Paul Scholes, Jamie Redknapp and Alan Shearer head for sofa instead of dugout because they've got 'f*** you' money
- Redknapp has indicated that he'd like to become a coach in the future
- Carragher and Paul Scholes have refused to rule out the possibility of pursuing a career in coaching
- Top pundits have the necessary experience to become successful managers
- But having a glittering playing career is no guarantee of making it as a boss
- Leaving the safety of the studio to manage in the lower leagues is a risk
- Sir Alex Ferguson is said to have advised young players to take their coaching badges at Manchester United
- The most successful managers come tend to have been great players
- Cricket umpire Ian Gould deserves praise for spotting three cases of suspected chucking
- It is a blight on the game and needs to be addressed
Why do the brightest young minds in English football prefer the sofa to the touchline? That was Wednesday's column topic after Jamie Redknapp said he would go into management one day.
I was sceptical. Why would he, or Jamie Carragher, Alan Shearer, Paul Scholes - the list is growing every day - need it? You posted, I replied. And we're off.
Wise words: Pundits Jamie Carragher (left) and Jamie Redknapp (right) have both have an interest in coaching
All I think when I hear these pundits is they cannot walk the talk. They sit in front of television screens telling us what the manager has done wrong and how they would put it right. Walk the talk! Petra103, Camberley.
Walk the talk? What nonsense is this? Talk the talk, yes. Walk the walk, sure. Walk the talk? These are just words that rhyme. Not that I'm adverse to a bit of old rhyming nonsense, of course. Here's one of my favourite purveyors.
One thing not mentioned in the article is the people who are running clubs. A lot of owners want coaches not managers, to work under a Director of Football. Maybe ex-players and old school managers don't want that. Think of what happened at Crystal Palace last week. Mrg, Maidstone.
Not only don't they want to work like that, importantly, they don't need to, either. Tony Pulis was a lower league player, who was always looking to supplement his income at the end of his career – he had his first coaching badge at 19, and his UEFA A licence at 21. Even so, he probably would have had to bite his tongue in his early years at Bournemouth, Gillingham and Bristol City if the club wasn't heading in the right direction. Now, after some years in the Premier League, he has the financial independence to say no. Yet think of the security this generation of Premier League players will have on retiring. They have what one my old bosses used to call 'F*** you money'. The moment the owner pokes his nose in, they're off – or maybe not even in, if they don't fancy the job specification. Think of Alan Shearer and Cardiff City or Blackburn Rovers.
![Moving on: Tony Pulis left Crystal Palace after disagreements with co-chairman Steve Parish](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/1408560115808_wps_2_File_photo_dated_26_12_20.jpg)
Moving on: Tony Pulis left Crystal Palace after disagreements with co-chairman Steve Parish
I think it is mental strength that they lack. They see managers' decisions constantly questioned or criticised by the fans, but they also know they need time to implement their ideas. Look at Tottenham Hotspur who fire any manager that doesn't deliver. If I were in their shoes I'd stay in the studio. It's safer, warmer and sanity remains intact. Soundslikefallacy, London.
That sounds more like common sense than mental weakness. Certainly, modern media has made the job harder. Fans have been conditioned into demanding a say by reality television voting, social media gives voice to these protests and the owners and directors must stay then stronger through turbulent times. Many don't – so why would a financially independent ex-footballer wish to put him family through that maelstrom?
These experts haven't the bottle to be failures. They just criticise and are smug. They don't want to be managers because failure at a low level would damage the brand. Jules88, United Kingdom.
I don't share your obvious contempt for these individuals, but the point about the brand is a valid one. Jamie Redknapp, for instance, has lucrative modelling and endorsement deals that might suffer if he was the coach of a failing club in League One. If I was his adviser I know what I would be telling him about brand worth, and the need to be associated with success and excellence.
![Time for change? Sportsmail columnist Redknapp says he would like to become a coach in the future](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/1408560250426_wps_3_Jamie_Redknapp_feature_pi.jpg)
Time for change? Sportsmail columnist Redknapp says he would like to become a coach in the future
Alan Hansen spent 20 years telling other managers what they were doing wrong despite never managing, coaching or playing a single game in the Premier League. He was about as relevant as the bloke pointing the camera at him – although I dare say that the cameraman would have more humility than Hansen. IWWT, London.
