I doubt a female manager would ever be as good as the best male managers, but I reckon good female bosses who were supported by their board could do a better job than many male managers, particularly in the lower leagues where the criteria for management is usually "did you play the game". If Keane and Souness can get managerial jobs, I reckon any woman who has ever watched a game of football could too. The real barrier is going to be whether a woman will actually want to put herself in the position of being an object of media attention just to manage a lower league club. IIRC it was rumoured Hope Powell turned down Grimsby because she didn't want every commentator, pundit and imbecilic fan going "Look at the woman manager! Does she know the offside rule?" like Andy Gray on Viagra. To be honest I don't think any woman would willingly put up with that, or embrace the inevitable patronising "women can't handle it" that would come after she got sacked, regardless of the fact she would probably last longer than many male managers. It'll only happen when Abramovich runs out of male managers to throw through the revolving door and so Chelsea have to turn to the fairer sex.
It WILL happen. How long it will take I have no idea. Once women have proved themselves as coaches they will make the next move into management.
What? Are you on crack? How could a woman compete on an even footing with a male on the pitch? You don't get men & women competing on an even footing in any contact sport.
It'll happen, hopefully not as a gimmick which I'm afraid it probably will be the first time. If the various militaries of the western world are gradually relaxing their rules on allowing women to fight and die for their countries I'm fairly sure they'll manage to watch some over grown boys kick a bag of air around in front of the rest of us over grown boys. Will they get abuse from the neanderthalls? yeah but then short people, ginger people and black people have taken said abuse before the society involved grew up a bit or not as the case seems to be with a few...... As for it being PC? naaa...its only bleeding heart PC if its done wth only that reason in mind. In fact it might be refreshing that because the womens professional game isn't as high profile you aren't going to get the glut of ex players who think because they played the game they can coach it too. Women are more likely going to start at grass roots coaching and work their way up. Merit not gender. A few male managers could have done with this approach too.....
Makes more sense than giving it to a woman. Women and men DON'T have to do the same things in this world to appease society's insecurities.
Or even in non contact physical sports. Males are just superior physicallly to females. That's not me being sexist (at least I don't think it is), its just a fact. Look at the world records in any event for any sport and compare the male and female records. The male one is always better. If there is a woman appointed as manager it will be for a tiny football league club trying to draw some interest into their club or a woman appointed by a chairman who is ****ing her.
You're right about the physical difference being too great, but that's not so important for a manager. I can't see women playing in the men's game in the foreseeable future, but on the managerial side I think it's possible.
Technically yes, as there's no reason why a woman couldn't master the game in both the classroom & working their way up from grass roots. However, a woman managing a modern day multi millionaire footballer? They'd have no credibility in the dressing room & if they started giving it the hairdryer would get laughed at & probably burst into tears (joke)
That's true but then, not every male footballer in the Premier League is at the peak of their profession are they? Apply the same comparison of the top female representative to a Stewart Downing equivalent and it will be a much more level assessment. I wouldn't expect to see a female become the best footballer on the planet but I do think there will be some out there that are able to offer more to a team than some of the males currently do! PS...apologies for slightly taking this off track since it's meant to be about managing and not playing
Some of the scariest executive managers I've come across happened to be female. The modern day footballer would be presenting sick notes each day complaining of diarrhoea!
Dunno Tobes; "you're dropped" said quietly is still you're dropped. Anyway: if you want to take the sexist approach the modern footballer has more in common with yer average woman anyway, tans, waxing, hair products & crys/huffs at the slightest criticism. They'll "relate" much better than some old scroat manager in his 60's who would have beaten most of these guys to a pulp if they'd turned up at school in a thong & poncho.
I was thinking something similar, one of my old female bosses would have strung these modern day footballers up by their bollox whilst feeding them their rights!!!
I know the sort mate, the ball crunching types who think they have to pretend to be men, to get on in a male dominated environment. They generally over compensate & act like tyrants. I do however know plenty of top quality women senior level managers & Directors, but taking that into a PL dressing room? Nah, just can't see it myself.
haha, interesting angle. I was thinking more about the Tea cups at HT type scenario, it'd be like your missus yelling at you for spending the afternoon watching football when she wanted you to cut the grass - you'd just zone out...."whatever love".....
