Comments on: Has Arsène Wenger Failed to Develop Good Coaches?

By: Brian Phillips

Brian Phillips — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:43:37 +0000

That’s a great question. My sense is that a manager who won five European Cups would be seen as “great” even if none of his players had gone on to manage after him, but that if he had developed a lot of managerial talent, it would definitely be mentioned to his credit. In other words developing younger managers is something that can burnish a reputation, but isn’t really necessary to attain one.

I’m not really sure about the question of other sports in this regard. You certainly hear a lot about “coaching trees” in American sports, especially football and basketball, and managers/coaches who have trained a lot of other managers and coaches tend to take on a (frequently annoying, actually) kind of saintly aura. But you still have to win games for that to matter, and coaches who win enough games but don’t manage to pass along their wisdom aren’t necessarily seen as inferior. (Say, Mike Krzyzewski vs. Dean Smith.)

By: Henry

Henry — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:30:04 +0000

But how important is it for a great manager to develop other great managers? Is this something that we should expect a top-notch manager to do, or are we comfortable/happy with someone who simply has no interest in or ability for this aspect of the game and yet is still a brilliant manager? I’m wondering, too, about how football cultures/football fans’ expectations compare to those of other sports in this regard. It seems like certain sports encourage and expect coach development, others don’t. Or is this a team-by-team difference?

By: daryl

daryl — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:55:49 +0000

Plus, Bryan Robson is a Fergie protege. So that’s minus one point for SAF.

By: Fredorrarci

Fredorrarci — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:58:15 +0000

Steve Bould is Arsenal's U-18 coach and has apparently impressed Wenger quite a bit. Dennis Bergkamp is earning his badges at Ajax and has said that he would love to return to Arsenal at some stage. Interesting news that Martin Keown has turned down the offer to work at Portsmouth. Tony Adams said that "I think Martin is feeling that sitting on the sofa at Match of the Day and Football Focus is the way forward", which seems strange given that Keown has seemed quite enthusiastic about becoming a coach. That sofa does seem comfy, though, given how long some people have been sat in it.