Latest score – Pundits 952 Managers 17
WHEN Hull City sacked Mike Phelan in midweek the number of ex-England players working as managers of League clubs was reduced from three to two.
Cue groans of despair from St George’s Park, where they’re actively trying to encourage former Three Lions men to become coaches and managers.
Phelan only won one cap, but his dismissal left the FA with just Nigel Clough at Burton Albion and Keith Curle at Carlisle as examples. Though, should the appointment of Alan Smith as caretaker at Notts County lead to a full-time job, we’ll be back to three. Clough won 14 caps and Curle three, so there’s currently 17 games’ worth of England experience amongst the League’s permanent managers.
Contrast that to the caps won by ex-England players working regularly as TV pundits.
Gary Lineker, Gary Neville, Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Phil Neville, Jamie Redknapp, Ian Wright, Steve McManaman, Jamie Carragher, David James, Martin Keown, Lee Dixon, Owen Hargreaves, Danny Murphy and Jermaine Jenas won 952 caps between them.
Of those, Shearer had eight games as Newcastle’s caretaker boss and Gary Neville had 28 as manager of Valencia and assisted Roy Hodgson with England. Brother Phil was David Moyes’ No.2 for a year at Manchester United. The rest haven’t so much as dipped a toe in the water.
The FA have recently made it very clear that they are desperate to attract former England stars into coaching rather than the studio, and have set up a pilot programme in the hope this will happen.
“St George’s Park is very much open to ex-England players,” said FA technical director, Dan Ashworth.
“We are keen to get more English coaches working with our national teams or back into the Premier League or Football League as coaches and managers.”
There’s an open invitation to the likes of Gerrard, Ferdinand and Frank Lampard to become involved at SGP at some level. Scholes is taking part in one of the pilot programmes.
Of course the FA have the perfect poster boy for their scheme. Gareth Southgate was prised from the TV studio to become England Under-21 coach and now he’s got the big job.
Southgate left a cushy media career, where he only had to talk the talk, to try to walk the walk at the sharp end where the pressure is at its most intense.
Sadly, he’s probably the exception that proves the rule.