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 Harry Redknapp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harry Redknapp. Show all posts
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Age is not on Redknapp’s side
If I was Harry Redknapp, I would think long and hard about taking this England job he is being linked with so heavily.
The positives of staying at Tottenham are obvious.
No longer considered a selling club.
Looking good for a Champions League place for next season.
And perhaps most importantly - a squad that has age on it’s side.
Something you definitely could not say about the current English team.
Harry should look closely at the age profile of England’s best as their golden generation start to dissipate from centre stage.
Only last week Steven Gerard said he would consider his international future after the European Championships this summer.
He was certainly one of the world class players from the golden generation.
He’ll be 34 come the next world cup.
John Terry - England captain and leader, has marshalled the defence for almost a decade now.
He’ll turn 33 for the tournament in Brazil.
His partner in defence may not even make it that far.
With injuries adding up, Rio Ferdinand’s career has been nothing short of stop start over the past few seasons and if he’s still playing will be 35.
It wasn’t so long ago that England could choose between Terry, Ferdinand, Sol Campbell and Jamie Carragher.
They were the main force at the back of the big four clubs as well.
Not any more.
Then there’s Ashley Cole.
He’ll be 33.
Frank Lampard 36.
Paul Scholes 39.
All of these players have gone through World Class stages throughout their career.
But if Harry is thinking beyond the summer in Poland and Ukraine, he won’t be able to think about any of these players playing a central role for him.
He will still be able to pick from numerous great players - just not world class players.
World class players that the future of England look to potentially have.
Those who qualified for the U21 tournament last summer are either at big clubs or have demanded huge transfers to big clubs.
Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Micah Richards, Jordan Henderson, Tom Cleverly, Jack Wilshere and Andy Carroll to name but a few.
Plus at just 24 - Joe Hart can consider himself in the same bracket considering the reality of goalkeepers not hitting their peaks until much later.
They come with huge promise and potential but of course, are players for the future, not the present.
It’s the present that should worry Harry the most.
With the exception of Wayne Rooney, not a single player in his prime in the England set-up can live in the world class bracket.
Not one.
Sure there’s good players.
Great players even.
But Wayne is the only one who can live with the 7 or 8 from the golden generation who are on their way out.
Perhaps in 5 years time some of last summers young stars will have laid claim to being in the same league as Gerard or Lampard.
But not for 5 years will they be performing to such a level.
Performing in their prime.
Harry must be looking at this and thinking to himself - I wish I’d had this opportunity 5 years ago.
Whether he would have made a bigger difference than Fabio Capello is a different debate - but he certainly won’t be starting from as good a platform.
If the golden generation could manage no further than a quarter final - then Harry must be questioning how far he can take this silver crop.
At 65, he doesn’t have many moves left in him.
He no longer has age on his side.
Nor it appears, do this England team...
The positives of staying at Tottenham are obvious.
No longer considered a selling club.
Looking good for a Champions League place for next season.
And perhaps most importantly - a squad that has age on it’s side.
Something you definitely could not say about the current English team.
Harry should look closely at the age profile of England’s best as their golden generation start to dissipate from centre stage.
Only last week Steven Gerard said he would consider his international future after the European Championships this summer.
He was certainly one of the world class players from the golden generation.
He’ll be 34 come the next world cup.
John Terry - England captain and leader, has marshalled the defence for almost a decade now.
He’ll turn 33 for the tournament in Brazil.
His partner in defence may not even make it that far.
With injuries adding up, Rio Ferdinand’s career has been nothing short of stop start over the past few seasons and if he’s still playing will be 35.
It wasn’t so long ago that England could choose between Terry, Ferdinand, Sol Campbell and Jamie Carragher.
They were the main force at the back of the big four clubs as well.
Not any more.
Then there’s Ashley Cole.
He’ll be 33.
Frank Lampard 36.
Paul Scholes 39.
All of these players have gone through World Class stages throughout their career.
But if Harry is thinking beyond the summer in Poland and Ukraine, he won’t be able to think about any of these players playing a central role for him.
He will still be able to pick from numerous great players - just not world class players.
World class players that the future of England look to potentially have.
Those who qualified for the U21 tournament last summer are either at big clubs or have demanded huge transfers to big clubs.
Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Micah Richards, Jordan Henderson, Tom Cleverly, Jack Wilshere and Andy Carroll to name but a few.
Plus at just 24 - Joe Hart can consider himself in the same bracket considering the reality of goalkeepers not hitting their peaks until much later.
They come with huge promise and potential but of course, are players for the future, not the present.
It’s the present that should worry Harry the most.
With the exception of Wayne Rooney, not a single player in his prime in the England set-up can live in the world class bracket.
Not one.
Sure there’s good players.
Great players even.
But Wayne is the only one who can live with the 7 or 8 from the golden generation who are on their way out.
Perhaps in 5 years time some of last summers young stars will have laid claim to being in the same league as Gerard or Lampard.
But not for 5 years will they be performing to such a level.
Performing in their prime.
Harry must be looking at this and thinking to himself - I wish I’d had this opportunity 5 years ago.
Whether he would have made a bigger difference than Fabio Capello is a different debate - but he certainly won’t be starting from as good a platform.
