The Curious Case of Mr Hodgson and Mr Redknapp

The English FA pulled something of a rabbit out of the hat this week with the appointment of Roy Hodgson as the England Manager.  Yet, if the Anglocentric press were to be believed, this was a deeply unpopular move that flies in the face of footballing logic.  Of course the relationship that “the people’s favourite” (© every London based newspaper) ‘Arry Redknapp has with these publications has nothing to do with their views.

Yet, most of Fleet Street’s finest seem to have forgotten that Hodgson has something no other England manager has gone into the job with, International experience.  His three years with the Switzerland national side saw them qualify for the World Cup in the USA, toping a group containing Italy, Portugal and Scotland.  Under his guidance Switzerland also qualified for Euro ’96 before resigning to take up a managerial role with Inter Milan.  Ironically enough, had he stayed his Switzerland side’s opening game in Euro 96 would have been against England.

I think that the English FA went for Hodgson because of that experience, and because he has a record of building teams around systems and formations, one of the methods that international managers use to build teams that do well in international tournaments.  Yet his sides are not quite as attractive or as attacking as the current Tottenham side.  It might be true that Redknapp has, rather like one of his predecessors at Tottenham Terry Venables, a good cordial relationship with sports writers (he has a column in The S*n), but Redknapp is one of the few English coaches in English football that tries to get his teams to play football “the right way”.   Yet in a pragmatic kind of a way, because of the vagaries of International football where you have to make do, Redknapps approach might not have come off.

Unwittingly though, what this appointment has shown is the divide between the sports writers and those that watch the game.  Most of “Fleet Street” have been angry at this appointment – with claims that the cheep option has been taken.  What has really got on the nerves of many fans though is the way that Redknapp has been described as “The Nation’s Choice”.  Us Scot’s are well aware of the phenomenon of the “National” newspapers only committing 3 square centimetres to Scottish stories – in a post devolution UK as well – so to see the self same newspapers cover themselves in hubris is somewhat amusing. As many fans pointed out, he might play football the right way but West Ham and Portsmouth are still recovering from Redknapps addiction to spending sprees.

I always thought that Redknapp was the far too obvious candidate, that someone like Hodgson would emerge.  Yet the most shocking aspect is not his appointment but the realisation that the English press are not prepared to forgive for “their man” not being appointed.  At the very least Hodgson deserves a honeymoon period.  If anyone is looking for an example of why so many Scottish people support Anyone But England in football tournaments, The English Press have this week supplied yet another example why this is the case.

The Art Of Intimidation

We shouldn’t be surprised that the new Celtic' managers attempts to whip up an intimidating atmosphere has failed.  Celtic’s loss on aggrigate has shown that Neil Lennon is a work in progress.  It does raise the interesting question of what makes an intimidating atmosphere?

Celtic fans on their last visit to Love Street in 2008

For me part of the equation is the crowd itself. The most intimidating atmosphere’s I have been part of have been when the Old Firm visit, this is partly down to our hostility to the particular Old Firm teams supporters choice of song’s.  That atmosphere is warm compared to the atmospheres waiting for teams who visit Turkey & Greece.  Manchester United were famously greeted with a banner saying “Welcome to hell” when they played Galatasaray in a European Cup tie in 1993, and that was as welcoming as it got for them.  Rangers had two scary visits to Greece in the 1990’s.  In a preliminary tie for the European Cup in 1994, they fell to a 2-0 defeat against AEK Athens, while four years later the visited the stadium dubbed “The Tomb” to play PAOK Salonika to defend a 2-0 lead.  It’s no coincidence that both Italy and Spain tend to play their trickiest qualifying games at the most intimidating stadiums (Naples and Seville respectively), while Wellington is seen as New Zealand’s most intimidating venue for a Rugby Union test.

The other part of the equation though has to be the strength of the opposition.  Parkhead probably won’t have scared Braga so much at the moment, as Celtic are currently a team still being put together.  Had they played Celtic during the O’Neill years, things would have been different.  Barcelona I'm sure is a daunting place mostly because of the quality of the teams over the years (though this probably doesn’t apply to Dundee United who are still the only undefeated British team to have played there) though even more so now that half their side have just won the World Cup.  And also there’s a very good reason why the Netherlands lost two World Cup finals in the 1970’s, they came up against very good sides buoyed by home advantage, and in Argentina their fans played their part - “They who are not jumping are Dutchmen!”

The truth is that a good atmosphere feeds off of a good team, which is more likely to strike fear into the hearts of opponents.  It is a good team which Neil Lennon needs to work on first, the atmosphere will come later.

Wanted: Miracle Worker. Apply Within

So history repeats itself, but with more speed. 5 years ago Berti Voght’s jump the shark moment arrived with a 4-0 hammering in Cardiff. Six months later the SFA bagged Voght’s after an insipid start to the following World Cup campaign. Saturday saw George Burley’s own jump the shark moment, again a heavy (3-0) defeat in Cardiff saw Burley over the edge. This time around the SFA waited 49 hours after the defeat to give George the silver bullet.

What seems to have brought matters to a head is the Tartan Army’s exasperation coming to the fore on Saturday. When Scotland went 3-0 down (after 35 minutes), the fans started calling for his head, and for the head of the SFA board. About 500 fans also left the match, straight after the second goal.

