Newcastle-Online comment: 3rd September 2004
...Is one who instinctively knows when to make changes to revitalise
a team heading towards a downward spiral. Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson
are both experts at spotting weaknesses in their teams and then fixing
them. Spotting players who no longer fit in and replacing them with
ones who do. This is why they have stayed with their respective clubs
for such a long time and brought success throughout those years and
why they are irreplaceable and regarded as thee very best.
Take Fergie's removal of Kancheskis and Ince for example from a successful
Man Utd side. Everybody thought he was mad at the time. Then later
on with Cole, Yorke and Beckham - again all from a successful team.
He replaced Ince with Keane, Kanchelskis with Beckham, Cole with Van
Nistelrooy and Beckham with Ronaldo. Each time improving the position/role
while slowly reshaping a new team to a new method of playing in a
manner that the team could easily adapt to.
Wenger got rid of of Petit and Overmars and everyone thought he too
was mad. He replaced Petit with Vieira and Overmars with Pires.
Both managers saw weaknesses in their teams before everybody else
did and more significantly before other teams and other managers did.
Kevin Keegan also had this instinctive knack. Everyone thought he
was mad for getting rid of Gavin Peacock, David Kelly and then Andy
Cole. He replaced Peacock with Beardsley and Kelly with Malcolm Allen.
A younger more mobile striker who like Kelly, ran his socks off. Sadly
injury blighted a great start to his Toon career (I rated Allen).
And we all know who he replaced Cole with.
Sir Bobby Robson didn't have this knack. He couldn't spot those weaknesses
in his team quick enough nor often enough. That's why he always played
Dyer among others. For two years many Toon supporters were banging
on how Dyer needed removed from the centre - 2 years after suggesting
this Bobby finally moved him to wide right at home to NAC Breda in
the UEFA Cup. A move that was forced on him because of Bowyer's European
ban. This is what separated Bobby (a very good manager), from the
likes of Wenger and Fergie (great managers).
Now, looking at all the the managers who have and haven't been linked
but could do a job, there are a few average managers, a few good managers
and two truly great managers. One, a man who also has this instinctive
knack of Wenger's and Fergie's is Ottmar Hitzfeld.
A man who rebuilt his Bayern team on no less than 3 occasions so that
they continued their path of success.
That is the sign of a good manager. A man who spots weaknesses and
then replaces them with strengths before it's too late. A man who
knows when his already successful team is in need of reshaping before
that successful team becomes stale and starts to underachieve.
A man who took an unfancied Borussia Dortmund to Champions League
success. A man who took his Bayern Munich side, who had been denied
the trophy in the cruelest possible manner to Man Utd, back to the
final to win it.
A man who took Bayern as far as he could so he did the best thing
possible - he left. Bobby stayed on 12 months too long. After that
6-2 defeat at home to Man Utd in April 2003, myself and many others
felt that his team died that day and he didn't know how to give it
the kiss of life. Which of course he didn't as it predictably turned
out.
Do we want to go through the same pains of seeing a very good manager
come in, pick up the results, enjoy a purple patch only for it to
all end in tears because he didn't have the knack of spotting when,
where and how to fix problems before they arose, just like Bobby?
Or do we want a great manager who has the knack?
That is the question Freddy Shepherd should be asking himself as he
looks at the list of candidates because that is the manager that this
club finally has the opportunity to bring in.
Of course with any manager there is a risk and nothing is guaranteed
but I will lay my cards on the table and say right here that bringing
in a Strachan, an Allardyce or a Curbishley (and I'm not averse to
bringing in any of them), that it will all end in tears very much
in the manner that brung about the demise of Sir Bobby Robson and
we will once again be asking the same questions 5 years down the line
from now.
Freddy Shepherd uttered these very words today: "What we must
not forget is that it is the future of Newcastle United which is at
stake here and the most important thing is that we get the right man."
The right man is staring you in the face Freddy, go and get him.
P.S Martin O'Neill also has the knack but I personally prefer Hitzfeld
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