Former Newcastle and Liverpool hero Kevin Keegan has said the media make life difficult for the England manager.
Speaking to BBC Scotland, the former Manchester City and Fulham manager said journalists often treat the England head coach like a politician.
"You're almost being briefed like the Prime Minister," said Keegan.
"The press are very predictable, they're looking for the quotes to go with the pieces they've already written and slant it in the way they want."
In an hour-long interview with former Celtic midfielder Murdo MacLeod and former Rangers forward Gordon Smith for BBC Radio Scotland, Keegan discussed his early career as a player with Scunthorpe Liverpool and Hamburg
He also spoke candidly about the highs and lows of management with Fulham, Manchester City and Newcastle, and as the man in charge of England's fortunes at Euro 2000.
"It was summed up when I went to watch Arsenal v Chelsea at Highbury, and Aime Jacquet had 12 players on the pitch, and I had one"
He also spoke about how frustrating the England manager job can be, with long periods of inactivity between matches and a lack of time spent with players before and after matches.
"You never really get the time to sit down and analyse things with players," added Keegan.
"In the cool light of day, any national team manager's job - and you'll find this if you talk to anybody - can be soulless at times.
"You have these massive periods of two to three months at a time between games, where you're trying to find games to go and watch on a Saturday.
"It was summed up when I went to watch Arsenal v Chelsea at Highbury, and Aime Jacquet had 12 players on the pitch, and I had one.
"It makes you realise how difficult the job is.
"It was really difficult to find a match where I could see two players."