right course of action or not, English football must now plot a way forward from this nadir. It's only 10 weeks since the last search resulted in the appointment of the former Sunderland and West Ham United manager, but the Football Association must find the energy to do it all again.

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Gareth Southgate has been handed the job on an interim basis for the next four games (against Malta, Slovenia, Scotland and Spain), but it seems unlikely a man so synonymous with English footballing failure will be given the country's top job, as harsh a conclusion as that may be. A long-term figurehead must be found with the 2018 FIFA World Cup already starting to come into focus.

So who next? Allardyce, from a purely footballing perspective, was the right man for the job following Roy Hodgson's resignation.

England showed in their humiliating Euro 2016 exit to Iceland that they needed an organiser and a maximiser in charge. They needed someone who would offer strong leadership, and for all his glaring faults, Allardyce brought those qualities.

What's more, he was English. Allardyce was a simple sell to the sport's traditionalists who believe national teams should be managed by coaches of that nationality. But the FA will struggle this time if it is forced to pick from the domestic talent pool once again—the field has never been weaker.

Looking past Southgate, Steve Bruce is the favourite to land the position, with the former defender out of work after resigning as Hull City manager earlier this season. Then there's Alan Pardew and Eddie Howe, the great white hope of English football's next generation of coaches. Glenn Hoddle's name has also been mentioned, while Harry Redknapp is an outside bet to snatch the job seen not so long ago as an inevitability to be his.

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But none of these candidates fit the bill. It's not that none of them are good enough for the job (although that is also a concern), it's that none of them offer a clear direction for the England team.

They might point to certain aspects of their CVs on a whiteboard—most likely using a laser pointer—if given the platform of an interview, but with Allardyce now gone, the FA should look to go in a new direction.

England should appoint a foreigner as their next manager. Ideally an Englishman would take charge of the national team, providing a precedent and setting an example for the country's young coaches. But the reality is that there is no English manager suitable for the position. The FA must look beyond its own shores.

Not only that, the FA must approach its next appointment with an open mind. Arsene Wenger has been one speculative suggestion made by those drawing up a shortlist of potential Allardyce replacements, and indeed the Arsenal boss would be the dream appointment. But that's all that certain motion will remain—a dream.

Instead, the FA must look at options it has previously considered unbefitting of—below, even—its national team. It must recognise where English football is right now and act accordingly rather than under the pretence of a country belonging at a higher level. England are well short of the international elite in 2016.

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So who should they consider? BBC Sport linked Bob Bradley, the former United States and Egypt head coach, with Swansea City this week, with the American known to be keen on one day managing in the Premier League.

But his record with the U.S. national team, taking them to the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup and coming within an extra-time period of the quarter-finals, as well as Egypt—almost qualifying for the 2014 World Cup despite the country's state of near-civil war—should put him in the picture for the England job.

Guus Hiddink is a more renowned name in the English game and would also make a good appointment given his international-football background. And having taken charge of Chelsea in two separate interim stints, the Dutchman boasts knowledge of the Premier League and the talent pool he would have at his disposal.

If the FA wants a charismatic figurehead, Slaven Bilic could be an option. He is the engineer of the current Croatia team that became a dark horse at Euro 2016, taking the side to Euro 2008—eliminating England and the wally with the brolly along the way in qualification. Bilic is suffering a difficult start to the season at West Ham right now, but that shouldn't discount him from the discussion.

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Having a Frenchman as England manager would break down one of football's final frontiers, and Laurent Blanc is surely a candidate to replace Allardyce. His pedigree as a former France and Paris Saint-Germain manager must put him near the top of any shortlist, even if concerns over some of his views persist.

Then there's Lars Lagerback, the man who masterminded Iceland's quite astonishing last-16 win over England just a few months ago. The Swede is now looking for a new challenge, and the FA should consider giving him one. If he can reach the quarter-finals of a major tournament with Iceland, what could he do with England?

The fact that Fabio Capello failed doesn't mean every other foreign coach would fail at the helm of the England national team as well. That sort of logic verges on gross generalisation to the point of offence.

Allardyce was the right man for the job in the summer, but that was largely due to him being essentially the only man for the job.

And so the shortlist is even shorter this time. English football can no longer afford to be snobbish about its place in the international game. The FA's next appointment must reflect that.