30 Apr 2018 12:01:56
Morning all,

I wouldn't mind addressing SG potentially getting the Rangers post, and it perhaps being a stepping stone towards Liverpool, or even people asking for him to be assistant now to JK. Manage expectations please. emotionally i know a lot would enjoy this, but the amount of world class players who went on to become excellent managers is practically zero. You need a totally different set of skills, let alone to be actually any good. and we have no evidence to prove it. i roll my eyes every time i hear people even mention him for the job. it makes literally no sense to me. Not knocking him, and i really do hope he has a successful career, but appointing someone on the fact that they have emotional credit in the bank and could kick a ball is a nightmare scenario. I even have my doubts re Zidane as the main attributes Real needed was a strong personality who was respected by a bunch of overpaid egos. He has done a good job yes, but with that playing staff and infrastructre it would be tough not to.


1.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 12:30:10
Agree that we all need to calm down, and that top players are unlikely to make top coaches. However there have been quite a few:

Kenny Dalglish
Alex Ferguson
Brian Clough
Pep Guardiola
Zinedine Zidane

I’m sure there’s many more. You could argue the various merits of each of them, but they have had successful playing careers for both club and country, as well as managed teams to League and/ or Champions League triumphs.


2.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 12:51:35
On the last two is it really that hard when your first clubs are Real Madrid and Barcelona
I would love to see Pep at a club where he has average money and has to find players and coach them not just buy them in
With Zidane I think he is a very lucky boy as he has Ronaldo to turn to when things go wrong.


3.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 13:00:49
Exactly johncrow, spot on mate.


4.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 13:08:39
Zed. fair point but i agree with Johncrow. i think the list of failed managers who were great players is infinitely longer. Especially in todays environment where players are modicodled. being able to identify problems and actually fix them are worlds apart. (Shearer, Neville, Keane, Bruce, Sheringham, Adams etc etc etc) While you could maybe argue some players have gone onto decent managerial careers, they are exactly that, decent. not what we should be looking. I could be wrong of course with SG, but my money would not be on him, just as i wouldn't bet the house on Giggs at the moment either. In my chosen sport (rugby) a lot of the best head coaches down the years have actually had teaching experience in their early days, and literally all started at grass roots level at some stage for a number of years. I think this is invaluable in being able to manage people, which in my opinion is one of the most underrated qualities. All the great managers have had this, and being 38 and never having had to manage (captain is not managing) is a tough ask of anyone. Long term i think it is a tough one to sustain unless you are truely gifted.


5.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 13:08:44
I take your point Johncrow, but they can only work with what they have.

If I’m playing devils advocate, you could argue the same about King Kenny. He took over the champions of Europe who were the best team around. Then at Blackburn he had the biggest cheque book. At Newcastle and Celtic, without as much money, he didn’t succeed.

I’m not in any way denigrating his achievements, but it’s difficult not to tar him with the same brush as Pep and Zizou?


6.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 13:23:13
Dont think Fergie was a top player!


7.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 13:27:29
As an additional point, I’m sceptical that Stevie will make a top manager anyway. In what I have read about him, he seems a bit too ‘self’ obsessed to put the needs of the team above his own needs. I hope to be proved wrong, but I do think, that out of that team, Xabi has most attributes to make a top manager.

Just my view 😀.


8.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 13:27:30
It's the state of modern game now. A bad season and your gone. In the past when the like of Kenny and Fergie where around they would have time to build there teams. There's little of that now.

It's a big gamble going into management. Don't blame them tho football is all they know after retiring from playing.


9.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 13:46:38
Fergie scored 171 goals in around 300 odd matches in Scotland, and was a record breaking transfer to Rangers at the time, as well as scoring 9 in 7 Scotland matches.

Didn’t win the World Cup, but was certainly a good later in Scotland in an era when few players played outside of their leagues. I’d say he was the Jermaine Defoe of his day!


10.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 13:58:14
*player not later 😂.


11.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 14:50:00
Fergie never played for Scotland Zed. Had a decent career as a player but was never seen as a great player up here. I know plenty older Dunfermline and Rangers fans who seen him play. Although he served his time properly as a manager.


12.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 15:37:04
Fair enough Liddelland. Got his Scotland career from his Wiki page (epic fail! ) but upon closer inspection, he went on a tour of Asia and Oceania with what looks like a development squad in 1967, scored a load, but never made the Scotland team proper!

So maybe not quite Jermain Defoe then.


13.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 17:33:08
There's quite a few really.

Those mentioned above,
Simeone,
Conte,
Pochettino,
Riijkard,
Mancini,
Fabio Capello,
Beckenbauer,
Cruyff
Ancelotti,
Deschamps,
Bobby Robson,

And with the world cup just around the corner, an honourable mention to *cough* Gareth Southgate.


14.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 17:39:40
Lol Zed, never trust Wiki mate, it's full of made up garbage the majority of the time. There's so many websites out there who do articles and just copy stuff from Wiki, change a few words and publish it which is frustrating because the info is so incorrect so many times. This is why I love Ed1 and MK's articles, they know what they're talking about and don't need to copy useless info from elsewhere. Sorry for going on and off topic, I just can't stand wiki.


15.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 18:07:04
That Rangers job to me, is a train wreck and I don't think he should take it. Why? There so many pitfalls with level of expectations, emotion and excitement, all of which are not good for a young manager getting his feet wet in the top level. It's too early for him and he needs to wait for the right one while still undergoing his apprenticeship with the kids. Just my opinion.


16.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 19:04:39
The only way to prove oneself as being a very very good manager in Scotland is to take on a team outside of the big two. Aberdeen or Hibs etc. (even though Aberdeen are above Rangers) .

Look at Rodgers. He's winning everything he's expected to win, yet I've still no more respect for him as a manager as when he managed us.


17.) 30 Apr 2018
30 Apr 2018 20:25:02
Spot on, Epic. BR took a cushy job, winning the games and stuff he is expected to win. I would not have had an issue with his choice if he wasn't still being a self promoting bloke in his media interviews, always fishing for compliments and patting himself on the back for being a loser having bottled the PL or saying English managers don't get given enough time, as if 3 years was not enough time for him. In fact, What has he done in the CL and the EL? NOTHING. Why? Cos he can't hack it outside of Scotland in tournaments he is not expected to do well in. Like you Epic, he can win a thousand paper trophies in Scotland, he will NEVER get my respect until he gets it done where the big boys do it.