Nigel Adkins was relieved of his managerial duties last week following a noteworthy tenure.
Southampton had just completed back-to-back promotions and at the first time of asking, have given themselves a real chance of staying up as they reached the midway point of the Premier League.
Give this option to any Southampton supporter two seasons ago and they would have snapped your hand off.
He didn’t need years to lay foundations and build from the ground up.
He didn’t have substantial backing.
He didn’t even have much time.
Yet Nigel could not have achieved much more.
Not so long ago, Tottenham Hotspur were struggling in the relegation zone when they moved for Harry Redknapp.
In four seasons at the club, Harry finished 4th, 5th, 4th and even managed to take the club to the quarter finals of the Champions League.
No lengthy regime.
No extensive rebuilding project.
No complaint from Spurs fans.
As for David Moyes, he is highly regarded for his achievements at Everton.
Ten seasons of stability is all he has really achieved though.
Despite being in the Premier League for his entire reign, selling numerous players for vast sums, David has never won a major honour for them.
This during a period where clubs like Blackburn, Portsmouth, Birmingham and even Middlesborough have won silverware of some sort.
All of whom have had various candidates at their helm.
Then there’s Jose Mourinho.
It’s been nine seasons since Roman Abramovich took over at Chelsea.
In that time, Roman has hired or fired nine different managers.
His first appointment was Jose.
While his treatment of a selection of these managers, namely the special one, has sparked vociferous debate in the stands - his methods have proved massively successful.
Chelsea hadn’t won the league in fifty years.
The only time they’d won it.
Three times they’ve won it under Roman now.
Last season they went one better.
Adding their first ever Champions League to the trophy cabinet.
In fact, they’ve qualified for the tournament every season Roman has overseen proceedings.
Coupled with four FA cups, two league cups and on numerous occasions reached the final four of Europe’s elite competition.
Jose was responsible for five of those major honours.
Not a bad period at all.
And no comparison with their former rivals Arsenal - the epitome of stability in the modern era.
Arsene Wenger has governed every single aspect of Arsenal football club for sixteen straight seasons now.
He has full control in decisions made yet hasn’t managed a major honour in his previous eight campaigns.
No contest when it comes to finance.
And no contest when it comes to success.
The idea that a manager must embody longevity is a distinctly British one - throughout the major European leagues anyway.
Since Sir Alex took over at Old Trafford, Bayern Munich have had twenty managers.
Ajax Amsterdam eighteen.
FC Porto the same.
All clubs dominating their domestic leagues as well as conquering Europe throughout this period.
A similar picture in Italy too.
Juventus fourteen.
AC Milan sixteen.
Internazionale as much as twenty seven.
All hugely successful in Serie ‘A’.
All winners of the Champions League during Fergie time.
Then comes the biggest club of all.
Real Madrid.
Jose Mourinho’s home right now.
The Spanish giants have had twenty five managers since Sir Alex took up his reigns.
Won eleven La Liga titles.
Three Champions Leagues.
Plus numerous World Club Cups, European Super Cups and Copa Del Reys.
Never one to have a problem with moving on a manager at seasons end - no matter how successful.
Fabio Capello won the league yet didn’t do it stylishly enough.
Jupp Heynckes won the Champions League in his only season in charge.
Vicente Del Bosque won two and it still wasn’t enough for him to retain his job.
Yet despite all this, Real Madrid remain the most successful club in the world.
Even more remarkable is that by the end of this season, Jose should be their third longest serving manager in their one hundred and ten year history.
He has had two and a half campaigns so far.
Brought in to end Josep Guardiola’s Barcelona dominance - labelled the greatest club side of all time.
It took Jose just one season before he started to overturn the Catalan giants.
No better manager in the world to undertake such a massive challenge.
And it will be a similar challenge that faces the next Manchester United manager - taking over from a man who has been in charge for almost thirty years.
How to find the next Alex Ferguson is the question people keep asking.
Not a job that Jose seems made for.
But what they should really be asking - is who will manage Manchester United next?
And expect Jose to be able to manage that...
Showing posts with label Southampton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southampton. Show all posts
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Monday, 23 July 2012
Players Only Loyalty is to the Game
Loyalty does not exist in football.