I thought Hansen was an outstanding pundit and he will be much missed. Even in his last summer, his analysis of what went wrong on England's left flank against Italy – and why Ashley Cole should have been selected ahead of Leighton Baines – was insightful and impressive. To say he knew no more about football than a studio technician is daft.
It isn't a trip to Carlisle United on a Wednesday that stops them. It's simply that a great player doesn't mean a great manager - and the sack after a few months doesn't appeal. In the world of television even the abysmal Phil Neville can look forward to his four-year contract being honoured. Ericlo, Manchester.
No, the sack won't appeal – but nor will being fired from a job in which the chances of success were negligible from the start. Mark Robins left Huddersfield Town after one game this season. Was he doing a terrible job or were Huddersfield's board expecting something that could not be delivered on their resources? There is an awful lot of injustice in the lower divisions – impoverished clubs that demand success or at least security. I don't think TV contracts are as tight as you make out, but if the match of the day is England versus Estonia at least nobody is going to sack the commentary team because the game doesn't pull the same figures as X Factor.
Exit door: Mark Robins was sacked as Huddersfield Town manager after the first game of the new season
In Holland we had Marco van Basten. Zero experience, yet when he finished his diploma to become a coach he jumped into the vacant national job. He did surprisingly well with the team at the European Championship in 2008 but then lost to Russia in the quarter-finals. Then he went to Ajax, failed, and was fired. From there he worked at smaller clubs and really learned the ropes of being a coach. Now he's doing OK. Even though he was a great player it did not instantly make him a good coach. You have to start from the bottom again. Nlx78, Rotterdam.
Van Basten did a year with Ajax B as assistant manager to John van't Schip before they reversed their roles in the national set up, actually. And in four years as Holland manager he lost three competitive games – 1-0 to Portugal in the World Cup second round in 2006, 1-0 in Romania in a European Championship qualifier in 2007 and 3-1 to Russia at Euro 2008, drawing 1-1 after 90 minutes. At his last tournament he recorded a 3-0 win over Italy and a 4-1 win over France, who had both contested the 2006 World Cup final, so he was hardly out of his depth. The Dutch federation wanted him to stay on but he had already agreed to go to Ajax, where he lasted one season, finished third and resigned. Last season he finished fifth with Heerenveen, equalling their best performance since 2004 and has since landed the job at AZ Alkmaar. I certainly don't see him as proof that great players can't cut it. He has had a reasonable career in management – just not as stellar as his time as a player.
![Legend: Former Holland forward Marco van Basten is making a name for himself in the Eredivisie](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/1408560584085_wps_7_AZ_Alkmaar_s_head_coach_M.jpg)
Legend: Former Holland forward Marco van Basten is making a name for himself in the Eredivisie
I think that it is unfair to assume that all of the retired professionals you mention would make great coaches. It takes a very unique person to make a good coach. Managing a dressing room is difficult, and not everyone can do it. I think more needs to be done to push young people into coaching. In rugby, you will probably find that most under-18 teams will have sent their players on coaching courses. This helps increase their understanding of the game as they learn what the manager is trying to achieve in training sessions. Inevitably one or two get the bug and carry on, giving rugby a wealth of good coaches at all levels. Football should try to replicate this. Get young players seriously thinking about coaching, along with its benefits, from an early age. Bolton121, Kent.
I cannot speak for every club but Darren Fletcher told me that at Manchester United during Sir Alex Ferguson's time, youth players were sent to take their initial coaching badges, to give them a fall back in case their playing career did not work out. It still wouldn't get the sport over the obstacle of money thwarting the ambition of the top professionals, though.
If Jamie Redknapp and Alan Shearer would make good managers based on the fact they talk a good game with their match analysis then so would everyone down the pub. ImSuperAnt, Manchester.
Not really, because I've heard those pub conversations – been part of a few of them, too – and I've heard the talk when the likes of Redknapp and Shearer get going and those discussions take place on a different, elevated level, due to the experience of the men involved. Unless you think that captaining England at a World Cup doesn't give you any more insight than a bloke who has just stepped off a building site.
![Planning ahead: Ex-Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson told youth players to take their coaching badges](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/1408561306939_wps_12_Sir_Alex_Ferguson_in_the_.jpg)
Planning ahead: Ex-Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson told youth players to take their coaching badges
If they haven't the bottle to be managers and put their neck on the line, they shouldn't sit there and tell managers what they are doing wrong. The only pundits who can criticise managers are former or existing bosses who aren't frightened to stand up and be counted. Retiring to be a pundit is a coward's way out. Older but no wiser, United Kingdom.
