Sutton the star absentee from England talk-in

We've had many a phoney war – remember those World Cup warm-up games against South Korea and Cameroon? – but few could have imagined that an England squad would assemble for what might best be described as minor manoeuvres and a debriefing. That's about as close as this week's two-day rather cosy-sounding get-together at Champneys Health Resort near Tring, Hertfordshire, and a morning's training at Aylesbury United FC, gets to a real confrontation. Oh, and there's a reception at Buckingham Palace for the party thrown in, too.

But with nearly three months before England's next game, you can comprehend Sven Goran Eriksson's rationale and his desire to gather his troops around him during what is an "international week" for many other countries. "Sven feels particularly strongly that we want to do the best we can to try to create the fraternity of a club situation," explained David Davies, the Football Association's acting chief executive last night. "There are few enough opportunities to do that, but here is one of them.

"There is only one training session, because the prime object of the exercise is to reflect on the events of a very busy World Cup year and to look ahead. The players will be encouraged to talk to Sven and each other and express their views in good surroundings without the pressure of a game."

The FA are confident of full support of the key clubs following Monday's appointment of Davies and Nic Coward in a temporary role, a position that has satisfied Eriksson's concerns about the incredibly shrinking FA (no chief executive, technical director or assistant coach as replacement to Steve McClaren). The only questionable area is the composition of the 26-man squad, which looks rather prone to withdrawals because of injury (although with no game, should that matter?) and the absence of certain personnel who should have been present.

At a time when one or two England regulars – notably Steven Gerrard and Gary Neville – are probably relieved that there is no match, such has been their indifferent form, there are other players who might have been "called up". Few West Ham players are currently performing at the zenith of their capabilities, yet Joe Cole's state of mind will hardly have been enhanced by his demotion once again to the Under-21s. This could have been an opportunity to re-introduce Gareth Barry to the seniors as a possible soution to that left-side dilemma. With David Seaman possibly injured, and definitely in the winter of his career, why not bring in the admirable West Bromwich goalkeeper Russell Hoult?

Perversely, Blackburn's David Thompson is included and though Jonathan Greening has demonstrated some early potential for Middlesbrough one must question whether his selection is not somewhat premature. Given the proximity of Matt Jansen to the World Cup squad it is surprising not to see his inclusion, even if he has only just returned to club football after recovering from that horrendous accident in the summer.

No doubt, a successful international career is now beyond the compass of Chris Sutton, who over the years has been too vocal about his failure to be selected under previous regimes. However, the Celtic striker, like Teddy Sheringham, offers a more subtle alternative to the conventional forward, and against Blackburn on Thursday night, demonstrated that he remains a clever player indeed.

Whatever Eriksson gleans from this English assembly, the major accomplishment on the FA's part, at least, is that the man in charge will turn up. However, my understanding is that there was never any real doubt, once it was emphasised that Davies, with whom he already had an excellent relationship and who had carried out the role for 13 months after Graham Kelly resigned, would take temporary control in tandem with Coward. Admittedly, the Swede insisted on Monday that he wants to answer to one man, not a committee, and the FA, who plan to enlist a headhunter to find a successor for Crozier, accept that no appointment is likely to be announced until the summer.

But in Davies, who is already endeavouring to meet with as many Premiership chairmen as possible in order to maintain healthy relations with the élite league, the FA have an experienced and diligent representative.

On Monday, it was Davies, already on good terms with many of the powerful movers in the game, who acted swiftly to arrange a meeting between Premier League chairmen and Eriksson over the Swede's concerns regarding the release of players for England friendlies and squad get-togethers. He is also heading the search for Howard Wilkinson's successor as FA technical director, a responsibility at present being carried out by Les Reed, and will liaise with Eriksson over a replacement for McClaren.