And nor should it.
Yet the topic of players and disloyalty rears it’s ugly head in the transfer window as frequently as players move club.
The problem with loyalty is simple.
The subject matter is always broached from a supporters point of view.
But supporters aren’t in football.
They are always only the support that allows football to live.
Football supporters can be the embodiment of loyalty.
Some will tell you they haven’t missed a games in 30 years.
Others have tattoos of crests twice the size of their heart.
But it is because of this almost blind loyalty that supporters believe their players will feel the same way about their club.
After all, these players are getting to live the dream of so many of these supporters.
They must love the club to do so.
They must therefore be loyal.
After all, every supporter would be - if given the chance to play for their club.
Or so some supporters would believe.
Wayne Rooney grew up joining his boyhood heros Everton.
They gave him Premier League football.
Yet Wayne wanted more.
As loyal as he was to the blue half of Merseyside, he wanted to win major honours.
He joined Manchester United.
He won major honours.
Jamie Carragher has now spent his entire career at Liverpool.
The biggest rival to Everton, whom like Wayne, he also supported.
Jamie would never have won the Champions League with the Toffees.
‘Loyal’ to the reds.
Yet I use the word loyal loosely.
True, Jamie and also Steven Gerard have stayed at the one club their entire careers.
Through thick an thin, supporters might argue.
But the reality is, they both stayed because they were getting something in return.
Their careers were benefitting from playing for a club who regularly qualified for the Champions League.
Who won the Champions league.
Along with numerous other cups.
But even after capturing the biggest club prize of all, Steven’s head was being turned by another team.
Liverpool supporters will say he was loyal in the end when he opted against the switch.
But if winning the Champions League was almost not enough to keep the player who joined them at the age of 10 - imagine what finishing mid-table would have done?
Or getting relegated?
Like the Leeds United team of 2003.
A great team that had taken a gamble on Champions League glory and when success on the pitch wasn’t achieved - the wheels came off rapidly.
A player exodus commenced.
Amongst them was a young Alan Smith.
A Leeds man through and through.
Made up of equal measures of love for his club and hatred for his rivals.
No bigger rival to his team of course was Manchester United.
The team he joined 3 weeks after Leeds left the Premier League.
No championship for Alan.
No, straight to the Champions League for this loyal supporters favourite.
Even those who stayed with the sunken ship cannot claim loyalty.
Gary Kelly hung around for 3 more seasons in the Championship.
Unlikely he could have found another big club at his age.
And he was the third highest paid full back in England after all.
Manchester United have their loyal bunch too.
Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs to name a few.
All loyal one club men.
All achieving every ambition imaginable in the game at one of the biggest clubs in the world.
No sign of the championship for them.
There are of course players who remain ‘loyal’ to their smaller clubs.
Matt Le Tissier perhaps the most overt.
Regularly coveted by larger, more successful clubs.
It would have been easy for him to move on.
But he was the star man at Southampton.
The center of everything.
And he was guaranteed Premier league football.
Finishing his career at Southampton was great to see.
Loyal to the team that gave him his break.
Yet Matt grew up in Guernsey - hardly a haven for Southampton supporters.
Supporters adorn some of the aforementioned players.
They see them as ‘loyal’ servants to the cause as they have remained at their beloved club.
The truth is, the ‘loyal’ ones always made sure it suited them to stay.
This was their career after all.
They don’t support their clubs.
Their clubs support them.
‘There’s no loyalty in the game anymore’ is heard up and down every terrace come transfer window season.
Could it just be that is heard during the period since the Bosman ruling came to fruition?
No longer could the clubs decide where and when the player would go.
Instead the player inherited the power.
The power to remain loyal.
Loyal to the club.
Or loyal to their career...
And nor should it.
Yet the topic of players and disloyalty rears it’s ugly head in the transfer window as frequently as players move club.
The problem with loyalty is simple.
The subject matter is always broached from a supporters point of view.
But supporters aren’t in football.
They are always only the support that allows football to live.
Football supporters can be the embodiment of loyalty.
Some will tell you they haven’t missed a games in 30 years.
Others have tattoos of crests twice the size of their heart.