No, it's a career choice no different to yours or mine. Taking your logic to its conclusion, no fan could criticise on the same grounds. Ah, but they've paid their money so are entitled to their opinion, you say. And ex-professionals have played the game so are entitled, too.
Alan Shearer? He went into management and got Newcastle United relegated. What great mind are you talking about, Samuel? Kipp, Wickford.
Not yours obviously, mate. Shearer took over Newcastle as caretaker manager on April 1, 2009. The club was 18th, two points adrift of Blackburn Rovers, in the relegation places with 29 points from 30 games. They ended the season still 18th, but point shy of Hull City, with 34 points from 38 games. So Newcastle did not improve under Shearer, that much is true. However, the idea that he got them relegated is false. They were already heading for the drop. Shearer failed to arrest that decline. I don't think that negates his views on football one bit.
![Tough times: Alan Shearer couldn't prevent Newcastle being relegated to the Championship in 2009](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/1408561253922_wps_11_Newcastle_manager_Alan_Sh.jpg)
Tough times: Alan Shearer couldn't prevent Newcastle being relegated to the Championship in 2009
Great footballers don't always make great managers, Sir Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore and Glenn Hoddle, to name but three, all failed miserably. Ddiggs, Singapore.
Charlton was at Preston North End, Moore at Oxford City and Southend United – what exactly were they going to do from there? Win the league? The better question is why couldn't they get better clubs? As for Hoddle, he took Swindon Town into the top division playing beautiful football and Chelsea to their first FA Cup final in ages. He has been up and down from there and the England job ended in an unholy fiasco, but he didn't fail miserably, he has just had a chequered career, like most managers. As for the next poster, we're in for the long haul with this one, folks. You might need something substantial to get you through. I'm recommending this…
Name the managers who have won the Premier League: Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Kenny Dalglish, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini. The three name managers only won it once. In the 30 years prior to the Premier League's inception, only George Graham and Dalglish were name managers. A great football mind is not always one that had a great career. It is exactly those people who have to graft to get the best out of themselves who see the game more clearly. Princz, Brisbane.
At what point do you think Princz here realised his argument didn't stack up but ploughed on regardless? I think it was when he had to ignore the fact that Ferguson played for Rangers and that Pellegrini played over 450 games for Club Universidad, one of the biggest teams in Chile, winning the Copa Chile in 1979 with a victory over their biggest rivals Colo Colo. It is Wenger and Mourinho that are the odd men out. The other Premier League -winning managers were all top players. Now let's look at the 30 years before the Premier League. This takes us back to season 1962-63.
In that time, Princz says, only George Graham and Kenny Dalglish among the title-winning managers were big names as players. This would certainly have come as a surprise to Sir Alf Ramsey (Ipswich Town manager 1962-63, 32 England caps, won the title with Tottenham in 1950-51); Bill Shankly (three titles as Liverpool manager, 12 Scotland caps, won the FA Cup with Preston North End); Sir Matt Busby (managed five titles with Manchester United, Scotland international, won the FA Cup with Manchester City); Joe Mercer (successfully managed Manchester City 1967-68, won the title and the FA Cup with Everton as a player, two titles and the FA Cup with Arsenal as a player and represented for England); Don Revie (led Leeds United to two titles as a manager, won the FA Cup with Manchester City in 1956, was voted Footballer of the Year in 1955, and played for England); Brian Clough (won titles as a manager with Nottingham Forest and Derby County, as a player has the highest goals per game ratio of anyone scoring over 200 times in English football, 0.916); Dave Mackay (Derby County manager 1974-75, won the title in Scotland with Heart of Midlothian, the Double in England with Tottenham, the FA Cup, the European Cup-Winners' Cup, played 22 times for his country, was voted Footballer of the Year and is placed by all his peers among the greatest British footballers in history); Bob Paisley (legendary Liverpool manager, won the league as a player with the club in 1946-47); Howard Kendall (won the title twice with Everton as manager, having won it with the club as a player in 1969-70).
Quite a list to have overlooked, that. Now, we can draw two conclusions. Either Princz started taking an interest in football six weeks ago and has a little catching up to do; or he's an idiot. I'm feeling charitable, and still nodding along to Afrojack. Let's go with the former.