What has gone wrong with the reign of Burley has been poured over in various pieces and blogs since the loss to the Netherlands in September. But what seems to have condemned Burley to his fate is his choice of two hopelessly out of form central defenders (Caldwell & McManus) in Cardiff, when a wiser manager would have dropped them, citing the need to experiment (as was the case in midfield).

Already the Sports Journalists have turned their attention to the identity of the next Scotland Manager. In this annis horriblis for Scottish Football, the right choice needs to be made, as I think a lot of people are close to loosing their interest in football. Season ticket holders, Pay-TV subscribers, even people who turn to the back pages first – all people ready to turn their back on the game. That’s a lot of pounds Scottish Football needs to keep coming in. The 500 odd fans that left after 35 minutes of the game on Saturday is just the tip of the iceberg. Both Parkhead and Ibrox have had European Games where their stadiums have been substantially less than full, and the practice of leaving early has been seen on more than one occasion this season at Greenhill Road. In recession Britain, people are realising that Football does not represent value for money. What confidence should we have in “the product” (I will be going for a shower after typing that phrase) when the Old Firm clearly don’t have confidence in the SPL.

I digress. Already Graeme Souness’ name has already cropped up for the job, as has that of the Dundee United manager, and immediate bookies favourite, Craig Levin. Walter Smith’s name has already been mentioned in dispatches by those who fancy a repeat of his salvage job in 2005-2006. Oh and Billy Davies has also been mentioned in some quarters too. The only name missing seems to be that of the almost mythical Stewart Baxter. The most interesting, and left field name to have been mentioned was that of Jim Jeffries, the former Hearts and Bradford manager currently at Kilmarnock. Jeffries believes in playing good football, and has won trophies, The Scottish Cup in 1998, the season his Hearts team pushed the Old Firm into the last weeks of the season for the Championship itself.

Whoever gets it, and there are pros and cons to all of the names mentioned above, this has to be the first step towards the improvement of Scottish Football.

The Not So Magic Roundabout

With the 2008/09 Scottish Premier League not even cold, the managerial merry go round started in earnest with the exit of 2 of its high profile managers in Jimmy Calderwood and Gordon Strachan. In their posts, their fortunes differed greatly, but there was always the undercurrent of unpopularity amongst the fans.

Calderwood was the first to leave his position, hours after his Aberdeen team had clinched European Football for the first time in 2 seasons. Calderwood had kept Aberdeen in the top half of the SPL for most of his time at Aberdeen. His best results were guiding Aberdeen to the last 32 of the UEFA Cup last season. However what infuriated Aberdeen fans was not the lack of silverware but the continued failure to generate cup runs. They have been knocked out of cups by Partick Thistle and Queens Park, and lost a cup semi final to Queen Of The South, after knocking out Celtic in a replay at Parkhead. Calderwood’s other cup semi in his time at Aberdeen resulted in a thumping 4-1 reverse at the hands of Dundee United. The last straw for many, including some of the Aberdeen board, would have been the loss on penalties in the quarter finals to Dunfermline.

Hours after their 2-1 win against Hibs, Calderwood and his backroom staff of Jimmy Nichol and Sandy Clark were bagged. For Calderwood, this might be his last big job in Scottish football. For Aberdeen, this is a chance to change direction. The most obvious candidate for the job is Motherwell’s Mark McGee. However, there are others who may be after the Motherwell boss.

Strachan left his position just over 24 hours after Celtic lost their first championship since 2005. Strachan won 3 Scottish Championships in a row, 2 League Cups and a Scottish Cup (in 2007). He also took Celtic to the last 16 of the European Cup 2 seasons on the trot (being eliminated by AC Milan and Barcelona respectively). Yet despite the glittering CV, the Celtic fans couldn’t wait to see the back of Strachan. Maybe it was his position as a prominent member of Alex Ferguson’s Old Firm smashing Aberdeen side a quarter of a century ago, or maybe his personality rubbed the fans up the wrong way. Either way (and it can’t possibly be because he wasn’t “Celtic minded” enough) it’s an attitude which mystifies.

For Strachan, a position with one of the Premierships middle teams awaits. Celtic on the other hand are at a crossroads. The handover from Martin O’Neil to Strachan was pretty flawless, despite the appointment being seen as an imaginative and left field decision. In order to pick up the momentum again from their rivals across Glasgow, they must make the right decision. Problem is, apart from the decision making process being in the public domain for the first time since John Barnes was bagged nearly a decade ago, there is not really an obvious candidate.

Mark McGee (him again) is Strachan’s choice as successor, while some of the newspapers have mentioned the West Brom and former Hibs manager Tony Mowbray. The former St Johnstone manager Owen Coyle ruled himself out of the running straight away. Then again if you’ve just taken your team into England’s top flight for the first time since 1976…

For both teams, who is picked to coach them next is the most crucial decision they will have taken for years. For Aberdeen, it could mean a change in direction. For Celtic it is likely to mean the breakup of Strachan’s team. Nakamura might be the first to go (he is likely to return to Japan), while this might be the summer where Boric wins that big move to one of Europe’s aristocracy. Whether this means the end of this period of 6 titles in 9 seasons remains to be seen.