"Watching them compete against each other is like watching the last propeller plane in a dogfight with the first jet, and the rest of us can only feel privileged to witness such an historic, era-defining spectacle. Slowly but surely, the ingrained habits of English (and Scottish) football are giving way to an approach more in keeping with the way lives are lived in the new century. Just as corporal punishment disappeared from schools, so fear is no longer the weapon with which to persuade young footballers to give their best."
Richard Williams on Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson. Williams articulates what I’ve thought for a while (though he’s done so elegantly, clearly, and, er, actually): Ferguson and his ilk are the last of a dying breed, and that managers like Wenger, Houllier, and Eriksson represent the truly progressive spirit in football, standing for intelligence, reason, studied dignity, and the smart appliance of science, whilst simultaneously wedded to a genuinely humane approach and a real sense of passion.
Williams is a fabulous writer – a truly great journalist, of which we have so few in this country. Read everything he writes. It’s important, as his writing about football is also – always implicitly, sometimes explicitly – about our wider culture too (I’m about to start Tobias Jones’ "The Dark Heart of Italy: Travels through Time and Space across Italy", which also uses football as a direct line to a country’s culture (amongst others things, and so I understand it so far i.e. without having actually read it 😉 … Likewise, Simon Kuper’s new book about Ajax, the War, and the Dutch looks great too.
The Guardian: Beckham’s brow brings a smirk to Wenger’s lips
‘The Diamond’, and modern management techniques
[Written during a lip-smackingly good match between the Czech Republic and Holland at Euro2004] I didn’t go to NotCon and so missed Tom Dolan’s talk on management. As a manager too, I’m somewhat interested in different perspectives on modern management
It’s curious how, of the three managers described as being progressive, two (Houllier and Erikson) are now scoffed at. Houllier inherited the foundations of a great team built around local players and managed to systematically dismantle it, replacing the out-going players with more expensive, but lesser talented imports. Erikson had umpteen wonderful home grown players in his charge and yet somehow woefully under-achieved.
However, these managers were phases that English football had to go through. We were relying on bombast and sheer endeavour, and it clearly wasn’t enough. We needed someone to make us think about the game, to realise that tactics and technique (and improved diets, and a move away from drinking culture etc) are at least as important as a willingness to run through a brick wall.
What Wenger and Benitez bring, and what many British managers are scrambling to learn, is the news that intelligent football, humane coaching and a fighting spirit are not neccesarily exclusive things. All are vital in order to win trophies against the best teams. We have a lot to learn from the way football is played in other countries, the key is to learn it without throwing away the things we do well.