![Exception: Jose Mourinho has become a successful manager despite not playing at the highest level](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/1408561870737_wps_13_Chelsea_manager_Jose_Mour.jpg)
Exception: Jose Mourinho has become a successful manager despite not playing at the highest level
Mr Samuel, tell me, how many non-English managers are working in England, especially in the bigger clubs, and how many English managers are working in big clubs abroad? I'll make it even easier, say, the last 10 years?Portuguesevisitor, Lisbon.
Do your own research mate. But I get your point.
Former top players pretending to be top managers are thankfully a dying breed. Louis van Gaal was a semi-professional, Wenger, Brendan Rodgers, Mourinho and Roy Hodgson all less than that. Pelligrini is the only manager in a really top English job who made anything like a decent living as a player, and that was in Chile thirty years ago. This is not a coincidence. Put money into proper teaching for coaches and they'll come from all walks of life. One our two may have been top players but only by coincidence.TFP, London.
Your assumption is that the only route to the top in management is to start as a manager at the bottom. Evidence suggests otherwise: Fabio Capello worked for youth teams at AC Milan before finally becoming the boss in his 40s. His work was as a coach, not in wheeler-dealing, or talking to the press. Vicente del Bosque did likewise at Real Madrid. He served the club as did Paisley at Liverpool. Starting at lowly Colchester United or York City is one route, usually for those for whom being a manager is the be-all and end-all. It's not the only route and, for someone like Paul Scholes, it is probably the worst one of all. Were Scholes to become a top manager, he should be like Dennis Bergkamp and start with the best youngsters before working his way up to handle the top professionals. Paul Clement may be a great manager sometime soon. Where is he now? At Real Madrid, as Ancelotti's coach. It's horses for courses. Rtj1211, London.
![Option: Paul Scholes (left) is concentrating on his work as a pundit after a brief coaching stint last season](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/1408569831375_wps_6_Man_Utd_s_new_coaching_st.jpg)
Option: Paul Scholes (left) is concentrating on his work as a pundit after a brief coaching stint last season
TFP, so where is Pep Guardiola in your brave world of amateurism? And how about the three most successful managers in the history of European competition - Ancelotti, Giovani Trapattoni and Ferguson – all of whom played for major clubs and had successful careers. What an amazing coincidence, as you might call it. Working down that list, Arrigo Sacchi is fourth, followed by Guardiola, Bob Paisley, who played close to 300 games for Liverpool helping them to win the title in 1946-47, and then Nereo Rocco, who played his career in Serie A, albeit for Triestina, Napoli and Padova. This suggests it is the over-achieving amateurs that are the exception, not those who could actually play the game. As for the second point about working through from the youth team – well-fixed ex-professionals are increasingly not interested in that either. Go through the coaches of the under-21 development squads for Premier League clubs and you will recognise very few names. Patrick Vieira at Manchester City is the leading light, obviously, and Gordon Cowans at Aston Villa and Ugo Ehiogu at Tottenham Hotspur were international footballers, while others like David Unsworth (Everton), Stephen Clemence (Hull City), Robbie Stockdale (Sunderland) and Glyn Hodges (Stoke City) might ring a few bells. Now it gets interesting. Adi Viveash, Gary Issott, Nick Haycock, Alex Inglethorpe, Warren Joyce – all lower league professionals, if that, and also respectively the under-21 coaches at Chelsea, Crystal Palace, West Ham United, Liverpool and Manchester United. So it is not just that Scholes and his contemporaries do not want to coach at Mansfield Town, Manchester United and that other route to the top does not hold much appeal either.
Broadcasting is hard? Wrong, Martin. All you need these days is a bad mouth, tight pants and relentless criticism. You need someone with a brain to manage a team and be successful. None of the bunch you have listed has a coaching brain. They were successful players and took instructions and applied them well, but that is different to being in charge and producing tactical knowledge on the fly. In their roles as players they were consumers of tactical know-how, as a manager you have to be the producer and engineer of that knowledge. As Gary Neville found out in Brazil, it's harder to be a coach. GnUS, Boston.
Fair point, except I wasn't advocating giving Jamie Carragher the Liverpool job or putting Neville in charge of Manchester United. The column was about the old school practice of starting at the bottom, and the fact that way is now so wholly divorced from the experience of the successful Premier League footballer that it no longer contains appeal. I do see a lot of these guys at work and they are very dedicated, contrary to some of the statements on here. The old practices of the sofa being an extension of an exclusive golf club are gone. They do their research, study the videos, I'm not saying it's coal-mining, but it does require a degree of commitment, skill and insight that is sometimes overlooked. Anyway, enough of that. Now, a brief change of topic, and sport. I'll just set the record straight and we'll call it quits.
