So it’s official; Gareth Southgate has been appointed as the
new coach of the Under 21’s. For many, including this blog it was a disappointing appointment and reflected poorly on the FA and their new Director of Elite Development Dan
Ashworth, who ironically was offered the job after Gareth Southgate reportedly
turned it down. His appointment clearly points towards the FA’s wish to have
Southgate as part of their ‘team’, yet as The Whitehouse Address argues,
Southgate represents what is wrong with English football, development and the
FA.
England's New Era
Stuart Pearce had to go, as too did Hope Powell. Both
coaches represented what was wrong with the FA and English national team setup.
Their tactical limitations had contributed to their disappointing performances
in international tournaments in recent years and for that alone they had proven
incapable at this level. Of course we can criticise the level of the players
and for Pearce the availability of players, yet this alone pointed to a
distrust of his work and coaching in that Hodgson would prefer to have them
work with him than a tournament with Pearce.
Dan Ashworth wielded the axe and a ‘new era’ of the England
national team was abound. Or so we thought.
Now Roy Hodgson is not one of the
world’s best coaches, he has his limitations yet he does have a wealth of
experience across the world at club and national level. In many ways you do
feel more positive with him at the helm. However, the concern comes from
who we can view as his successor. None of his own coaching staff are
experienced or qualified for the role, and there is a dearth of English
managers in England; at this time there is only Alan Pardew, Ian Holloway,
Steve Bruce and Sam Allardyce. Not a list which screams out world class quality
is it?
One would assume that it would make sense to look to prepare the next
England manager through the FA pathway in order to make
sure they are ready for the job when required. In some ways this is what many
thought Stuart Pearce was being readied for, a quite worrying prospect in hindsight. So, the
appointment of Pearce’s successor as Under 21 coach is one we should have
looked at as progressive, modern and perhaps even a future England manager.
Which is why the appointment of Gareth Southgate is such a disappointment and
mistake by the FA.
Southgate's inexperience
Southgate’s managerial career started in 2007 when he
replaced Steve McLaren at Middlesbrough. The appointment surprised many,
especially considering that Southgate was only a UEFA B qualified coach at the
time. I hope you understand the embarrassment of this situation and that this
alone points to the issues plaguing English football and coaching. Yes he was a
good player and represented his country yet he was not qualified for the
position to manage Middlesbrough and yet he still got the job.
Listen to what
Steve Gibson, the man who hired Southgate said in regards to getting his A and
Pro-Licence award (qualifications which should be mandatory for Premier League
managers) Gibson said, "For him to find the time during the season to
progress, it's nonsense." Incredible no?! The man you've chosen to run your club isn't qualified and you somehow don't care?
And (not so) incredibly the rest of the Premier League
allowed Southgate to become the manager which pointed to two things; firstly a
lack of care about coaching and an acceptance of the ex-pro culture or perhaps
a greater understanding of the situation in terms of knowing how far out of his
depth Southgate would be and how it would probably lead to relegation, which
would benefit at least one other Premier League side. And lo and behold
Southgate would get Middlesbrough relegated in 2009.
After that he worked with
the FA along with Trevor Brooking doing what could only be described as a
glorified PR campaign to promote youth football. As soon as a position which
involved serious knowledge of coaching, development and producing world class
players came up, he abandoned ship and chose the ‘comfortable’ world of
football punditry, a job which has become a place for failed managers where
they can critique those who are doing the ‘hard work’ behind the comfort of a
television studio.
So why did Southgate struggle so much? Quite simply he was
too inexperienced for such a job as manager of a Premier League side. So why
did he get it? Because of his reputation as a player. This is not a
successful model for clubs to follow.
The 'fast tracking' problems
Now I have absolutely no problem with ex-players becoming
football managers, the game is full of them and the non-players who are
managers list is very slim in the scheme of things. What I do have a problem with
is ‘fast-tracking’ these ex-players through special PFA (compensated) coaching
courses which allow players to become A licence and Pro licence qualified coaches in a matter
of weeks.
Effectively these players become qualified to be managers in a matter
of months after hanging up their boots. And what happens? Well they realise
that coaching and managing is not the same as playing and that in fact they
don’t really know what they’re doing. It does seem that England is particularly
guilty of this occurring with ex-England players such as Tony Adams, Paul Ince,
Alan Shearer and of course Gareth Southgate all getting high profile jobs and
failing tragically.
It is clear that this ‘fast track’ approach does not help
these players, the clubs they sign for and ultimately English football in its
hope for a new generation of world class coaches who can manage Premier League
sides and perhaps even the England national team.
