[article=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2527245/JAMIE-CARRAGHER-I-wanted-manager-boy-I-changed-mind.html#ixzz2o6MKSj5T ]Who would be a manager? Not me. I used to feel becoming a boss would be my natural next step after finishing playing. At the moment, I couldn’t think of anything less appealing.
When I started out, I had my heart set on one day being a manager and was certain it would be the perfect job. I’d look at the greats — men such as Fabio Capello, Marcello Lippi, Sir Alex Ferguson and, later on, Jose Mourinho — and take inspiration from them.
I used to read books and magazines about management.
I’m obsessed with football and dissect every game on television; I completed my UEFA ‘B’ level coaching badges. For years, I expected it would be the avenue I could go down.
But the closer I got towards the end of my career, the more I saw things I didn’t like about management. Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez were two of the biggest influences on my career but they walked out of Anfield different men to the impressive figures who first breezed in.
When they arrived at Liverpool, you were under no illusions that they were top managers but, over the years, the wear and tear affected them. By the end they were making strange decisions and strange statements. The pressure of such an intense role clearly impacted on them.
Seeing what happened to them had an impact on me. But there were other factors that preyed on my mind. Maybe I was naive when I was young, thinking that everyone pulled in the same direction — but that isn’t always the case.
There are so many different elements within clubs — owners, academy, medical, playing staff — and they don’t always sing from the same hymn sheet.
And what would happen if you were managing players who didn’t pull their weight or didn’t feel the pain of defeat?
I used to get frustrated with top players at Liverpool, so I wondered how I would cope working with players of lesser ability as I learned the manager’s trade.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still players who find defeats impossible to stomach but there aren’t enough in the game now.
During the time I spent working at Euro 2012, I was in the company of Gareth Southgate, Roy Keane and Gordon Strachan regularly and the stories they told about their management experiences were invariably negative.
Yet, they all still wanted another crack at it. I found that hard to understand. Was it as much about them proving a point as it was about them relishing the job?
The closer I look at it, the more I feel it is a job to be endured rather than enjoyed. After some of the episodes this week, from the ruthless at West Brom to the absolutely bizarre and ridiculous at Cardiff City, I haven’t seen anything to change my heart.
Let’s start with Steve Clarke. I worked with him at Liverpool and we all thought he was a great coach.
He spent 14 years learning his trade, working under figures such as Mourinho and Kenny Dalglish, patiently waiting for an opportunity.
It arrived at West Brom but, in less than 18 months, his chance has gone. What does he do next?
Now look at Andre Villas-Boas. In the spring of 2011 he was being feted as the new messiah after leading Porto to a Treble. Now, at the age of 36 and after sackings at Chelsea and Tottenham, he is regarded as being out of his depth and a failure.
Will he work in England again?
It will be said the pay-offs he has had will have softened the blow. But don’t underestimate how much he is hurting. When you work at the highest level, the dent to your pride that comes with failure is monumental. I was shocked with both of those decisions. We used to laugh at foreign teams and how quickly they hired and fired their managers but now we are doing exactly the same.
Five managers in the Barclays Premier League have gone already. It is a certainty more will follow.
Malky Mackay appears to be the next candidate. How on earth is it possible for him to do his job in the manner he wants when he has an owner who has systematically marginalised him?
Unless you are one of the greats a football manager’s job always ends in tears.
People may say that pursuing a route in the media is easier.
They are right. I feel I’m doing the bits that managers love, such as watching and analysing games, scrutinising tactics and studying players but I don’t have the extra hassles, such as agents, politics and directors of football. It may be that more players, such as Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand, follow this route.
Those who have played for a long time are financially secure.
Years ago retired players became managers out of necessity, but it’s not like that any more.
Something else has changed; there is a lack of patience shown to managers. A rule needs to be brought in that prevents clubs sacking a manager in the middle of the season because of the wide-ranging ramifications of one decision.
It creates a domino effect, with another club being destabilised as a replacement is found. If managers were guaranteed at least a season, they would have the confidence to put things right rather than fretting over the consequences of a sequence of bad results.
Until that happens it will remain the most perilous job in football.
I will never say never, as I miss the buzz of winning and the build-up to big games. But, at the moment, I’m in no hurry to sample it myself.
A lot of questions have followed the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas but none has been bigger than this: who signed the players?
The mystery surrounding transfers at clubs has got to stop. If Villas-Boas didn’t sign the 10 men who cost Spurs £107million, who did?
A couple of weeks ago, I went to see my old Liverpool team-mate Sami Hyypia, who is now manager of Bayer Leverkusen.
During the course of our conversation, I asked him how he went about making new signings.
He told me that he had nothing to do with it.
Rudi Voeller, the former Germany striker, is in charge of player recruitment, which leaves Sami free to concentrate on coaching the team.
It works and everyone knows where they stand.
But it has been a complete mess at Spurs and I can understand why Villas-Boas’ frustrations almost got the better of him in what proved to be his last press conference. His cryptic answers confirmed that he felt someone else was accountable. But it’s not just at Tottenham. When I was at Liverpool, it was unclear at times whether Kenny Dalglish or Damien Comolli had bought a certain player.
It is happening at other clubs and we need to be able to see a clearer picture. That isn’t so we can criticise someone if things are going wrong, it’s just so everyone can see a clear picture. Don’t forget, a manager might actually have signed a player and when the deal has shown signs of not working, he has hidden behind the director of football excuse.
