Those with long memories will recall the fascinating fly on the wall documentary charting the progress of the then England manager Graham Taylor in the 1994 World Cup Campaign. In what might be described as a media naïve step, an all too open Graham Taylor allowed unfettered access to team meetings, match preparation and touchline outbursts. Memorable excerpts showed Taylor’s inability to cope effectively under the scrutiny of the national media, and portrayed a manager, who despite league success, was ill-equipped to deal with the demands of international management.
A succession of short term and caretaker English managers lead to the appointment of Sven-Goran Eriksson in 2001 as the first foreign England manager.
National stereotypes abound when it comes to talk of an English, vs a Continental type of football, and there is probably an underlying honeymoon period expectancy that the foreign manager is somehow exotic, innovative and full of technical flair in comparison to the stereotype of the physical English footballer and traditional manager. However, all too often the xenophobic aspects of the stereotype are used to deride the manager in the face of their failure to live up to press expectations, as was the case with Sven-Goran Erikkson.
Sven’s appointment was met with some consternation in the press at the time, but by 2007 the press treated the appointment of Fabio Capello with an air of inevitability, because of the lamented lack of English managers deemed to have the right qualities; since the Premier League began in 1992 it has not been won by an English Manager.
Yet an examination of current league managers shows that whilst only 5 of the 20 Premiership clubs have English managers, in the championship the figure is 14 out of 24 clubs and 18 of 24 clubs do in both league one and two.
Rather than there being a lack of suitable candidates, it may be that the increasingly wealthy owners of top flight clubs understandably look to appoint a foreign manager who can demonstrate an existing record of national league success at the highest level abroad. If this reduces the number of English managers at the top flight, the pool of successful English managers, who might be prospective international coaches is that much smaller.
One barrier to the development of home-grown talent, may be the small number of coaches qualified at the higher UEFA levels in comparison with other countries. Recent press coverage highlights that in England, there is only one UEFA qualified coach per 812 players, compared to a ratio of 1 per 17 players in Spain. Whilst no coaching badge alone can hope to create a manager overnight, they can help managers reflect on and frame their own skills and experience, and make more of their trials less error strewn, speeding their development. Another barrier to developing coaches may be the delay in the FA’s national football centre, St George’s park, at Burton on Trent which might provide a focus for efforts to develop English coaches.
The culture of English football may actually undermine the development of coaches, as it perpetuates a view that, the route to management is through playing experience at the highest level, and all too often coaches appear to undertake formalised education as a token gesture to appease the regulations. Whilst playing experience is invaluable, it can lead to the situation where a revered player can be appointed as a manager, with little or no management or coaching experience. Consider for example, the appointment of Gareth Southgate, or the possible response were Alan Shearer to throw his hat in the ring as a future Newcastle manager. In another corporate context, the idea of appointing a senior manager with no previous experience would seem ludicrous.
Whilst England doesn’t need an English manager, any focused attempts to develop English managers of the right quality is only likely to help develop more English players of international standard. The current resurrection of Steve McClaren’s managerial credentials via the Dutch title, to become the first English coach in the Bundesliga, shows that any prospective English international manager might currently be well advised to seek fame and fortune in a foreign league.
Dr Stuart Jolly
To speak to Stuart, call the University Press Office directly on 0115 848 8785 or email worldcup@ntu.ac.uk
[To view Nottingham Trent University’s team of World Cup experts go to www.ntu.ac.uk/worldcup]
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