This Week’s Manager Watch: Ryan Mason

[Timberwolf]

Hes had much more experience than arteta did before he was given the job at Arsenal, in fact about 2 years more experience coaching than Arteta. He has had less time as an assistent but more time actually managing teams, both the first team for a bit and youth teams. That doesnt mean Mason is the right choice, but his age is distracting and shouldn't really be a consideration.

Now, most coaches dont become good managers, but the PL has a particular aversion for this kind of thing. IN leagues such as Germany, Spain and Italy his appointment as a full time manager, if the belief in talent was there, wouldnt be seen as strange nor controversial.

He wont get the job, because the culture here is so risk adverse that it would require him to get much better results and performances than an established name, and at the same time he wont have the time to actually be able to implement any real footballing ideas. Now, that might be the right choice, the issue is that these sorts of decisions are kinda taken out of clubs hands, the perception in the PL from fans and media make it exceptionally more difficult for teams to select the right managers and in some cases the right players.

This isnt just in terms of promoting from within, but reluctance to give managers who have done a bad job in a previous role a job in another club, even though the context is different and that manager might be idealy suited to come into this new context. Same with players, a player performs badly or at a normal level at a club fans and media will pressure against their signing, even if the player is the perfect fit to play in the system and club culture. These issues are in part why the PL, frankly, underachieves in european competition and why teams such as, Southampton, are not as good as teams such as, say, villareal, despite having much better finances.

PL is a league dictated by vibes and fashion.

I think any 31 year old with minimal experience appointed to one of the top clubs in any league would be seem as a very big deal and controversial among their fans unless they're some generational tactical wunderkind like Nagelsmann.

31 years old is very very young by any league's standards. Literally the only 2 I can think of are Nagelsmann and Will Still, and both were/are at clubs much smaller than Spurs at his age with lower pressure and expectations.

For reference, the youngest manager currently in La Liga is 40, in Serie A is 39 and 34 in Germany. There are only 4 managers under 40 across the three leagues and 3 of them are 8 years older than Mason.

 

[JCRD]

I think Mason could do a Carrick - do well for us for the next six games... int he summer any Championship jobs or league one job becomes available - go for it and prove it. Carrick only had four or five games at Man United no?

Id love him to go somewhere like QPR - because I really like QPR and they are a decent sized club (but that may need to be after Ainsworth.)

 

[TheVoiceofReason]

Love Ryan Mason and wish him the best over these 6 games, but watching that press conference reminded me of his press conferences in his last stint, zero edge and not confident enough to express his own actual opinions, basically a club glove puppet. For now he’ll do just fine but under no circumstances can he be given the job full time. He needs to go manage elsewhere for his own good after this.

 

[Super Pav]

As stated previously think it's pretty much a free hit for Mason and hopefully can see a bounce from the players after finally being freed from the Conte era but to suggest he's anyway qualified to be taken on fulltime is barmy,we are in the top dozen clubs in the world and the lad hasn't even been an assistant and has basically just found himself in the right place at the right time to step into the gap,good luck to him but all this talk of him being highly rated maybe a good soundbite but what real evidence is there of this? Has there been any interest from clubs further down the food chain hiring him?

 

[PaulThurston]

As stated previously think it's pretty much a free hit for Mason and hopefully can see a bounce from the players after finally being freed from the Conte era but to suggest he's anyway qualified to be taken on fulltime is barmy,we are in the top dozen clubs in the world and the lad hasn't even been an assistant and has basically just found himself in the right place at the right time to step into the gap,good luck to him but all this talk of him being highly rated maybe a good soundbite but what real evidence is there of this? Has there been any interest from clubs further down the food chain hiring him?

Obviously I have no idea if he's open to managing a smaller club but I think if he made himself available he'd get a fair few options. He did a good job after Jose was sacked and I agree it's pretty much a free hit now unless he really stuffs up.

Personally I'd love him to come to Cambridge United for a couple of years.

 

[nedley]

Probably when there’s some actual news/ITK to talk about

There's always news to talk about.

Poch has a verbal agreement with Chelsea.

Find it weird that it's closed.

Considering the Arshavin page got to page 4875....

 

[SandroClegane]

There's always news to talk about.

Poch has a verbal agreement with Chelsea.

Find it weird that it's closed.

Considering the Arshavin page got to page 4875....

What does that have to do with OUR manager search? That's why it's closed.

 

[nedley]

What does that have to do with OUR manager search? That's why it's closed.

What does?

Pochettino.

It's pretty relevant considering he's on the poll, an ex manager who we previously courted and a fair chunk of the fan base are singing his name.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

ex manager who we previously courted

By most accounts we never contacted Poch

 

[nedley]

By most accounts we never contacted Poch

When he was at PSG the links were pretty strong.

Anyways...

 

[Thenewcat]

If the players want him I don't.
The players are paid to train and play not decide if they like the manager.

Players shouldn’t pick the manager and he isn’t there just to be their friend but the idea that you should actively seek a boss people don’t like in any walk of life is ridiculous. I’ve seen plenty of managers who’ve announced things like ‘if they like me I’m not doing my job’ or ‘I’m not here to be liked’ and they were all pricks

 

[C0YS]

I think any 31 year old with minimal experience appointed to one of the top clubs in any league would be seem as a very big deal and controversial among their fans unless they're some generational tactical wunderkind like Nagelsmann.

31 years old is very very young by any league's standards. Literally the only 2 I can think of are Nagelsmann and Will Still, and both were/are at clubs much smaller than Spurs at his age with lower pressure and expectations.

