Return of Arnold a strange decision by FFA
Roar Guru
By dasilva, 20 Jan 2009 dasilva is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Australian coach, football, Graham Arnold, Olyroos, Pim Verbeek, Socceroos, South Korea
Pim Verbeek got sent off in his last match in charge of South Korea during the third place playoffs against Japan and is suspended for three Asian cup qualifiers. Graham Arnold is taking over and leading the side.
The issue here is not whether Arnold is capable of leading Australia to qualify to the Asian Cup. He already coached the Socceroos and the Olyroos through lengthy qualification campaigns through Asia.
I’m quite confident that the Socceroos will get the job done even with Arnie at the helm.
The issue is more why does it look like Arnold has a permanent seat at the Socceroos camp despite all the poor performance?
After the Asia Cup, FFA looked for a new boss.
The choice was between Pim Verbeek and Philippe Troussier. Pim Verbeek was chosen as he was the only coach willing to accept the precondition that Arnold will remain the assistant manager of the national team.
Why is Arnold so vital for the Socceroos that the FFA will not hire a coach that refuses to employ him? Is he more important than getting the right manager? When Pim leaves, will FFA force that precondition to all future coaching candidates?
Graham Arnold was then given the job as manager of the Olyroos. How do you reward a coach who failed with the national side with another job?
The most surprising thing was that Arnold selected the squad without any input from Pim Verbeek. Arnie may have informed Pim of his selection, but Pim never had any say in the make-up of the squad, causing us to have an under 23 national team that was autonomous and disconnected from the Socceroos.
Pim Verbeek admitted that it would have been ideal for him to have more control over the team, but he just had to deal with it. Why is it so important that Arnie had complete autonomy over the Olyroos?
Now Graham Arnold is coach of the Socceroos once again instead of Henk Duut. The question has to be asked: is this Pim’s decision or is it FFA’s decision?
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vicentin said | January 20th 2009 @ 7:03am | Report comment
Ha ha … I guess this has been troubling you dasilva. It troubles me no end too – the whole idea that we should somehow compromise our coaching selections just to fit in Arnie is extraordinary. Either “being a good bloke” has somehow risen up the selection criteria or, as suggested elsewhere, he and Kossie have some compromising photos of “fearless leader” Lowy… or something to do with aliens. File under X and get Scully and Mulder in I say.
Midfielder said | January 20th 2009 @ 7:25am | Report comment
Das
With Arnold Out there nothing is assured …
The Bear said | January 20th 2009 @ 7:38am | Report comment
As I have noted elsewhere in cyberspace, if Arnie is now treated as “part of the furniture” at College Street, then we can all finally agree that he is formally dead wood.
Clearly cut down before his prime, he should have gone overseas to a European club. He may have had a chance to better himself then, instead of stagnating.
Shame FFA. Shame GA.
Kazama said | January 20th 2009 @ 7:54am | Report comment
I have a feeling that in the distant future, long after our time, a cyborg Graham Arnold will still be the assistant coach of the Socceroos.
Koala Bear said | January 20th 2009 @ 7:55am | Report comment
Pim Verbeek admitted that it would have been ideal for him to have more control over the team, but he just had to deal with it. Why is it so important that Arnie had complete autonomy over the Olyroos?
Das,
Arnold was given the Olyroo job before Pimbo was appointed .. Maybe paying out Arnie’s contract would have been seen UnAustralian in the eyes of the Australian Media.. and caused less Australian Media coverage that we are presently are getting from the Australian Press…
Maybe the question you should ask is why is Australia being punished for what Pimbo did when he was in charge of Sth Korea .. Maybe Pimbo should compensate the FFA for his ban sitting on the Australian bench for this Indonesian Fixture ..
~~~~~~~~~
KB
Cpaaa said | January 20th 2009 @ 8:48am | Report comment
the return of GArnold, its been a while since the football fans have had a dig. still 10 days away and it has already began.
there is truth in what KB is saying but i see Arnie on the bench till 2010. no matter what happens.
lets just hope the A-Team can play some beautiful football in Indonesia and dare i say…where is Nicky Carle?
dasilva said | January 20th 2009 @ 9:40am | Report comment
KB
Yes Arnold was given the Olyroo job before Pim was appointed. Bit of an oversight. However It doesn’t change my argument at all
dasilva said | January 20th 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment
The most disturbing thing for me is that having Arnold was a precondition that the national coach had to accept to get the job.
