Premier League - Great players, rubbish managers

Eurosport - Thu, 04 Dec 19:26:00 2008

Cheer up Roy Keane, you are in good company - scores of world-class players have failed to make the grade in management and your departure from Sunderland puts you in good company.

1999 Manchester United Roy Keane - 0

Bryan Robson - The first of Fergie's Manchester United 'disciples' to establish himself in management, Captain Marvel set an unhappy precedent for the likes of Keane and Paul Ince. Lasted seven mediocre years at Middlesbrough, the most notable of which saw Boro reach two cup finals and go down. Subsequently failed at Bradford, West Brom and Sheffield United.

Ruud Gullit - Skippered the Dutch to their only major tournament success in 1988 but proved too intelligent to be much good at management. Became the first foreign boss to win the FA Cup while at Chelsea but then fell out with the board. Fell out with Alan Shearer at Newcastle, and recently fell out with the whole LA Galaxy squad during a nine-month stint.

Glenn Hoddle - Why it is a bad idea for national teams to take a flier on unproven managers. Hoddle's player-manager spells at Swindon and Chelsea offered little indication of the faith-healing madness he would bring to the England job. Insisted not only on taking part in training but showboating throughout and repeatedly nutmegging a bemused Martin Keown.

Ossie Ardiles - At least he had the guts to impose his own tactical blueprint at Tottenham. Pioneered the novel 5-0-5 formation at the start of the 1994/95 season, employing an attacking quintet of Juergen Klinsmann, Teddy Sheringham, Ilie Dumitrescu, Darren Anderton and Nicky Barmby. Tragically, it failed and Ardiles was out of a job by October.

Alan Ball - If a flat cap and disarming honesty were enough to be a top manager, 1966 World Cup-winner Ball would have been a dugout legend - but Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho prove that being a lovely man is not a pre-requisite for success. Was nice enough to gain employment at Blackpool, Portsmouth, Stoke City, Exeter City, Southampton, Manchester City and Portsmouth.

Bobby Charlton - Another England hero from 1966, Charlton's maturity, leadership and track record seemed tailor-made for management. Took Nobby Stiles with him to Preston North End where he became player-manager. It did not go well, and he was off at the end of the season.

John Barnes - 'Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious' is pretty much all that needs to be said about Barnes's disastrous tenure at Parkhead.

And two greats who succeeded:

Franz Beckenbauer - Der Kaiser won the 1990 World Cup with West Germany, then proceeded to manage in brief, successful bursts. Won the French title during a single season at Marseille, then snaffled a Bundesliga and a UEFA Cup in spells of six and two months at Bayern Munich in 1994 and 1996.

Johan Cruyff - Introduced a 3-1-2-3-1 tactical system (seriously) at Ajax, which the club used to win the Champions League some years after Cruyff's departure. Then created Barcelona's Dream Team, winning the 1992 European Cup and signing legendary players such as Romario, Hristo Stoichkov, Michael Laudrup and Ronald Koeman.

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 48 - 67 of 87

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  1. Rob L
    Thanks for the info on Fergie. I honestly­ didn't realise that Fergie had taken a club and got­ it promoted in less than a season, but I stand­ corrected.
    Anyway, my point was never about­ Fergie's ability; rather that Roy Keane could not­ be considered a failure as he has already achieved what­ most managers will never get close to, already. His­ tactics are a little naïve when he asks defenders to­ play their way out of trouble rather than hoofing it up­ the pitch, but experience will cure that. I hope we see­ him back sometime in the near future.

    From Len, on Thu 4 Dec 9:02PM

  2. Comment 67, and what are these wonderful things? One­ win in 6 games? 3rd from the last? He is just not up to­ PL management and the writer got it right.

    From Half A Brain, on Thu 4 Dec 8:56PM

  3. the writer of this article is an idiot someone please­ brick his windows

    Keane has done great things for­ Sunderland its just not working out right now

    From mark, on Thu 4 Dec 7:48PM

  4. Keano`s more than likely been "tapped up" by­ Man Utd, to be Fergies understudy to eventually take­ over when he retires. Man Utd`s golden boy followin in­ Fergies foorsteps....maybe worth a small flutter @ the­ bookies??? lol

    From Paul, on Thu 4 Dec 7:46PM

  5. Yet again the manager taking the blame for a group of­ under acheiving highly paid non entities who purport to­ be world class footballers but are in fact average in­ ability and  have below average mentality capacities.­ I beleive Roy Keane to have been a better than average­ manager but as usual he has been forced out by pressure­ from people who should have kept their noses out of­ other peoples concerns

    From joyce2clever, on Thu 4 Dec 7:44PM

  6. when i 1st learned of keane getting sunderland job as a­ man utd fan i was happy for him but never thought he­ would be a good manager due to how he was as a player­ but then he gets them promoted

    i thought he might­ actualy turn out to be decent but now i see he has­ quit just as the going gets tough where i think he­ woulda earn much more respect if he at least stayed­ there and tried to get them up and if failed well least­ he still stuck it out and gave it his best shot

    all­ managers goals like as player should be to win things­ but big clubs dont want a quitter and i really do­ worry for keane as a manager as to if he will ever­ achieve the top of the mountain glory

    From peter d, on Thu 4 Dec 7:20PM

  7. Whether Kean quits or not, he's done a good job for­ those two years.

    You've to know that, history is­ never used to help the current job but it helps you get­ a new one....say if arsenal beats both manutd and­ liverpool home and away but drop to relegation zone,­ arsene wenger will be fired....so much of same old­ story which goes, kill the horse when its getting old­ and slower, or sell the mule when its not­ performing...or sick.