For reference, the youngest manager currently in La Liga is 40, in Serie A is 39 and 34 in Germany. There are only 4 managers under 40 across the three leagues and 3 of them are 8 years older than Mason.

Not in other countries. Its really that simple.

The age thing is a complete distraction, again. Mason is a rare case because he retired from the game so early. In terms of experience, he has more than what is considered normal to be given a shot at a job. If it is top or not depends largely on how well he is doing his previous ones.

As long as a younger manager can command respect, and mason seems to, age is simply not a factor. Coaches ages tend to reflect football retirement ages. But Mason has been working as a coach for 5 years (compared to say. Guardiolas and Xavis 2). That puts him on equivalent experience of most 40-43 year old coaches. Sometimes even older as Mason only took a month off from retiring and coaching. Many take years out.

 

[Roynie]

Just an observation on Ryan Mason's 'Experience'. Most posters are questioning his experience in terms of his likely effectiveness as a manager, and it's a fair question. He joined the coaching staff at Spurs in April 2019 and has seen off Mourinho, Nuno, Conte and Stellini. In addition he has worked under a lot of other managers as a player and will have observed their way of working.

Whilst looking and learning is most definitely not the same as doing, it's still possible to learn a lot, especially having played and coached under so many managers, some of which have been highly rated. Now I'm not in the sporting profession, but I have worked in teams. I've seen many people supposedly leading who couldn't lead a team out of a paper bag, whilst I've seen new people on the team who just seemed born to it.

My point is just that he shouldn't be written off beause he hasn't been a permanent manager of a club. He might surprise us all!

 

[crippsy25]

I honestly would love Mason to get the job full time, young fresh ambitious and from everything I have ever heard well liked and respected by the players.
We don't have bad players, we have good players playing badly.
Would love to give Mason a free hit season next year, no pressure if we don't qualify for Europe etc and then map it out from there.
But I honestly think he would have us in the mix for Europe with the squad we have. I think the experienced man has to be more the dof, let Mason do what he does best and coach, get the types of player he wants to work with in and get back to finding young English talent.

 

[spurs9]

(Yes I’m a conspiracy theorist.)

Levy never strictly mentioned Mason was in interim charge of the club. He’s also given him a coaching team of people who aren’t simply ex spurs players or the like…

FYI, every single person in his coaching team is either a current Tottenham staff (Suckling & Vio) or former Tottenham Staff (Wells & Gibbs).

 

[spurs9]

Should also label some of the players like that. Eric Dier acting defender. Hugo Lloris acting reliable.

They are not very good actors then are they.

 

[jezz]

Players shouldn’t pick the manager and he isn’t there just to be their friend but the idea that you should actively seek a boss people don’t like in any walk of life is ridiculous. I’ve seen plenty of managers who’ve announced things like ‘if they like me I’m not doing my job’ or ‘I’m not here to be liked’ and they were all pricks

Poch did exactly what I said and he wasn't a prick.
Was Alex Ferguson roundly like by all the players?
He was the boss and they knew it.

 

[Roynie]

Poch did exactly what I said and he wasn't a prick.
Was Alex Ferguson roundly like by all the players?
He was the boss and they knew it.

There's a difference between deliberately antagonising the players just for the sake of it, and winding them up so that they will be more positive on the pitch!

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

Just an observation on Ryan Mason's 'Experience'. Most posters are questioning his experience in terms of his likely effectiveness as a manager, and it's a fair question. He joined the coaching staff at Spurs in April 2019 and has seen off Mourinho, Nuno, Conte and Stellini. In addition he has worked under a lot of other managers as a player and will have observed their way of working.

Whilst looking and learning is most definitely not the same as doing, it's still possible to learn a lot, especially having played and coached under so many managers, some of which have been highly rated. Now I'm not in the sporting profession, but I have worked in teams. I've seen many people supposedly leading who couldn't lead a team out of a paper bag, whilst I've seen new people on the team who just seemed born to it.

My point is just that he shouldn't be written off beause he hasn't been a permanent manager of a club. He might surprise us all!

April 2018! He worked part time with various teams for slightly over a year before getting the role as u19 coach in July 2019.

 

[Timberwolf]

Not in other countries. Its really that simple.

The age thing is a complete distraction, again. Mason is a rare case because he retired from the game so early. In terms of experience, he has more than what is considered normal to be given a shot at a job. If it is top or not depends largely on how well he is doing his previous ones.

As long as a younger manager can command respect, and mason seems to, age is simply not a factor. Coaches ages tend to reflect football retirement ages. But Mason has been working as a coach for 5 years (compared to say. Guardiolas and Xavis 2). That puts him on equivalent experience of most 40-43 year old coaches. Sometimes even older as Mason only took a month off from retiring and coaching. Many take years out.

I disagree - I think age is a big factor though otherwise we'd see far more younger coaches.

You need to have either preternatural tactical understanding and/or leadership skills to be able to manage a group of what are essentially still your peers or very close to your age.

I agree that age isn't everything and if someone really is good enough they can manage a top team at a younger age but the fact is a lot of the skills that a manager requires tend to develop with life experience...which is borne of age.

Mason might be a step ahead of most other coaches his age cos of his unique circumstances but he's still only been on the planet for 31 years and it takes a LOT for someone his age to take over a high pressure job like Spurs.

Would be overjoyed if he proved me wrong but I'm sure not for gambling on it by appointing him.