It’s been troubling me why is that the case?
I think I have thought of an answer that explains why FFA are backing Arnold all the time and it may not look pretty
____________
One of the roles of the assistant manager is to learn from the manager and that when the manager does leave there will be a smooth transition as the assistant manager will take over.
FFA believes that Graham Arnold as a potentially good coach and this is supported by Lowy saying that Arnold is the closest thing that Australia has of a world class manager. The Asia Cup performance was blamed due to inexperience but they still see potential in Arnie so they kept faith in him just like coaches keep faith on a struggling out of form player that they think have potential. So FFA kept him as the assistant manager and then handing him Olyroos and then now the Socceroos to give him more experience. Hence FFA is grooming Graham Arnold to coach Socceroos in the post Verbeek era perhaps the World Cup 2014 or 2018. After all Rob Baan did say he wanted not only for Australia to host the 2018 World Cup but for an Australian coach to be leading the Socceroos to the final as well.
If you think that is an outrageous suggestion then perhaps people can leave there theories why Graham Arnold has a permanent job at FFA?
Rob said | January 20th 2009 @ 10:03am | Report comment
Well, dasilva, it IS outrageous that Arnold is still there, but your theory is well within the realms of possibility. Personally, I’m stunned that they would want to groom a coach who has no top-class experience as a first team coach. Arnold was offered a job in Holland after the 2006 world cup as head coach (can’t remember which team), but chose to stay with the FFA, when the better option for him career-wise would have been to head back to Europe and really learn his craft. It’s all well and good for the FFA to see potential in him, but without the experience of coaching teams in decent leagues, the FFA are selling themselves, and GA for that matter, short.
Incidentally, Arnold was only Olyroos coach for the final few games and the Olympics proper. Who really set the Olyroos on the path to qualification was Rob Baan, who had them playing some good football. However, when I watched them in Gosford against Iraq (Arnold in charge), they were terrible, out-classed most of the time, and only won because of two well-taken free kicks/corners. The selections for the Olympic tournament were puzzling at best, and incompetent and negligent at worst, sacrificing quality young players like Djite to select guys like Archie Thompson, who never was going to be either fit enough or good enough to make an impact, all in the stated aim of “winning a medal”.
Funnily enough, they sucked at the Olympics, and Arnold has never been held accountable for the performance, making a comical revisionist statement that the team “developed well”, when the stated aim was to win medals.
So, the point of this long-winded post is that yes, your theory might be correct, but surely if they want him to be the national team coach, they should encourage him to apply for, and take, an overseas coaching role, whether in Korea, Holland, Belgium, or Outer Mongolia, so that he’s “his own man”, in charge of a team week-in, week-out, where his neck is genuinely on the chopping block when results don’t go his way, and where he can learn the intricacies of shifting tactics on a weekly basis, based on the opponents his team is facing. Then, and only then, will we see whether Arnold is made of the right stuff for the Australian head coach job. At the moment he’s just a guy who’s got a couple of failed tournaments under his belt, and a whole lot of time spent helping out the main man. Not a convincing CV for a head coach of a national team.
dasilva said | January 20th 2009 @ 11:35am | Report comment
Rob
It may be difficult for Arnie to get a job overseas. Roda JC did wanted Arnie (as Graham Arnold had played for that club successfully scoring 21 goals in 61 games for that club as well as Guus hiddink reccommended him) but he couldn’t get it as Arnold at that time didn’t have the required coaching licenses (this is not because Arnie rejected that club so he can coach the socceroos like the official version)
Graham Arnold also applied for Dunfermline Athletic F.C., Bolton Wanderers and Norwich City. However they all rejected him
The problem is that Australian coaches aren’t well respected and have no reputations. Dumfermline received his application and the club said we never heard of Graham Arnold before. It’s very difficult for any Australian coaches to be given opportunities overseas unless they are willing to coach the very low leagues or in unfashionable countries (like outer mongolia like you mention)
So I think the only hope is that Arnie get a uefa coaching license (I believe he’s got one now), wait until one of his former dutch clubs where he played in needs a new coach (ROda JC, NAC Breda) and get Guus Hiddink to call the club to give Arnie a good word.