The license was only introduced in England in recent years and anyone with 10 years experience got one in 2003. Ferguson, Souness and Redknapp were amongst them, as were Hoddle and Pleat. Do managers really need it? No. Does Sherwood? Perhaps not, but he could do with taking one on filling in forms, apparently.
I'm surprised players give as good an effort as they do, overall, having witnessed what's still the lowlight of player power, the NBA in the early eighties or so. Sidney Wicks, I think, dribbled down the court and got doubleteamed. He had an uncovered teammate under the basket. Instead, he went up for a thirty foot jump shot, missing badly (and this before there were three points awarded for a long shot). His teammate found him afterward. Wicks said, "Hey, don't get so wide open like that. Your man comes over and double teams me." My sayonara to caring about the NBA happened ten years later or so. The Celtics (who I started rooting for in college) had two top players. One was a fan's dream, always worked hard, etc. The other was Antoine Walker, fat, selfish and didn't care. So they traded Walker--and were much worse. Fat, selfish and apathetic as he was, Walker was one of fifteen players in the league who could, in the parlance, "create his own offense." He could start with the ball in his own end, dribble to the other, and use moves to get himself a shot he would make half the time. Without him, teams were free to doubleteam the other, likable top player the Celtics had. And the fifteen or so human beings on the planet who are 6'10", have moves, dribbling skill and can shoot (planet theory), can write their own ticket, however poor their attitude is. Because if they go to a winner, with a chance at a title, the chances are decent they'll give it a good effort and be a very valuable player.