There is clearly a dearth of talented English coaches in the
top levels of the game. When you consider that the England job was out of
Hodgson or Redknapp you do worry about the state of English football. Many talk about the issues of players but (perhaps more importantly) the amount and level of quality coaches is even more concerning. So why don’t we have more coaches/managers in the top levels of the game? Are
they so bad that top sides don’t rate them? It would appear so.
Like we touched
on before, the fast tracking denies these coaches of the invaluable experience
which coaches require on their ‘route to greatness’ and as well as this it appears that these ‘new’
coaches have the common failing of the English mentality.
The belief appears to
be, if you fail, you are a failure. And as we’ve seen many who try and fail end
up quitting. This ‘fixed mindset’ is clearly preventing our coaches from
developing into potentially great ones. Yes they should not be given a quick
route to jobs they aren’t ready for, yet they should not take that failure as
confirmation of their poor quality but of a chance to learn and improve.
Therefore appointing Southgate highlights the issue with the
FA and its approach to coaching. In one way he is been given the chance to
coach and improve, yet when you look at his ‘career’ he quit the coaching world
after ‘failing’ at Middlesbrough and instead of looking to get another role and
develop, he chose the ‘easy’ role at the FA and then ITV.
Quite simply this
mindset is wrong and cowardly. To think he is now looking to be a part of
developing the next generation for the senior side is worrying to consider
his inexperience and lack of knowledge of the needs of this age group.
Better options, yet are they 'yes' men
Of course many would have loved to see a coach like Rene
Meulensteen take the job and develop our future generation. English football
simply does not have a coach developer of this calibre and this is worrying.
Perhaps we need to ask questions as to why and point towards the problems with
coach education in the English FA.
Lack of opportunity is not something I would
argue as I believe that if you have the quality you can find those opportunities.
The truth is that English coaches, like the players are simply not good enough
in today’s globalised football world.
And yet it is amazing that two very capable and qualified
coaches applied for the Under 21 role. The Under 21 position possessed perhaps
two of England’s best coaches in Steve McLaren and Michael Appleton. Yet for
McLaren his biggest failing was taking the England job too early, just like those
previously mentioned he was ‘fast tracked’ because of his reputation as a
talented coach yet his experience of being a manager/head coach was limited
when he was offered the role.
He should have declined the role and sought to
enhance his development in club football. His inexperience and naivity (yet
alone the pressures of being England manager) destroyed his reputation in
English football, something which even success at FC Twente in Holland could
not repair.
And because of that England job the best coach of his generation could not find a job in
English football anymore, criminal. McLaren would have been perfect for the
Under 21 role and would have certainly helped develop players and a style
conducive to what the ‘new era’ at the FA wished. Yet whether it was his poor reputation
or perhaps because he has his own ‘opinions’ prevented him getting a role he
was ideally suited for.
As for Appleton this is a coach who is highly respected and
valued by many, particularly at West Brom where he worked up the ranks in the
youth setup to become first team coach. His failings since have been making
poor decisions in terms of his managerial choices; Portsmouth, Blackburn and
Blackpool all were bad choices for Appleton and none of the roles did his
reputation much good at all.
It goes to show that a mangers career can be
defined by the ‘critical decisions’ and opportunities which are given and a
career can either be enhanced or destroyed by the decisions made. Appleton
appears to have suffered from making poor decisions. And yet he still seemed the
obvious candidate for the role based on his experience with West Brom and of
course Hodgson and Ashworth. For him not to get it seems puzzling and one
wonders what he said to deny him the opportunity.
The men in suits holding England back
I can only imagine that the true decision maker in all this
was Trevor Brooking who was desperate to have Southgate work with the FA. Appointing Southgate does not seem like a move Ashworth would make, it appears more like the FA's 'old ways'. You do get the feeling that Brooking pushed Ashworth to make sure Southgate became the Under 21
coach. If this is true then it highlights the worries which many, including
this blog has about the FA and their lack of modernising their approach.
Ashworth appeared to have new ideas and approaches to improve the English
football, yet if he is to be undermined from those above him can we really
expect positive change to happen? As this blog has said before, until there is
an overhaul of the men at the top of the FA (and perhaps Brooking too) then we
cannot expect the FA to be the change which we hope for.
Just when you think the FA are moving in the right direction, this kind of appointment puts them backwards. Southgate is a poor appointment, yet what is truly needed is the development of world class English coaches for the future, this is where Ashworth & the FA will truly be judged.
The Whitehouse Address @The_W_Address
Related articles
- The Way Forward – Solutions to England’s Football Failings
- The Need for a 'Fundamental Overhaul' at The FA
- Another Embarrassing Exit Highlights English Football's Problems
- The End of an Era for English Football
- The Failure of Youth Development in the Premier League
- Part V - A New Era
No comments:
Post a Comment