Just joining into this discussion today, not because I'm not interested but because the real world can be demanding some times, especially if outside of BB you've got a job and a family. I am pleased there's a contest for the England U21 job, as I was worried recently that so many English managers seem to have dropped off their activity, partly perhaps for the pressures of the real world but I think also that the national team has not been an incentive for some time. That's a pity because we've generally had good managers at a national level, and we've also had a group of experienced and generally supportive club managers too.
For that reason, although the Portuguese team are right to highlight that England U21 has untapped potential, I think their approach has rubbed quite a few of us English club managers up the wrong way. The problem here isn't that English managers don't understand the game, or the training model of BB, and nor is it that we don't care about the national team. We don't need patronising, which I'm afraid some of the posts in this thread rather feel like. Much of the frustration I feel about the English national set-up can pretty much be put down to bad luck - we don't seem to do well in the draft, we haven't done well in the group allocations for national tournaments, often, and in individual games I think the English team has often played above its skill levels but still missed out on some crucial wins in unfortunate circumstances.
I realise that managers who ply their club trade in another country can't necessarily be expected to know this stuff, or appreciate quite why the 'spirit' in English BB seems so low at the moment, but I think a little research into the recent history of the England forum and so on should have warned you against coming in and saying that you wanted to "propose" turning England into a more active forum. If proposing it was all it took, we'd have done it a hundred times by now.
That said, I think it's a shame that the discussion has become so entrenched. I think "team Portugal" have helped us avoid a dead contest, and for that, at least, they deserve our thanks. England ought to be big enough that we can find within our ranks enough quality managers to run the national set-up ourselves, and it is a bit of a wake-up call that passers-by from another country think the English community is so dead. My preference would always be for someone from within the England community to manage the national team. That makes it more likely they'll be involved before and after their stint as national manager, and thus able to ensure continuity and help build a dynasty not a passing phase of success. But I hope that if they are as keen to help England assert itself as they say, they'll stick around even if they don't win the election, and maybe manage (and train) a young England star as well. Then they'll be in pole position next time round, and might win over managers like myself who would prefer to see someone we've played against in club competitions at the helm.
Astragoth's approach to team building is close to mine, and I've played against him in the past. He'll get my vote because I trust that he will do the best he can to get the best out of the talent available, and work in a cooperative way with the managers who are responsible for training up that talent. But I don't discount the contribution that "team Portugal" have made here, and I hope they stick around.