Coaching badges? Fergie managed okay without one
JAMES BEATTIE and Accrington Stanley should be receiving all the help they can get as they try to stay in the Football League. Instead they get a £20,000 fine from the very same organisation because my former Everton team-mate didn’t have the correct coaching qualifications. Rules are rules, and no manager in League One or League Two can work without their UEFA B licence, I understand that. But seriously, what purpose does it serve fining a cash-strapped club like Accrington? This is a club who James helped bail out in the summer by financing a club debt. Surely that loyalty should be recognised too. And he is not just a Sunday League manager who has been handed the reins by Accrington. James Beattie is a former England international and Premier League player who is now trying to make a living at a very difficult level and at a club who have to watch every penny. He also has Paul Stephenson alongside him, who is qualified, and vastly experienced and knows what he’s doing. Alex Ferguson managed to get by without the prolicence, and it didn’t seem to do the new UEFA coaching ambassador any harm. I know the game has changed, and the FA and Football League want to ensure ex-players are properly qualified, but they don’t exactly make it easy for players to get their coaching qualifications. Although the FA are now running courses during the season, only a small percentage are enrolling. When I was a player — and I now have my A licence and will be completing the prolicence this summer — courses were run over a four to six-week period during the close season. But that’s a time when the last thing some players want to do is spend more time playing or learning about football. Sometimes they need a complete break from the game. And if they don’t their families do. Before I retired, I was asked to speak to a club about a vacancy but I couldn’t even go for the interview because I didn’t have my pro-licence. And yet I know having that qualification would have made absolutely no difference if I’d taken the job, and not having it would not have hindered me. Part of the Football League fine was suspended provided James gets his B licence. And he now has it. But far more important than that certificate is the experience he will gain in one of the most difficult jobs in the country, in one of the most precarious divisions in the world. Longevity is not exactly a word you hear often round the League Two clubs is it? It has not been an easy first season, in fact they looked doomed after a couple of months, but he has turned things round and got some good results and given himself and Accrington a chance of staying in the Football League. And I just think he deserved a bit more help and understanding from the authorities to do that.