To eliminate the secrecy, we need to see defined roles.[/article]
When I started out, I had my heart set on one day being a manager and was certain it would be the perfect job. I’d look at the greats — men such as Fabio Capello, Marcello Lippi, Sir Alex Ferguson and, later on, Jose Mourinho — and take inspiration from them.
I used to read books and magazines about management.
I’m obsessed with football and dissect every game on television; I completed my UEFA ‘B’ level coaching badges. For years, I expected it would be the avenue I could go down.
But the closer I got towards the end of my career, the more I saw things I didn’t like about management. Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez were two of the biggest influences on my career but they walked out of Anfield different men to the impressive figures who first breezed in.
When they arrived at Liverpool, you were under no illusions that they were top managers but, over the years, the wear and tear affected them. By the end they were making strange decisions and strange statements. The pressure of such an intense role clearly impacted on them.
Seeing what happened to them had an impact on me. But there were other factors that preyed on my mind. Maybe I was naive when I was young, thinking that everyone pulled in the same direction — but that isn’t always the case.
There are so many different elements within clubs — owners, academy, medical, playing staff — and they don’t always sing from the same hymn sheet.
And what would happen if you were managing players who didn’t pull their weight or didn’t feel the pain of defeat?
I used to get frustrated with top players at Liverpool, so I wondered how I would cope working with players of lesser ability as I learned the manager’s trade.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still players who find defeats impossible to stomach but there aren’t enough in the game now.
During the time I spent working at Euro 2012, I was in the company of Gareth Southgate, Roy Keane and Gordon Strachan regularly and the stories they told about their management experiences were invariably negative.
Yet, they all still wanted another crack at it. I found that hard to understand. Was it as much about them proving a point as it was about them relishing the job?
The closer I look at it, the more I feel it is a job to be endured rather than enjoyed. After some of the episodes this week, from the ruthless at West Brom to the absolutely bizarre and ridiculous at Cardiff City, I haven’t seen anything to change my heart.
Let’s start with Steve Clarke. I worked with him at Liverpool and we all thought he was a great coach.
He spent 14 years learning his trade, working under figures such as Mourinho and Kenny Dalglish, patiently waiting for an opportunity.
It arrived at West Brom but, in less than 18 months, his chance has gone. What does he do next?
Now look at Andre Villas-Boas. In the spring of 2011 he was being feted as the new messiah after leading Porto to a Treble. Now, at the age of 36 and after sackings at Chelsea and Tottenham, he is regarded as being out of his depth and a failure.
Will he work in England again?
It will be said the pay-offs he has had will have softened the blow. But don’t underestimate how much he is hurting. When you work at the highest level, the dent to your pride that comes with failure is monumental. I was shocked with both of those decisions. We used to laugh at foreign teams and how quickly they hired and fired their managers but now we are doing exactly the same.
Five managers in the Barclays Premier League have gone already. It is a certainty more will follow.
Malky Mackay appears to be the next candidate. How on earth is it possible for him to do his job in the manner he wants when he has an owner who has systematically marginalised him?
Unless you are one of the greats a football manager’s job always ends in tears.
People may say that pursuing a route in the media is easier.
They are right. I feel I’m doing the bits that managers love, such as watching and analysing games, scrutinising tactics and studying players but I don’t have the extra hassles, such as agents, politics and directors of football. It may be that more players, such as Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand, follow this route.
Those who have played for a long time are financially secure.
Years ago retired players became managers out of necessity, but it’s not like that any more.
Something else has changed; there is a lack of patience shown to managers. A rule needs to be brought in that prevents clubs sacking a manager in the middle of the season because of the wide-ranging ramifications of one decision.
It creates a domino effect, with another club being destabilised as a replacement is found. If managers were guaranteed at least a season, they would have the confidence to put things right rather than fretting over the consequences of a sequence of bad results.
Until that happens it will remain the most perilous job in football.
I will never say never, as I miss the buzz of winning and the build-up to big games. But, at the moment, I’m in no hurry to sample it myself.
A lot of questions have followed the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas but none has been bigger than this: who signed the players?
The mystery surrounding transfers at clubs has got to stop. If Villas-Boas didn’t sign the 10 men who cost Spurs £107million, who did?
A couple of weeks ago, I went to see my old Liverpool team-mate Sami Hyypia, who is now manager of Bayer Leverkusen.
During the course of our conversation, I asked him how he went about making new signings.
He told me that he had nothing to do with it.
Rudi Voeller, the former Germany striker, is in charge of player recruitment, which leaves Sami free to concentrate on coaching the team.
It works and everyone knows where they stand.
But it has been a complete mess at Spurs and I can understand why Villas-Boas’ frustrations almost got the better of him in what proved to be his last press conference. His cryptic answers confirmed that he felt someone else was accountable. But it’s not just at Tottenham. When I was at Liverpool, it was unclear at times whether Kenny Dalglish or Damien Comolli had bought a certain player.
It is happening at other clubs and we need to be able to see a clearer picture. That isn’t so we can criticise someone if things are going wrong, it’s just so everyone can see a clear picture. Don’t forget, a manager might actually have signed a player and when the deal has shown signs of not working, he has hidden behind the director of football excuse.
To eliminate the secrecy, we need to see defined roles.[/article]
