Premier League - Home-grown bosses thriving

Eurosport - Tue, 28 Oct 14:49:00 2008

Tony Adams's appointment as Portsmouth manager shows the inaccuracy of Michel Platini's claim that English managers are a dying breed.

2008 Portsmouth Tony Adams - 0

In a now-familiar dig at the Premier League, the UEFA president claimed that increased foreign ownership was squeezing out home-grown managers.

He said that soon there would be no English managers. In fact, the opposite appears to be true.

While some of Platini's fears over the relentless buying-out of top-flight clubs by overseas billionaires might be justified, the state of British management has rarely looked healthier.

Pompey's Franco-Russian owner Alexandre Gaydamak has backed Adams, joining Manchester City, Aston Villa and Fulham as a foreign-owned club with a Briton in the dugout.

Out of the 20 Premier League clubs, only four hail from outside of Britain and Ireland.

Three of them - Arsene Wenger, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Rafael Benitez - are widely acknowledged to be among the best managers in the world.

The other, West Ham's Gianfranco Zola, was hugely popular with fans of all clubs during his time with Chelsea and has established 'honorary Englishman' status.

The unthinking assumption that foreign is necessarily better has gone. Of course there is a place for foreign coaches of proven quality, but clubs no longer find themselves in thrall to supposed tactical superiority from overseas.

After the failed experiments of Christian Gross, Jean Tigana, Alain Perrin and Juande Ramos - among many others - the pendulum has swung back towards communication, man-management and team spirit.

And it is notable that the more successful foreigners, such as Scolari, Wenger and Jose Mourinho, make squad togetherness a top priority.

A new generation is emerging. After decades of recycling Dave Bassett, Ron Atkinson and Howard Wilkinson, clubs have found the courage to back new talent.

Young managers are getting a chance; men like Mark Hughes, Gareth Southgate and Adams, who made a living on the pitch not so long ago.

More than half of top-flight managers are under 50, and seven of them have been significant players in the Premier League era.

English football has plenty of problems, but Platini is off the scent if he thinks the nationality of the managers is one of them.

PREMIER LEAGUE MANAGERS

English

Tony Adams (Portsmouth, age 42)

Phil Brown (Hull City, 49)

Steve Bruce (Wigan Athletic, 47)

Roy Hodgson (Fulham, 61)

Paul Ince (Blackburn Rovers, 41)

Gary Megson (Bolton Wanderers, 52)

Tony Mowbray (West Bromwich Albion, 44)

Harry Redknapp (Tottenham Hotspur, 61)

Gareth Southgate (Middlesbrough, 38)

Scottish, Welsh or Irish

Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United, 66)

Mark Hughes (Manchester City, 44)

Roy Keane (Sunderland, 37)

Joe Kinnear (Newcastle, 61)

David Moyes (Everton, 45)

Martin O'Neill (Aston Villa, 56)

Tony Pulis (Stoke City, 50)

Other

Rafael Benitez (Liverpoool, 48)

Luiz Felipe Scolari (Chelsea, 59)

Arsene Wenger (Arsenal, 59)

Gianfranco Zola (West Ham, 42)

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 2 - 21 of 21

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  1. sheosamh is quite right. Ireland (Eire and Northern Ireland) are not in Great Britain,though Northern Ireland is part of the UK

    From GRAHAM B, on Wed 29 Oct 12:26AM

  2. GARETH W,

    you thick c*&t, you mean WAT(er)FORD

    n ob head

    From wiggy, on Tue 28 Oct 10:50PM

  3. watford is also in eire(southern/republic of ireland)

    From GARETH W, on Tue 28 Oct 8:34PM

  4. shoeshamh Excuse me but since when has WATFORD been in Ireland ( north or south) Joe Kinnear was, I believe, born in WATFORD which ,at my last look at an atlas, was in England.

    From toonbear, on Tue 28 Oct 7:46PM

  5. what is wrong with platini why cant he leave english football alone a good footballer but thats it he has to moan moan moan leave it out just be happy for english football managers or is he afraid that england will be number 1 in football

    From Chrissie g, on Tue 28 Oct 7:32PM

  6. What kind of idiots are calling Roy Keane British? This is total ignorance. Roy Keane is very much irish, so is Martin O Neill and Joe Kinnear.

    From sheosamh, on Tue 28 Oct 7:23PM

  7. Platini was a great player with the ball, but I don't ever remember him tackling back or working for the team. He would much rather DIVE and break up play that way. The Juve team he played in was notorious for spitting, diving feigning injury- Oh sounds like the kind of thing FIFA and co turn a blind eye to these days!
    Maybe it's what football has evolved into and soon it will be a non-contact sport like the authorities want.

    From Mervyn, on Tue 28 Oct 7:02PM

  8. die hard italian fan,,,,, at least we play fair and not bribe the officials to win a game???and the english fan wants an english manager its only the ponces of the fa who look overseas , ,

    From Chris, on Tue 28 Oct 6:29PM

  9. PLATINI IS A SADIST THAT DOES NOT SEE ANYTHING GOOD IN ENGLAND.
    HE WAS SO SAD HE COULD NOT PLAY IN THE PREMIERSHIP BEFORE HE RETIRES AND SO HE
    MUST PROVE A POINT TO SHOW HIS FRUSTRATIONS OF WHAT HE FAILED TO ACHIEVE.

    From Olugbayi, on Tue 28 Oct 6:18PM

  10. How much longer are we English going to put up with Platini's racist and anti-english remarks about our game, managers and players. He may have been a beautiful player but he is an absolute nazi when it comes to European views about the English game. And as for Blatter, he really is a lunatic running an asylum.

    From Allen H, on Tue 28 Oct 4:08PM

  11. I said it sometimes ago and will continue to say it. The earlier football lovers around the globe get rid of Platini and Blatter, the better it is for our future beloved sport

    From Michael, on Tue 28 Oct 4:02PM

  12. Eurosport do make me laugh a lot sometimes, if the so called home-grown managers are thriving then why the you lot got one of our best Italian managers ever leading your team out with all your hopes pinned on him?

    Its only the non-English (but British thing that you try to clutch at straws) managers that do any good in the Premiership too...to my knowledge and correct me if I am wrong but no English manager has ever won the Premiership...maybe one at the most...not exactly shining quality managers thriving in my opinion.

    From Diehard Italian Fan, on Tue 28 Oct 3:34PM

  13. Since when is a cork man british??? once again the clowns at eurosport have stuck their foot in it

    From Stephen D, on Tue 28 Oct 2:34PM

  14. Manchester United have a foreign owner and Alex Ferguson is British, why were they not included in the list of clubs with foreign owners but british managers??

    From Luke W, on Tue 28 Oct 2:23PM

  15. It would be a very brave man who would call Roy Keane British!

    From mark.wishart@..., on Tue 28 Oct 2:00PM

  16. Why are Irish managers being counted as British has Britain reinvaded?

    From mark.wishart@..., on Tue 28 Oct 1:56PM

  17. Platini is just a tired old man who should retire due to his inability to think properly.

    From aleksicn93, on Tue 28 Oct 1:47PM

  18. its quality not quantity ;-)

    spanish, italian, french managers are sought after all around the world.

    unlike the english...could it be a culture thing? or are other managers willing to do more for less?

    p.s: although mclaren is an englishman abroad, dont think anyone would dare to use him in their argument :D

    From mohammad, on Tue 28 Oct 1:47PM

  19. quality not quantity ;-)

    From mohammad, on Tue 28 Oct 1:43PM

  20. phil brown is looking good for 49 lol

    From hodaz@..., on Tue 28 Oct 1:23PM
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