But it is because of this almost blind loyalty that supporters believe their players will feel the same way about their club.
After all, these players are getting to live the dream of so many of these supporters.
They must love the club to do so.
They must therefore be loyal.
After all, every supporter would be - if given the chance to play for their club.
Or so some supporters would believe.
Wayne Rooney grew up joining his boyhood heros Everton.
They gave him Premier League football.
Yet Wayne wanted more.
As loyal as he was to the blue half of Merseyside, he wanted to win major honours.
He joined Manchester United.
He won major honours.
Jamie Carragher has now spent his entire career at Liverpool.
The biggest rival to Everton, whom like Wayne, he also supported.
Jamie would never have won the Champions League with the Toffees.
‘Loyal’ to the reds.
Yet I use the word loyal loosely.
True, Jamie and also Steven Gerard have stayed at the one club their entire careers.
Through thick an thin, supporters might argue.
But the reality is, they both stayed because they were getting something in return.
Their careers were benefitting from playing for a club who regularly qualified for the Champions League.
Who won the Champions league.
Along with numerous other cups.
But even after capturing the biggest club prize of all, Steven’s head was being turned by another team.
Liverpool supporters will say he was loyal in the end when he opted against the switch.
But if winning the Champions League was almost not enough to keep the player who joined them at the age of 10 - imagine what finishing mid-table would have done?
Or getting relegated?
Like the Leeds United team of 2003.
A great team that had taken a gamble on Champions League glory and when success on the pitch wasn’t achieved - the wheels came off rapidly.
A player exodus commenced.
Amongst them was a young Alan Smith.
A Leeds man through and through.
Made up of equal measures of love for his club and hatred for his rivals.
No bigger rival to his team of course was Manchester United.
The team he joined 3 weeks after Leeds left the Premier League.
No championship for Alan.
No, straight to the Champions League for this loyal supporters favourite.
Even those who stayed with the sunken ship cannot claim loyalty.
Gary Kelly hung around for 3 more seasons in the Championship.
Unlikely he could have found another big club at his age.
And he was the third highest paid full back in England after all.
Manchester United have their loyal bunch too.
Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs to name a few.
All loyal one club men.
All achieving every ambition imaginable in the game at one of the biggest clubs in the world.
No sign of the championship for them.
There are of course players who remain ‘loyal’ to their smaller clubs.
Matt Le Tissier perhaps the most overt.
Regularly coveted by larger, more successful clubs.
It would have been easy for him to move on.
But he was the star man at Southampton.
The center of everything.
And he was guaranteed Premier league football.
Finishing his career at Southampton was great to see.
Loyal to the team that gave him his break.
Yet Matt grew up in Guernsey - hardly a haven for Southampton supporters.
Supporters adorn some of the aforementioned players.
They see them as ‘loyal’ servants to the cause as they have remained at their beloved club.
The truth is, the ‘loyal’ ones always made sure it suited them to stay.
This was their career after all.
They don’t support their clubs.
Their clubs support them.
‘There’s no loyalty in the game anymore’ is heard up and down every terrace come transfer window season.
Could it just be that is heard during the period since the Bosman ruling came to fruition?
No longer could the clubs decide where and when the player would go.
Instead the player inherited the power.
The power to remain loyal.
Loyal to the club.
Or loyal to their career...
Monday, 20 February 2012
One Major Honour to Manage England
So Harry Redknapp is the favourite to become the next England manager.
Ask most people their opinion and he is the first name that springs to mind.
But spend a little longer than just your gut reaction and you really start to question why.
Harry is doing a great job at Tottenham at the moment.
A really great job.
Perhaps though, the successful candidate should have done a bit more than just have a couple of good seasons of late.
After all, he took an underachieving Tottenham side into the Champions League during a period when Liverpool, Arsenal and now Chelsea all hurtled towards a rapid decline.
He’s not won anything with Tottenham.
In fact, his only major honour was an FA cup win with Portsmouth.
Splitting 2 spells at Portsmouth, was a brief and unsuccessful period at Southampton.
Preceded by 8 years doing a steady job with West Ham and his first role at Bournemouth.
Harry may be top of mind for most due to how well Tottenham have done this season and last.
