AuthorJeffEyesRimmer
So back in January there was outrage from certain areas of the media over the appointment of Marco Silva at Hull City after the sacking of Mike Phelan. The outrage was around how could this foreign manager come in and get the job over young British managers? I have put the video of the rant below and it’s cringe worthy at best, xenophobic at its worst. I actually had to turn it off at one point and come back to it as the stupidity of some of the comments hurt my head.
I wonder now, several months on, whether Paul Merson and Phil Thompson regret those words back in January after Silva has lifted Hull City out of the relegation zone, winning 7 out of 8 home games in the process. I doubt it but it theres an idea that somehow young British managers ‘know the Premier League’ better than managers from abroad. What does ‘knowing the league’ even mean?
Unfortunately Merson and Thompson are not alone in their clamour for young British managers to given a chance at the top clubs. However, it seems that they have short memories as British managers have been given chances in the top jobs in the EPL and they fluffed them. In recent memory we have David Moyes being given a chance at Manchester United, Roy Hodgson at Liverpool, Tim Sherwood at Spurs and then Aston Villa and Mark Hughes at Manchester City. We all know how they turned out, hell, Sherwood didn’t even have all his appropriate coaching badges and he was given keys to a kingdom whose mistakes took Pochettino a long while to sort out.
Just because a manager is British does not mean they are the right person for the job, nationally doesn’t have a bearing on how good you are at something. Maybe British managers would be looked at more favourably if they took lower league jobs in other countries and attempted to educate themselves in other football cultures. That would look better on the CV than 10 years in League 1. I applaud David Moyes for his attempt at Real Sociedad and Gary Neville and Valencia. While they both were ultimately unsuccessful in those roles they must be congratulated for moving out of the comfort zone. Who knows, maybe if others followed and were successful the top teams in the EPL would give them a chance. Recently Paul Clement was appointed at Swansea and although initial results were good, they are now back in the relegation zone. I reiterate, being British doesn’t always mean good results will follow. The funny thing is that the same things were said of Mauricio Pochettino when he replaced Nigel Adkins at Southampton. The same people were asking who was he, why have they sacked Nigel Adkins for an unknown, we also know how this turned out. In the case of Marco Silva the man has won two league titles and a cup and managed in the Champions League. Again a little better look on the CV than League 1 right? One British manager that was named whenever a new EPL job became available was Gary Rowlett. Rowlett has now been appointed at Derby and has shown to be a good manager but he has not won anything as a manager yet. He may come good later but its hardly a CV to scream relegation survive expert is it? Others that are mentioned are Sean Dyche at Burnley and Eddie Howe at Bournemouth and while both managers’ stars are in the ascendancy neither are ready for the bigger jobs. Dyche makes claims that he wouldnt be considered, whereas Howe does not but as much as Dyche has done a good job with Burnley he was relegated with them a few years back. That’s hardly a gold star against your name. I cant see either being considered for the next top job, likely to be at Arsenal, can any of you? Would Arsenal fans want either manager? I doubt it. I also discount Pardew and Allardyce as both have failed miserably in recent times and are not young British managers anymore. Allardyce also had a chance with a big club in the form of Newcastle and could not get them to kick on after he saved them from relegation. What this leads me onto is that there seems to be a lack of top quality young British managers coming through the ranks. This could be down to several reasons; the cost of a UFEA licence being ludicrously high in comparison to other European countries being one, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that if the people aren’t there then employers will look elsewhere for talent. That leads them to Europe and beyond. I also find it ironic in one instance that people say that foreign managers ‘don’t know the league’ but in the same breathe indicate the EPL is the most watched around the world. So they would know what they are getting themselves in for really as the EPL is broadcast around the world and managers would watch the EPL. Its also odd that pundits would say that a foreign manager that’s never managed in the EPL wouldn’t be successful but managers coming up from League 1 or the Championship would be when they haven't management in the EPL either. I think one thing that people forget is that football is a business and this is the big one. We may not like it but decisions are often made on the commercial aspect of the game and employing a new manager is part of that. If you were a football chairmen looking to stay in the EPL would you turn to a manager who has won silverware, such as Silva, albeit in several other countries, or would you look down the football pyramid to managers that are performing ok but are in the lower divisions and haven’t won anything? While they are untested in the EPL the manager who has managed and won in different leagues, regardless of nationality, is the safer option. If you look at from any other job then the experience would be very hard to ignore. I see the ‘don’t know the league’ comment more as a broad sweeping statement meaning that the foreigner coming in doesn’t know the British football culture and that ‘Johnny foreigner’ is stealing jobs and that’s more of a wider society issue than a football one. Personally I think if Silva does indeed lead Hull to survival in the EPL this season the likes of Merson and Thompson et al. owe him an apology. The rant in all its pathetic glory below: |
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June 2018
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