Only three more days....

until the end of the Ice Age that is the international break. Many of you excited by England against Belarus tonight? Nope, thought not. I think Scott at Republik of Mancunia summed my views up pretty well (with the qualification that I still get behind England in major tournaments, just not in these interminable qualifiers and friendlies).

It would be nice for Rio, Wes and Rooney to build on their good performances on Saturday. On the other hand, we don't want Rooney - who is becoming a notoriously streaky player, prone to scoring in 5 consecutive games and then hardly at all for a couple of months - to use up all of his hot streak for England.

The one thought I will leave you with today concerns Rio's comments yesterday that England pre-Capello was a circus.

We all know how Sven was prone to blurring the boundaries between business and pleasure, so the WAG culture seemed a logical adjunct to (a) his own character and (b) his deference to the human being now known only as Brand Beckham. But you would have expected Steve McClaren, a former pupil of Fergie, to have cracked down on all that sort of thing on taking over.

Not a bit of it, apparently - the circus was still in force, with people "more concerned about what they were wearing" than the game (shame nobody told Steve that umbrellas were out). And this is why it is very dangerous for assistant managers to be promoted to the big job.

There are so many examples of this failing and none (that I can call to mind) of it working. I was particularly vehement on this point when people were talking last season about Carlos Queiroz taking over when Fergie retires. Assistant managers as the players' mates - they are a filter to the manager, they can put an arm around the shoulder when necessary, they can be a confidante, a middle man. Changing that relationship to the more distant, authoritative position that a good manager needs is difficult bordering on the impossible.

That was one of my main arguments against CQ being next in line, and one of the many arguments against Steve McClaren for England.

If you want to read a very good piece on the dynamic between manager, assistant and players should work, read this interview with Mark Hughes and his assistant.

See you tomorrow for the last part of the Progress Report series.

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I know there are a lot of you out there reading this blog - my nice little site stats box tells me that. Please do come and contribute in the comments - even a three-worder makes me feel like it has been worth the effort.

Also, don't be afraid to contradict me or even go off on a tangent - ultimately, why I and others make and read blogs like this is because we enjoy discussing United and football. So start discussing!

With that in mind, how have you coped with the international break? What did you make of Rio's comments? And do you agree with my views on assistant managers?