![Best of both worlds: Gary Neville (right) works as an England coach under Roy Hodgson and as a Sky pundit](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/1408570005800_wps_8_England_s_Football_manage.jpg)
Best of both worlds: Gary Neville (right) works as an England coach under Roy Hodgson and as a Sky pundit
Last Monday, I wrote a short piece in praise of the umpire Ian Gould who has now called three spinners for chucking this summer. His latest victim is Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan. Having been proved right, scientifically, on the first two, I said if he gets the hat-trick he should be one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year for service to the sport. And take it from here guys…
Well, Martin's view on chucking seems to have changed in the past couple of years. I remember having a go at him in 2012 when he seemed to be defending it: 'Questions may be asked about Saeed Ajmal's action, but not his integrity. Yes, off-spinner Ajmal's seven wickets on Tuesday were not without controversy, but there is an ocean separating the legality of a doosra ball and the fixing of events in a game. For Ajmal's doosra, read the drying of the football before throw-ins at Stoke City, added buoyancy swimsuits in the Olympic pool or the use of the whip in horse racing. These are technical arguments about the method of playing the game. Chucking the ball and chucking the match are polar opposites.' Fergus Sira-Lexon, England.
I just love it when someone shows just how much Martin ebbs and flows with the tide, always commenting on the story of the day, only remembering things that suit. Well done. Alan, France.
Oh, Alan, you little twerp, imagine trusting Fergus ahead of a bloke who has kept on file every word he's written in a national newspaper since March 2003. The lines quoted are from the first day's play of the first Test between England and Pakistan in Dubai in January 2012. This was the first time the teams had met since the spot fixing controversy and Ajmal took seven wickets with, what has always looked to the naked eye, a dubious action. Immediately, the reaction was 'cheating Pakistanis at it again' and in the report I was at pains to point out the difference between a borderline action, when the bowler believes he is operating legally even if he is not, and the act of deliberately not playing to win. They were, in my mind, chalk and cheese. They still are. The fuller version is below:
![Eagle-eyed: Umpire Ian Gould (left), pictured with Sri Lanka's Angelo Matthews, has called three spinners for chucking so far this summer](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/1408570123429_wps_9_Sri_Lankan_cricket_team_c.jpg)
Eagle-eyed: Umpire Ian Gould (left), pictured with Sri Lanka's Angelo Matthews, has called three spinners for chucking so far this summer
'The rehabilitation of Pakistan cricket does not end with the imprisoned three. There are other notorious figures, subject to dark speculation and in one instance the threat of public exposure, who are also not here. Questions may be asked about Saeed Ajmal's action, but not his integrity, and there is similar confidence in captain Misbah-ul-Haq. Yes, off-spinner Ajmal's seven wickets on Tuesday were not without controversy, but there is an ocean separating the legality of a doosra ball and the fixing of events in a game. For Ajmal's doosra, read the drying of the football before throw-ins at Stoke City, added buoyancy swimsuits in the Olympic pool or the use of the whip in horse racing. These are technical arguments about the method of playing the game. Chucking the ball and chucking the match are polar opposites. Whatever the final verdict on Ajmal's doosra, it is unquestionable that he aims it to win. If anything, Pakistan need more like him; more players to whom victory is all.'
So I wasn't soft on chucking at all. Never have been. All I said was it isn't as bad as match-fixing. And it's not. One action attempts to win the game, the other to lose it. I stand by every word of that piece, even the throwaway comparison with drying the ball at Stoke, because the controversy at the time was that Stoke were drying with towels to gain extra purchase at thrown-ins, and then denying that same service if the opposition asked for a towel. So, no ebbing, no flowing, that's why I keep a record. I do try to aim for consistency even though, like any person, I will change my mind on occasions or be proven wrong by events. Manchester United didn't give David Moyes a second season as I thought they would, Costa Rica weren't the weakest team in England's group after all. That stuff happens. I haven't however, changed my stance on chucking. It is an important issue that needs to be addressed, and I greatly admire those umpires brave enough to take it on. But it is a technical infringement and not to be compared to match-fixing, that was my point almost three years ago. Still, nice that Fergus is paying attention. It's good to have a back-up. Until next time.
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