Just read this in Martin Samuel's column in the Mail "When Paul Ince became manager of Blackburn Rovers in 2008, special dispensation was required because he did not have the UEFA Pro Licence necessary to work at that level in the Premier League. Some three years on and, guess what, he still hasn't bothered to get it. Ince was granted special dispensation in 2008 This did not hinder Ince in the Football League because despite having Lord of Governance, Brian Mawhinney, in charge for seven years, beyond the Premier League there is no stipulation that the highest form of coaching qualification is attained. In all, 31 out of 72 Football League managers do not hold a Pro Licence and seven do not possess coaching qualifications at all." Anyone know if NP has the qualification? Only 31 out of 72!! It is shocking to me that a professional in a sport doesnt want or need to have a qualification to coach at the highest level.
It's a bit silly really. You don't need a qualification in coaching to be a good manager. You just need to know what you're doing. There a so many unnecessary qualifications going on these days anyway. My friend told me that after 24 years of doing his job, his uncle had to go and get an NVQ in milk delivering or he'd have got the sack. Despite the fact he'd been doing the job for 24 years, it still wasn't enough for the crazy statistical world we live in today.
As he's managed the England U21's, he probably does have his full coaching badges In fact, he might even own his own coach. And his own badges.
It annoys me more that you have to have been a player at a top level to be a manager. For example, Southgate when he took over Middlesbrough had just retired from playing and was immediately deemed good enough to be a manager. But if a player who had played in League 2 all of his life and had done the same coaching courses applied for the job they'd be laughed at. In short he got the manager's job simply by being a good player. With all the money in football now, and so much at stake, there has to be a better way of assessing a candidate's managerial skill than how good they were as a player.
Sir Alex Ferguson hasn't got it according to that list. I hope that's right and he could no longer manage Man USA
Not sure what you're getting at, if you're pointing out that he is an exception to the rule (along with Mourinho) then you're right they're exactly that, exceptions. But both of those got their break in Portugal, it wouldn't happen here.
the biggest jokes were people like bryan injured and overrated robson being given jobs in the top division. i've not been a fan ever since he got les thomson booked.
Really they should insist that as well as doing your coaching badges, you have to pass a test with questions such as 'Do you intend to play a 4-6-0 formation at home against Blackburn at any point in your career?' and 'Will you react to losing matches by blaming your players and saying they're a lot ****ter than you first thought?' and they should also make you vow to never ever ever do anything in any way similar to what Gary Megson did whilst in charge at Bolton. This would weed out the ****e ones.
I was just being a little sarcastic. Though as Villas Boas, Mourinho, Wenger and Fergie were all fairly **** footballers, along with half of the other managers of top teams in Europe, I think the point you made was fairly weak. Just in case you can't remember which footballers were fairly ****, just in England, they include Pulis, McLeish, Kean, Coyle, Moyes, Jol, Pardew, Lambert, Warnock, Rodgers and Hodgson.
But they were all players. You can do a degree in football management, but it wouldn't ever get you the job, nor would all the coaching badges in the world unless you were a player. I seem to have diverted from the point with that Southgate example, it still applies but my actul point was that you can't be a manager without being a player first, which has to be excluding some potentially brilliant managers from ever getting into management.
Half of the players I mentioned barely qualify as professional footballers at all. Steve Kean played for Academica Coimbra, Bath City and Newbury Town, they give barely any more credibility than playing for his local school as a kid.
Slightly O/T. when OLM said about half the top managers in Europe being **** footballers i looked up Milan's manager as i wasnt aware who it is. Allegri, he was a mediocre player. Anyway when i looked on the Milan Wiki page it says they have 24 players out on loan!! 24!
It certainly used to be the case because I remember reading an article where someone was saying it was ridiculous that the manager who'd won more than half the PL titles wasn't qualified to be a PL manager. I think he's done them since though, otherwise he'd have similar issues in the Champions League to the ones Dennis Wise had when Millwall were in the UEFA Cup (Ray Wilkins having to be in charge). If he hasn't though it would only mean he couldn't take a job at another PL club, as he's already in position at Man U it has no bearing on it. Similarly if NP didn't have the badges (he probably does) and we get promoted it won't have an effect, but nobody else in the PL could hire him until he got the badges. It is laughable though, it should only be a requirement that the person responsible for organising training has the badge to ensure they're medically/physical preparation wise done properly. If SAF wants Anderson to be better at shooting he doesn't go out and plan Anderson's training, he tells someone else to work with Anderson to improve the shooting then he goes and looks at team tactics for himself, and assessments for coaching badges can't allow you to demonstrate an understanding of the complexities of minor tweaks to systems so what's the point?
OK so there's Kean and Adkins who got promoted from within after being successful caretaker managers. In other words they proved they are good managers but only got the job through absolute luck and the coincidence that they happened to be the on the backroom team when the manager was sacked. There must be hundreds more Keans out there who could be great managers, but won't ever get the chance because they weren't players, and don't happen to be a caretaker at a club that sack their manager. One of the best things about these guys is their enthusiasm for the game, they'll both talk all night about football and you can see that in their interviews. I always think when Kean is on MOTD he's exactly what I'd want from a manager, that's not something you learn as a player that's just a personality trait. There's not even a debate, only having ex-players and extremely lucky individuals as managers is excluding many better candidates.