If the golden generation could manage no further than a quarter final - then Harry must be questioning how far he can take this silver crop.
At 65, he doesn’t have many moves left in him.
He no longer has age on his side.
Nor it appears, do this England team...
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...
Monday, 13 February 2012
Becoming international manager has become a national debate
Fabio Capello is no longer in charge of the English football team.
Stepping down this week to leave the hotseat vacant for someone else to lead them out at Euro 2012.
There has been a lot of talk since, that the next English manager should be just that - English.
Some go as far as saying that the same rules should apply to international managers that do to international players.
If large countries like England, Germany or Italy were to insist on their national team manager being born in their own country, then I could understand.
They have such a large pool to choose from.
But Dutchman Gus Hiddink did more for South Korean football in his 2 years in charge then anyone in the previous 50.
Giovanni Trapattoni helped Ireland qualify for their first major tournament in 10 years.
In fact, Ireland have never qualified for a major tournament with an Irish manager.
The development of football in Africa has been helped enormously by an influx of ‘foreign’ managers over the past twenty years.
Greece won Euro 2004 under a German.
Portugal reached that same final under a Brazilian.
Russia are currently managed by a Dutchman.
How are the smaller countries supposed to develop if they are only allowed to choose from their own country.
And what happens to players who play for a country they weren’t born in?
Can Deco only manage Brazil?
Miroslav Klose manage Poland?
Patrick Vieira Senegal?
Or do the same rules apply to managers?
Rafa Benitez has never managed another country but has lived in Liverpool long enough to qualify for them.
But after managing England for two years, becomes illegible when the top job in Spain comes up.
Managers like Gus would never have been able to have managed South Korea, Australia, Russia or Turkey as he had already overseen the reigns of the Netherlands for four years.
And some people this week have even put Martin O’Neill’s name forward.
Not exactly demanding an English manager.
But rather a British one.
If the FA are willing to go as far as Northern Ireland to find their new manager, then why not go as far as France?
And then why not as far as Italy?
Surely Martin is as foreign as Arsene Wenger?
I do understand where the English are coming from when they say they’d like an Englishman in charge.
In an ideal world, they would have a strong enough candidate every time the job came up.
But should the birthplace of a manager be a factor when it comes to getting the job?
The best man for England right now might well be from Poplar.
But he might instead be from Glasgow.
Men from Middlesex, Doncaster and York have all been in the hotseat in the Premier League era, but the only man to take them to a quarter finals of a major tournament since 1996 was from Sweden.
Harry Redknapp has proved to be the kneejerk favourite for the job.
But what if someone like a Sir Alex Ferguson or a Jose Mourinho were to declare an interest in the job.
Should Harry get it because he was born in Poplar?
Well if England insist on an Englishman, he surely will.
Meaning they might well get a good man for the job - but perhaps not the best one...
Stepping down this week to leave the hotseat vacant for someone else to lead them out at Euro 2012.
There has been a lot of talk since, that the next English manager should be just that - English.
Some go as far as saying that the same rules should apply to international managers that do to international players.
If large countries like England, Germany or Italy were to insist on their national team manager being born in their own country, then I could understand.
They have such a large pool to choose from.
But Dutchman Gus Hiddink did more for South Korean football in his 2 years in charge then anyone in the previous 50.
Giovanni Trapattoni helped Ireland qualify for their first major tournament in 10 years.
In fact, Ireland have never qualified for a major tournament with an Irish manager.
The development of football in Africa has been helped enormously by an influx of ‘foreign’ managers over the past twenty years.
Greece won Euro 2004 under a German.
Portugal reached that same final under a Brazilian.
Russia are currently managed by a Dutchman.
How are the smaller countries supposed to develop if they are only allowed to choose from their own country.
And what happens to players who play for a country they weren’t born in?
Can Deco only manage Brazil?
Miroslav Klose manage Poland?
Patrick Vieira Senegal?
Or do the same rules apply to managers?
Rafa Benitez has never managed another country but has lived in Liverpool long enough to qualify for them.
But after managing England for two years, becomes illegible when the top job in Spain comes up.
Managers like Gus would never have been able to have managed South Korea, Australia, Russia or Turkey as he had already overseen the reigns of the Netherlands for four years.
And some people this week have even put Martin O’Neill’s name forward.
Not exactly demanding an English manager.
But rather a British one.
If the FA are willing to go as far as Northern Ireland to find their new manager, then why not go as far as France?
And then why not as far as Italy?
Surely Martin is as foreign as Arsene Wenger?
I do understand where the English are coming from when they say they’d like an Englishman in charge.
In an ideal world, they would have a strong enough candidate every time the job came up.
But should the birthplace of a manager be a factor when it comes to getting the job?
The best man for England right now might well be from Poplar.
But he might instead be from Glasgow.
Men from Middlesex, Doncaster and York have all been in the hotseat in the Premier League era, but the only man to take them to a quarter finals of a major tournament since 1996 was from Sweden.
Harry Redknapp has proved to be the kneejerk favourite for the job.
But what if someone like a Sir Alex Ferguson or a Jose Mourinho were to declare an interest in the job.
Should Harry get it because he was born in Poplar?
Well if England insist on an Englishman, he surely will.
Meaning they might well get a good man for the job - but perhaps not the best one...
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