Bus-Conductor
SC Supporter
- Oct 19, 2004
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Good article, dispelling the bullshit myth that British coaches are being held back by foreign coaches:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/sports/soccer/premier-league-sam-allardyce.html
On Oct. 27, Sam Allardyce sat down in a television studio in Doha, Qatar. It was two days after Everton had fired Ronald Koeman as its manager, and four since Leicester City had appointed Claude Puel, a Frenchman, to the same post.
Allardyce was in the Gulf to appear on the beIN Sports show hosted by Richard Keys and Andy Gray, the veteran British broadcasting duo drifting into a reluctant obsolescence after being ostracized for a workplace harassment scandal. He was there, in part, to discuss what Keys described as the “glass ceiling” faced by English managers.
This is, of course, Allardyce’s specialist subject. He has long championed the idea that British coaches are too readily overlooked by Premier League clubs in thrall to exotic imports. In 2010, he declared that he was better “suited” to managing Real Madrid or Manchester United than his then employers, Blackburn Rovers. Two years later, he decreed that he would have been a Champions League coach if only he had a more glamorous surname.
In Keys and Gray, Allardyce knew he had a sympathetic audience. Last December, he had appeared on the same show to claim that the Premier League’s top six were appointing “branded” foreign coaches because they held more global appeal. A couple of days before his October appearance, Keys had tweeted that Leicester’s appointment of Puel sounded a death knell for British coaching.
In front of his willing audience, Allardyce readily reprised his greatest hit. British coaches, he said, are now seen as “second class” in England. They have, he said, “nowhere to go.”
“The Premier League is a foreign league in England,” he concluded.
Allardyce should be delighted, then, at the events of the last two weeks. Leicester might have followed the fashion for the foreign, but West Ham did not: it has appointed David Moyes, a Scot, to replace its Croatian coach, Slaven Bilic. And Everton seems set to follow. Within a few days of his appearance in Doha, Allardyce himself was reported to have held talks with Farhad Moshiri, the club’s largest shareholder, over Koeman’s position.
Indeed, Allardyce’s passion for British coaches is matched only by his prescience. A week after he had appeared with Keys and Gray in December last year, he was appointed as manager of Crystal Palace. Two weeks after his most recent remarks, he is in line to return to work again. It is almost as if he sets out to make himself visible — and his employment a moral, as well as professional, issue — whenever he suspects opportunities may arise. They say sharks can sense blood in the water.
The reality is, however, that the appointment of Moyes, and the prospective return of Allardyce, will not be cause for celebration for any British coaches other than the two men themselves. It should, in fact, be precisely the opposite. On the surface, nobody has done more to highlight the plight of British managers than Allardyce (or Moyes). Beneath it, both men — and those like them — are part of the problem, not the solution.
There are 92 clubs in the four professional divisions of English soccer. At the time of writing, 22 have foreign coaches. Precisely half of those men work in the Premier League, and among those 11 are the bosses at all six of the teams — Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United — that might reasonably hope to win the title at the start of any given season.
That number has been slowly increasing in recent years, giving rise to the broadly held, largely accepted assumption, as voiced by Allardyce, that foreign managers are blocking the path of England’s own bright young things.
The premise does not, though, stand up to scrutiny. Four of the top six clubs have been managed by a Briton at least once in the last decade: Alex Ferguson and Moyes at Manchester United; Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool; Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood at Tottenham; Mark Hughes at Manchester City.
Only Chelsea and Arsenal — a fairly unusual case when it comes to managerial stability — have not given a British manager an opportunity. In the circumstances, if anything, the remainder of the elite have been a little too nationalist in their appointments.
All six see themselves as Champions League clubs. It is reasonable for them to believe that the most qualified candidates for their managerial posts are those who have managed Champions League clubs previously. Those candidates, logically, are most often found abroad.
It is below them where the real problem lies. Of the eight — nine, if Allardyce is appointed at Everton — British managers in the Premier League, only one, Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe, is under age 40. Only two more — Burnley’s Sean Dyche and Swansea City’s Paul Clement — are under 50.
The rest range from 54 (Moyes, now installed at West Ham, and Hughes at Stoke) to 70 (Roy Hodgson, Palace’s latest manager). Between them, and including Allardyce, they have held 25 Premier League jobs.
It would be harsh to suggest that all of them are without merit, or to dismiss their experience out of hand, but it is worth noting that failure does not seem to reduce their employability. Moyes’s work in almost a decade at Everton was impressive, but he has won only five home league games in more than two years. He was fired by Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland, whom he led to relegation. West Ham still appointed him, despite howls of protest from its fans, to try to avoid the same fate.
It is below them where the real problem lies. Of the eight — nine, if Allardyce is appointed at Everton — British managers in the Premier League, only one, Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe, is under age 40. Only two more — Burnley’s Sean Dyche and Swansea City’s Paul Clement — are under 50.
The rest range from 54 (Moyes, now installed at West Ham, and Hughes at Stoke) to 70 (Roy Hodgson, Palace’s latest manager). Between them, and including Allardyce, they have held 25 Premier League jobs.
