As per previous blogs, I fondly imagined Mr Robinson to be a man of honour and commitment and made so bold as to advise him that there was no dignity in getting broken off at the ankles and, by implication, that there was some dignity in resigning. Well he promptly disproved that concept. He’s resigned, but everyone knows he was canned, and he took two days with the tawdry process of scrabbling for every last piece of silver he could get his rapacious paws on. Now this behaviour may not count for jack when any potential new employer considers Mr Robinsons merits but it is a further morsel adding to the already nasty taste in the mouths of England supporters.

It sad to see someone grubbing around in this manner when he should have been expressing his gratitude for having had the honour of managing the team and apologising for their performances. Perhaps a little of Stuart Pearce’s approach to management, or more specifically his avowed response in the event of him getting sacked, at Man City would not go amiss?

He is not a scapegoat, although the RFU may wish to believe him so, as all problems are not resolved by this move and the focus will be elsewhere if performance does not pick up under the new coach. Were the rumours of the demise of the old farts at the RFU exaggerated?

Just a little note to Andy Robinson. Andy, there is no dignity in having your ass handed to you by your boss, resign now whilst you have the opportunity, you’re not a politician and you will be believed when you say you are going for the good of the team. You may have a masterplan to turn all this around but it doesn’t matter, you’ve been tuned out. Even if your masterplan would work coming from another coach, it will no longer work coming from you.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Most of the England batsmen have now spent some decent time at the crease, Bell in the 1st innings, sawn off in the 2nd, Cook, Pietersen, Collingwood have shown the sort of grit that has now become expected but a number have also pissed it up the wall, including the last man I would have expected to, Paul Collingwood. He is the epitome of making the most of what he has, yet when his team needs him he goes walkabout, mentally and physically, in search of a personal goal but at least he contributed 96 runs to the cause, I can’t imagine that Flintoff or Strauss checked out the big screen replays on their way back to the pavilion? Still, it was the sort of stiffening I had hoped to see and maybe the Aussies hadn’t, but have to wonder what the Aussie state of mind would have been if Collinwood had still been there at close of play, along with Pietersen, both with 100’s against their names and England on 300+ for 3? Didn’t happen but sport is played for the ‘what if’s’.

I’m trying to remain positive. Honestly I am. Clearly the loss of Shane Watson (who he?) equates to Panesar not being picked, Jones being at home, Vaughan’s presence not being felt, Harmison’s body being there but his mind elsewhere, Trescothick’s mind AND body being unavailable. OK, label me up and put me in the box marked whinging pom but you can’t tell me that the current position would be the same if both teams were full strength? Which is all well and good but doesn’t save the Ashes, we still have more than enough game changers in the team, but the problem is that each innings we need a higher proportion of them to perform to their full potential and that is a tough ask for any team without a chunk of their first team line up. And if you’re not a match winner, or not in match winning form, then it’s time to suck it up and wear your bruises with pride, as per Brian Close (yes I know Brian was slightly unhinged but boy would he take it and come back for more), David Steele, Robin Smith, show some limpet tenacity like Boycott, Edrich, Tavare et al.

All the players have my respect and I believe we have the grit and the ability to compete down under, but my respect counts for nothing in the middle, they need to show some sort of spirit that is going to regain the Aussie’s respect, whatever the result.

I’m afraid it is time for Mr Robinson to be castaway (geddit?). I’m already at the piece where I put in all sorts of trite riders about how I think Robinson was a fine player with passion and commitment for the game, didn’t get as many caps for England as he should have, it’s not solely his fault, he’s not on the field, yada, yada yada but the RFU have to lower the boom now. The RFU needs to check itself as well but there aren’t going to be any changes there that are going to have an effect in time for the World Cup. Let’s front up here, we are not talking about a change that is going to make us into World Cup winners, we are talking about changes that may allow us to defend the cup without being embarrassed. I am not one to advocate managers being thrown under the bus as first response to a couple of unsatisfactory results, I’m not calling for McLaren to go, I would argue that he should never have been appointed but now he is there he should get a fair crack at it, Charlton Athletic were premature in canning Iain Dowie, but Robinson has had a fair run at the job, others on the coaching staff have paid the price and the results, performances and current form and future potential look unchanged. England look like wooden spoon candidates for the next Six Nations, possibly without a win, the Scots are on the rise, Wales resurgent, the Irish never roll over for us and the French are probably the best Northern Hemisphere team. So as things stand we are looking to the Italians to provide us with a little face saving opportunity! I’m not sufficiently knowledgeable about the game to make an objective assessment of the talent available to England, either players or coaches, but I will on this occasion reach for the football club chairman’s credo in this instance, ‘can’t change all the players but can change the manager/coach and keep fingers very firmly crossed’.

Not much grist to the mill at the moment, George W Bush got his political arse kicked, so what took so long guys?  Still, might be interesting to see him sink or swim in the world of U.S. consensus politics, it sounds more demanding than walking and chewing gum at the same time so I know where my money is.  
 

A seemingly intelligent news reader completely, almost wilfully it would appear, fails to get the point about the Poppy Appeal.  Hey sparky, let me explain, this is about the consequences of war not the promotion of it.  Do you imagine that the conscript armies of two world wars, or those volunteer armed forces that follow them, prosecuted the orders they were given more zealously, viciously or assiduously because of the prospect of the sale of facsimiles of a hedgerow flower may make a slight contribution to the healing of damaged minds or bodies in years to come?  That this Appeal has to take place every year is a reminder of the stain on every post WW1 government which has signally failed to address the human cost incurred.  I would like to think that he made his stand in order to highlight the appeal and perhaps rekindle the debate given the current deployments, but I just can convince myself.

Some little while ago I believe that there was some sort of legalistic conclusion to the Ladbroke Grove rail accident, in which Railtrack’s successor company copped to a Health & Safety offence some 7 years after the accident which will now result in a very hefty fine.  A fine that will be paid from Government subsidy back to the Government via the Lord Chancellors Office.  Or it will be paid from the charge made to the train operators, who will pass in on to their passengers.  Christ, that’s going to have the suits in Network Rail reeling back shaking the tears from their eyes.  I believe that Mr Gladstone was of the view that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ but I’m sure he did not envisage timescales this extended?  And I really hope that the families of the victims did not have to hear the mealy mouthed statement put out by Network Rail in which they talk of how they are a new organisation, new processes and practices, lessons have been learned, thorough re-evaluation of procedures, an enormously changed industry.  Gold star to anyone who can tell me what that smell is?