Merson is right, Brit bosses get a raw deal

Paul MeRson has found himself on the wrong side of football’s snobs in recent weeks, for doubting the appointment of foreign coaches, and in a london accent. Merson wondered why the hull job had not been given to a promising english manager, such as Gary Rowett; then, to compound his sacrilege, referred to Marco silva as ‘this geezer’. Cue outrage. Cue a lot of bluffers pretending they were very familiar with silva’s sterling work at estoril in Portugal’s second division, and hadn’t just looked it up on Wikipedia. Many cited his subsequent promotion, estoril’s impressive fifth-place finish and his season at sporting lisbon, where he won the Portuguese Cup. They even discussed the Taca de Portugal as if they followed it — so presumably knew the final was played at a 37,000-capacity stadium that is otherwise dormant and has one entire side left open. That Porto, by far Portugal’s strongest club, haven’t won it since 2011, that Benfica have lifted the trophy once since 2004 and that recent winners have included Braga (2016), Vitoria de Guimaraes (2013) and academia (2012). no, the Taca de Portugal — we’re all over it in england. now Merson may have picked the wrong target in silva. he could be a fine coach and his early results — an fa Cup win over swansea, a league win over Bournemouth — are good. Then again, Mike Phelan started by beating the champions, leicester, 2-1 and then won away at swansea, so first appearances can be deceptive. Yet equally, Merson could cite Pepe Mel, felix Magath, Walter Zenga, Bob Bradley, Guy luzon, Philippe Montanier, fabio liverani, Ricardo Moniz, Karel fraeye, alberto Cavasin or Marinus Dijkhuizen as foreign coaches parachuted into a league, or a situation, in english football for which they have little experience, with underwhelming results. and that is just in the last two years or so. also, the fact that silva, having performed excellently at estoril was then given a chance at sporting, one of Portugal’s most storied clubs, rather proves Merson’s point. What would be the english equivalent of estoril? Burnley maybe? Bournemouth? any chance of sean Dyche rocking up at Manchester united or liverpool any time soon? any hope of Chelsea one day being interested in eddie howe? Chris hughton has done a superb job at Brighton. he wouldn’t make a shortlist of 50 at an elite Premier league club, even now. Merson might not speak proper like what some of the bluffers do, but that doesn’t make him wrong. if Rowett was Portuguese, his work would have been noted. instead, he might as well have been hiring out sun beds in estoril.