It would be harsh to suggest that all of them are without merit, or to dismiss their experience out of hand, but it is worth noting that failure does not seem to reduce their employability. Moyes’s work in almost a decade at Everton was impressive, but he has won only five home league games in more than two years. He was fired by Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland, whom he led to relegation. West Ham still appointed him, despite howls of protest from its fans, to try to avoid the same fate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/sports/soccer/premier-league-sam-allardyce.html
On Oct. 27, Sam Allardyce sat down in a television studio in Doha, Qatar. It was two days after Everton had fired Ronald Koeman as its manager, and four since Leicester City had appointed Claude Puel, a Frenchman, to the same post.
Allardyce was in the Gulf to appear on the beIN Sports show hosted by Richard Keys and Andy Gray, the veteran British broadcasting duo drifting into a reluctant obsolescence after being ostracized for a workplace harassment scandal. He was there, in part, to discuss what Keys described as the “glass ceiling” faced by English managers.
This is, of course, Allardyce’s specialist subject. He has long championed the idea that British coaches are too readily overlooked by Premier League clubs in thrall to exotic imports. In 2010, he declared that he was better “suited” to managing Real Madrid or Manchester United than his then employers, Blackburn Rovers. Two years later, he decreed that he would have been a Champions League coach if only he had a more glamorous surname.
In Keys and Gray, Allardyce knew he had a sympathetic audience. Last December, he had appeared on the same show to claim that the Premier League’s top six were appointing “branded” foreign coaches because they held more global appeal. A couple of days before his October appearance, Keys had tweeted that Leicester’s appointment of Puel sounded a death knell for British coaching.
In front of his willing audience, Allardyce readily reprised his greatest hit. British coaches, he said, are now seen as “second class” in England. They have, he said, “nowhere to go.”
“The Premier League is a foreign league in England,” he concluded.
Allardyce should be delighted, then, at the events of the last two weeks. Leicester might have followed the fashion for the foreign, but West Ham did not: it has appointed David Moyes, a Scot, to replace its Croatian coach, Slaven Bilic. And Everton seems set to follow. Within a few days of his appearance in Doha, Allardyce himself was reported to have held talks with Farhad Moshiri, the club’s largest shareholder, over Koeman’s position.
Indeed, Allardyce’s passion for British coaches is matched only by his prescience. A week after he had appeared with Keys and Gray in December last year, he was appointed as manager of Crystal Palace. Two weeks after his most recent remarks, he is in line to return to work again. It is almost as if he sets out to make himself visible — and his employment a moral, as well as professional, issue — whenever he suspects opportunities may arise. They say sharks can sense blood in the water.
The reality is, however, that the appointment of Moyes, and the prospective return of Allardyce, will not be cause for celebration for any British coaches other than the two men themselves. It should, in fact, be precisely the opposite. On the surface, nobody has done more to highlight the plight of British managers than Allardyce (or Moyes). Beneath it, both men — and those like them — are part of the problem, not the solution.
There are 92 clubs in the four professional divisions of English soccer. At the time of writing, 22 have foreign coaches. Precisely half of those men work in the Premier League, and among those 11 are the bosses at all six of the teams — Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United — that might reasonably hope to win the title at the start of any given season.
That number has been slowly increasing in recent years, giving rise to the broadly held, largely accepted assumption, as voiced by Allardyce, that foreign managers are blocking the path of England’s own bright young things.
The premise does not, though, stand up to scrutiny. Four of the top six clubs have been managed by a Briton at least once in the last decade: Alex Ferguson and Moyes at Manchester United; Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool; Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood at Tottenham; Mark Hughes at Manchester City.
Only Chelsea and Arsenal — a fairly unusual case when it comes to managerial stability — have not given a British manager an opportunity. In the circumstances, if anything, the remainder of the elite have been a little too nationalist in their appointments.
All six see themselves as Champions League clubs. It is reasonable for them to believe that the most qualified candidates for their managerial posts are those who have managed Champions League clubs previously. Those candidates, logically, are most often found abroad.
It is below them where the real problem lies. Of the eight — nine, if Allardyce is appointed at Everton — British managers in the Premier League, only one, Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe, is under age 40. Only two more — Burnley’s Sean Dyche and Swansea City’s Paul Clement — are under 50.
The rest range from 54 (Moyes, now installed at West Ham, and Hughes at Stoke) to 70 (Roy Hodgson, Palace’s latest manager). Between them, and including Allardyce, they have held 25 Premier League jobs.
It would be harsh to suggest that all of them are without merit, or to dismiss their experience out of hand, but it is worth noting that failure does not seem to reduce their employability. Moyes’s work in almost a decade at Everton was impressive, but he has won only five home league games in more than two years. He was fired by Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland, whom he led to relegation. West Ham still appointed him, despite howls of protest from its fans, to try to avoid the same fate.
It is below them where the real problem lies. Of the eight — nine, if Allardyce is appointed at Everton — British managers in the Premier League, only one, Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe, is under age 40. Only two more — Burnley’s Sean Dyche and Swansea City’s Paul Clement — are under 50.
The rest range from 54 (Moyes, now installed at West Ham, and Hughes at Stoke) to 70 (Roy Hodgson, Palace’s latest manager). Between them, and including Allardyce, they have held 25 Premier League jobs.
It would be harsh to suggest that all of them are without merit, or to dismiss their experience out of hand, but it is worth noting that failure does not seem to reduce their employability. Moyes’s work in almost a decade at Everton was impressive, but he has won only five home league games in more than two years. He was fired by Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland, whom he led to relegation. West Ham still appointed him, despite howls of protest from its fans, to try to avoid the same fate.