    From Majoser, on Thu 4 Dec 7:07PM

  8. PAUL J ITALY WERE ON THE WINNING SIDE IN WORLD WAR 1­ GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT IF YOU HAVE TO KEEP BRINGING­ WAR UP

    From the truth, on Thu 4 Dec 6:53PM

  9. paul,

    I would say he was doing a decent job until he­ quit. Now he is a quitter. A bit like Keegan.

    No, a­ good manager for me is someone who endures. SAF has­ been successful but he has also weathered the few­ difficult patches in his career as a manager. How did­ he do this? Well he didn't quit for­ starters.

    Keane had no reason to quit. He had great­ financial and vocal support from Quinn. His team and­ club were not exactly in a disastrous position.

    I­ don't know maybe there is something else going on­ in his life but purely from the footballing­ perspective, if i were a prospective employer I­ wouldn't want to hire someone that walks out the­ first time something is not to his liking.

    From Winston Bunn, on Thu 4 Dec 6:47PM

  10. nheavey

    thanks for your considered comments. I do not­ say i disrespect Keane. I just say he failed because he­ quit. Why would you get so excited about someone who­ quits as soon as it gets tough? I do not follow people­ who have this attitude - btw I am a Man U fan for whom­ Keane was one considered one of the star players.

    The­ main point that you should take home and consistent­ with the point of the article is that great players do­ not necessarily correlate with great managers (and­ vice-versa).

    From Winston Bunn, on Thu 4 Dec 6:42PM

  11. Beelzebubble,

    Fergie did exactly that during his years­ at East Sterling and St Mirren. He made St Mirren into­ a top SPL force and then took over Aberdeen, another­ relatively small club, which became the strongest club­ in Scotland during his management.

    Keane is a failure­ because he quit at soon as the going got tough. To be a­ successful manager a prerequisite is mental toughness.

    From Winston Bunn, on Thu 4 Dec 6:36PM

  12. This article missed one big point about Keano, he­ wasn't a rubbish manager! Where were Sunderland­ before him? No where near the Premier League I'll­ tell you that. Lay off the man, it's not his fault­ that Rio's little brother turned out to be a­ disappointing buy along with just about everybody else­ the club bought. There's only one Keano!

    From Phil, on Thu 4 Dec 6:36PM

  13. I wonder what Alf Haaland thinks about Kean failing as­ a Manager?

    From nemesis, on Thu 4 Dec 6:35PM

  14. Is taking a team from the bottom of the championship­ into the premiership, then staying there for a season­ not a good manager? Keane deserves some respect, both­ for this acheivement and for being dignified in his­ exit. If Keane would of stopped the whole season he may­ have finished mid-table, so, now that he has gone, you­ can't really judge him on just over a third of a­ seasons results. Both Sunderland and Keane benefit,­ providing the new Mackems manager gets them higher up­ the table.

    From paul, on Thu 4 Dec 6:32PM

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    PREMIER LEAGUE – FA CUP – CARLING­ CUP
    CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – UEFA CUP
    ALL MATCHES ON WEB: ­ PREMIER LEAGUE, LIGA, SERIE A, BUNDESLIGA AND CHAMPIONS­ LEAGUE - UEFA CUP
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    From go to www.premiership.altervista.org, on Thu 4 Dec 6:29PM

  16. OOOPsss!!! Apologies where they are due, Alex Chick,­ sorry, as I was skimming the news, I did not see the­ line above Franz and Johan. I do apologize most­ sincerely.

    From andres4790, on Thu 4 Dec 6:22PM

  17. Italians above all in tactics? What happened in World­ War 1 and 2 mate? If you're tactics mean running­ away, yes, you're very good at it.

    From Paul J, on Thu 4 Dec 6:19PM

  18. Must agree with rkill, taking a team from relegation in­ the championship to promotion in less than a season was­ phenomenal. Fergie or Benitez would have struggled­ there! Maybe too much was expected following this­ incredible success? Roy can obviously coach at­ Championship level but needs a few more years­ experience at the highest level under a proven manager.­ Understudy to Fergie would be ideal.

    From Len, on Thu 4 Dec 6:16PM

  19. boooooo,hoooooooo.

    From THEBIGONE, on Thu 4 Dec 6:13PM

  20. They are english that is why they stink! just look at­ the great italian coaches. that is why now england­ appointed Capello becouse they can't find a­ countryman! italians are above all in tactics.forza­ italy

    From Gabor, on Thu 4 Dec 6:13PM
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