England's Glory

I feel what it must be like to be a Man United fan this morning. I watched England last night and not only did I enjoy watching the performance, which was exceptional considering the reserves that were present, but also the confidence that I had in them getting a result. They now have a belief amongst themselves which has been present for the last handful of games and this can only be a good thing when it comes to preparation for the World Cup. Last night the obvious show ponies were not there, and it is hard to say whether this had anything to do with it, but the passion and desire to win, even in a friendly, was clear and apparent.

I have actually begun to enjoy watching England football matches again. This is something that I have not had since the days when I didn’t know as much about football. The initial event dies down the older you get, but the performance and the manner in which it is delivered become more important. Most fans only want to see a desire to win, and they will go home satisfied.

I like the Italian chic that we have now as a unit. There is a cool confidence that is comfortable knowing itself. Capello looks like the type of man that either the team play well for, or he will ring up a member of his family that will put horses heads, or a New Forest pony’s head in Wright-Phillips case, in their beds. That’s what we need.

However, to every ray of sunshine there must be a cloud racing across the sky to cover it. Ying and Yang. The law of nature. One England team does well as another falls apart. I am talking about the cricket team, who are currently on tour in India. All of the good things that I was saying about the football can be said in reverse for the cricket. Heads are down, no confidence, no real direction or hunger, no amazing talent coming through and surprising people.

I am sat here at six o’clock in the morning watching the third one dayer and preparing for the usual collapse. I enjoy watching cricket for the statistics that appear for every ball that is bowled, and you can always tell who is in the ascendancy by the number of statistics that the commentators say they are breaking. The records are all being broke by India. A young side with lots of talent and future.

The catalyst for the downturn in England’s fortunes was the prostitution of their involvement in the Stanford Series. They had their pants pulled down by a Texan billionaire and like an abused convict smarting from the showers, they are now recovering and getting back their confidence. Some of the young players though could have been turned forever.

Another thing about India that I have wanted to get off of my chest for a while is the call centre culture of the new Indian mega-industry. As an industry itself it is a bizarre concept, get a load of technology that will make it possible for anyone around the world to be connected direct to an Indian call centre, and then undercut call centres in other countries by 4/5’s to ensure the business.

The service levels are expectedly worse than the service levels of a domestic customer service line, but because of the cost companies chose to ignore this. A weird culture has developed in India itself, as the operatives pretend that they are English, giving themselves English names and using English current affairs briefs to converse with you on a “normal” level. All very strange, and I would encourage anyone to get them talking about current affairs if you get a chance. They will begin well and read what is on their crib sheet, but then as you delve into more detail they will just change direction of the conversation and talk about something else instead. You can have a bit of fun with it, that is if you’re in the mood for fun and not exceptionally frustrated.

Also, the operatives are under extreme conditions often having to commit to a company for two years and agreeing not to sign to anyone else if they lose their job with the company that they are with. Their accommodation is paid for by the company and therefore if they lose their job they are genuinely destitute until their ban is lifted. This is pressure to deliver. I feel that this pressure is unfair and you are asking people to deliver promises that it is impossible for them to make.

Most progressive companies are beginning to return from their Indian experience and resort back to British call centres, finally realising that the customer service is the only point of a call centre and if you compromise that then any money that you spend is wasted. But there are still some that are attracted by the carrot of low costs, and in the current climate, costs are everything.

At my work we now have our IT service helpdesk in India. The one benefit that has grown from this is that the IT skills of every European based employee have grown ten-fold. It’s amazing what you can learn out of forced frustration.

One day it will all come back I am sure, but we need to see it through first with tolerance.