IF THE FA BAN A BOSS LIKE KLOPP ... KEEP HIM OUT OF THE STADIUM
WHEN they are not touting for jobs behind each other’s backs, managers in the Premier League and the EFL are a brotherly bunch.
I say brotherly because, of course, there is yet to be a sister among their number.
There might be, eventually, but don’t hold your breath.
It’s still a boys’ club, that is for sure.
And while there is that cut-throat element when it comes to employment – there are some characters who have been known to wait for club chairmen in stadium car parks and offer their services even though someone is already in a post – they generally stick together.
They know it is a tough gig. Which is why David Moyes, ahead of defeat at Anfield last week, put up a decent defence of Jurgen Klopp (right) when talking about his dismissal towards the end of Liverpool’s game against
Manchester City. Moyes’ pay-off line, though, was disappointing. “I think if you look at the incident why he got angry, he was correct, wasn’t he?” he said.
Maybe, but if people got angry and got in the face of managers every time they made a mistake, it would be anarchy.
Just as dispiriting, even though he did talk about managers accepting responsibility, were Frank Lampard’s comments suggesting there is no correlation between bad behaviour on the professional touchline and bad behaviour on the amateur, grassroots and junior touchline.
Really? Just spend an hour on a Sunday morning at any hub of local football and imitation is rife – on the field and touchline.
Of course, behavioural role models should be your parents, your family, but to think these high-profile coaches and managers are not imitated is, deliberately you suspect, naive.
You cannot lay the blame for the vicious assaults on officials that regularly scar the amateur game at the door of high-profile professional managers such as Klopp. Of course, not. In that sense, Lampard is right.
But the more Premier
League managers demean officials, the more a culture of dissent towards them is encouraged.
That is why Klopp’s punishment for his red card should be meaningful.
These touchline bans, as per FA regulations, are pathetic.
How can it be a punishment when the manager can talk to his players pre-match, at halftime and post-match?
After all, for all their histrionics, what significant effect do any of these managers
(right) on social media for referring to
Nottingham have from the technical area? In the white heat of a game, do players really hear the rantings of a Guardiola or an Arteta?
There was a time when some managers CHOSE to be in the stands… now, apparently, it is a punishment.
If the laws do not allow it, that’s a shame, but, going forward, a ban has to be a ban.
And anyone repeating Klopp’s antics, should be spending time at home while his team plays rather than in the posh seats – and he should be paying a whopping fine.
Next weekend, the FA are promoting National Silent Support Weekend, during which coaches and spectators at youth football level are encouraged to show their support through applause only. Nice idea.
But if the FA want to get really serious, they need to stop paying lip service to the idea of getting tough with managers such as Klopp.