I've said it before and I have to agree again here that a coach with a professional football career behind him has an advantage over one without one. It doesn't make him a better tactician, trainer, nutritionist, whatever, but it does afford him that bit more respect from the players, who after all are a bit dim and easily swayed. At the very top level of the game little things can make all the difference. The likes of AVB will always be at least a little bit handicapped.
Jose Mourinho says Hi
I pin that to (over)enthusiasm. That's the only way I can explain him winding up as a LM over portions of the game! I like the energy but feel he could reign it in a little bit.
I said CB, not footballing anamoly
Another couple of things - that it gives him a deeper insight into why a player might not be performing to what is perceived as his best; and similarly a deeper insight into what that "best" might be - seeing what others don't see in a player. Not so much a science as an art though....
But Mourinho did have a professional career, albeit only in the Portuguese second division. He would at least understand the camaraderie of the locker room. That said, perhaps he's the exception that proves the rule, and he is quite exceptional. Besides, I didn't say you had to have a professional career, just that, all other things being equal, it gives you an advantage, and small advantages count at the highest level. So there.
You've hit on one of my sore points.
He is the exception to the rule. There ain't going to be too many like him.