But is the best man for the England job really a manager who has only 1 major honour to his name after 28 years in the role?
Not to mention he’s only ever had one season of Champions League football.
His experience of the English league will be great for knowing what assets he has available to him.
His one season mixing it with Europe’s elite won’t have given him much experience on the opposition.
As for Harry being the outstanding ‘English’ candidate - that just highlights the lack of top English managers at the moment.
Nothing more.
An Englishman will not do a better job than a ‘foreigner’ if he is not a better manager.
And with Euro 2012 fast approaching - decisiveness seems paramount.
But the English FA should not confuse decisiveness with haste.
A caretaker role now instead - can mean the decision on the long term future of the England national team be made in due course.
He will not have enough time anyway to shape the team his way.
It will be a case of steadying the ship in Poland and Ukraine as opposed to setting it a new course.
When the Republic of Ireland interviewed for the current position - Paul Jewell was the outstanding choice.
The FAI took their time over the decision and Giovanni Trapattoni appeared.
The landscape could shift dramatically come this summer too.
Jose Mourinho could become available.
Harry’s 1 major honour might need to total 3 if he’s to beat the Portuguese master tactician to the job.
If Martin O’Neill continues his surge up the table with Sunderland and takes fourth spot, would he be considered the outstanding candidate?
He has had relative little success in the English game too but has still won more major honours than Harry.
Coupled with a more sustained period of success.
Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan and Steve McClaren had 1 major honour between them and all had a shot at the England hot-seat.
But it was Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello - with 32 major honours who are the only managers to have taken England to a quarter final of a major tournament since Euro ‘96.
If Fabio and his 16 major honours cannot make a success of this group of players - I’m not sure Harry and his 1 can do any different...
Ask most people their opinion and he is the first name that springs to mind.
But spend a little longer than just your gut reaction and you really start to question why.
Harry is doing a great job at Tottenham at the moment.
A really great job.
Perhaps though, the successful candidate should have done a bit more than just have a couple of good seasons of late.
After all, he took an underachieving Tottenham side into the Champions League during a period when Liverpool, Arsenal and now Chelsea all hurtled towards a rapid decline.
He’s not won anything with Tottenham.
In fact, his only major honour was an FA cup win with Portsmouth.
Splitting 2 spells at Portsmouth, was a brief and unsuccessful period at Southampton.
Preceded by 8 years doing a steady job with West Ham and his first role at Bournemouth.
Harry may be top of mind for most due to how well Tottenham have done this season and last.
But is the best man for the England job really a manager who has only 1 major honour to his name after 28 years in the role?
Not to mention he’s only ever had one season of Champions League football.
His experience of the English league will be great for knowing what assets he has available to him.
His one season mixing it with Europe’s elite won’t have given him much experience on the opposition.
As for Harry being the outstanding ‘English’ candidate - that just highlights the lack of top English managers at the moment.
Nothing more.
An Englishman will not do a better job than a ‘foreigner’ if he is not a better manager.
And with Euro 2012 fast approaching - decisiveness seems paramount.
But the English FA should not confuse decisiveness with haste.
A caretaker role now instead - can mean the decision on the long term future of the England national team be made in due course.
He will not have enough time anyway to shape the team his way.
It will be a case of steadying the ship in Poland and Ukraine as opposed to setting it a new course.
When the Republic of Ireland interviewed for the current position - Paul Jewell was the outstanding choice.
The FAI took their time over the decision and Giovanni Trapattoni appeared.
The landscape could shift dramatically come this summer too.
Jose Mourinho could become available.
Harry’s 1 major honour might need to total 3 if he’s to beat the Portuguese master tactician to the job.
If Martin O’Neill continues his surge up the table with Sunderland and takes fourth spot, would he be considered the outstanding candidate?
He has had relative little success in the English game too but has still won more major honours than Harry.
Coupled with a more sustained period of success.
Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan and Steve McClaren had 1 major honour between them and all had a shot at the England hot-seat.
But it was Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello - with 32 major honours who are the only managers to have taken England to a quarter final of a major tournament since Euro ‘96.
If Fabio and his 16 major honours cannot make a success of this group of players - I’m not sure Harry and his 1 can do any different...
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