Football needs coaches not characters
Columnist By Davidde Corran, 22 Dec 2011 Davidde Corran is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- A-League, Adelaide United, football, Gold Coast United, John Kosmina
John Kosmina will return to Adelaide United (AAP Image/Bryan Charlton)
Related coverage
Like getting back with an old-girlfriend, John Kosmina’s return to the helm of Adelaide United this week has thrown up a whole raft of past-issues.
So, regardless of your opinion of the man as a football technician, Kosmina’s appointment has led us to some very interesting talking points.
One of the biggest claims I’ve heard on the topic is the former Socceroos’ return will be good for the game. The thinking being that his character and headline churning press conferences will help get Adelaide fresh media coverage.
However I believe this to be something of a misnomer.
As journalists, “Kossie” does make our jobs easier with his almost page-ready quotes – when you go to a Kosmina press conference you don’t need to trudge around looking for an angle, the odds are he’ll provide one for you.
Yet the reality is Kosmina wont bring the mainstream media swooning to press events and an apathetic general public flocking to Hindmarsh Stadium.
So what will? The answer, in part at least, is good coaches.
We don’t need larger than life characters to promote the A-League but progressive and exciting football. The only way to achieve this is through developing our football technicians to the highest possible level.
In other words as a starting point more Ange Postecoglous and Graham Arnolds would help.
I’d use Gold Coast United’s coach Miron Bleiberg as another example. His press conferences and post-match comments can be thoroughly entertaining but that fact alone doesn’t necessarily make him “good for the game”.
How well have Blieberg’s eccentric quotes worked for Gold Coast United’s crowd figures?
A further development on this point also coming out of Kosmina’s appointment has been his lack of a coaching A-license – the minimum requirement to be qualified for a head coaching position in the A-League.
The main argument in defence of Kosmina getting special dispensation from Football Federation Australia to take on the role at United is that it’s just a piece of paper and it doesn’t make you a good coach.
This is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of why these qualifications are mandatory.
All professionals, regardless of their field require not just a high-level of qualifications to work in their industry but a minimum amount of refresher and developmental learning to maintain their professional standing.
On Wednesday evening former Socceroo Craig Foster made an eloquent point on this issue quoting well-known writer Peter Drucker on Twitter.
“No discipline can lengthen a man’s arm, but it can lengthen his reach by hoisting him on the shoulders of his predecessors.”
In other words an “A” license might not make you a great coach, but as Foster went on to explain, “every great coach has one”.
FFA’s coaching license program is not yet at the standard of the Italian football association’s Coverciano – arguably the most demanding coaching school in the world – but it’s a fundamental step in the right direction.
If we get this right we’ll have achieved another key component in the game’s quest to thrive in Australia – good coaches and not just big characters.
Recommend this story.
The Turkey 10
The Turkey 10 teams have now been selected, as Wild Turkey Bourbon's sport sponsorship kicks into the next exciting phase.
Choose which side you're going to support and get in the running to win $2,500!
Simply visit Wild Turkey Australia on Facebook for your chance to win.
Find out more.
The Crowd Says (47) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- A-League, Adelaide United, football, Gold Coast United, John Kosmina
December 22nd 2011 @ 8:15am
jbinnie said | December 22nd 2011 @ 8:15am | Report comment
David – A very good article,well put together with room for debate but I would like to take the liberty in highlighting a flaw which the game,it’s coaches, and it’s media seem to have made a mandatory part of the sport here especially in the HAL ,our version of a “Super League”. Your article highlights this flaw from start to finish and I would like to put another slant for your consideration,by posing a question for your thoughts.
When a person pays up to $150(and more inside) to take his young family to a game,what is he there to see,is he there to watch “his” team of 11 players beat another 11 players, or is he there to see the coach sitting on the sidelines???. Silly question I know but one with only one answer, he and his family want to see players.
That leads us to the next question. How is a David Beckham,a Harry Kewell,a Brett Emerton “image” created. Not by watching a Ferguson,a Duracovic,or a Laviska waxing lyrical on TV, radio or the press, they are created by publicity and it is in this area our clubs must wake up and the journalists can help,not by listening to and quoting some wise-cracking coach, but getting these young players “up front” so the youngsters who play the game in their thousands can identify with their heroes.Hope you can help. jb
‘image” created
December 22nd 2011 @ 9:19am
Rusty0256 said | December 22nd 2011 @ 9:19am | Report comment
I’m sorry jb but Mehmet Durakovic and ‘waxing lyrical’ cannot be used in the same sentence.
December 22nd 2011 @ 7:19pm
Philip said | December 22nd 2011 @ 7:19pm | Report comment
LOL +1
December 22nd 2011 @ 10:16am
AjaxFan123 said | December 22nd 2011 @ 10:16am | Report comment
Just found out and almost fell of my chair at work whilst i was reading the SMH article regarding Kossie that Ben Buckley approved into allowing him to coach in the a-league, under the disproval of Han Berger who is of course against it, i just find it ridicious and embarassing that Ben Buckley the CEO of the FFA has NO footballing background what so ever disaproves a descision made by a footballing person of Han Berger who is tech director of Aus football.
To me it shows the lack of seriousness of the FFA taking coach and player development not seriously enough and makes the whole coaching system just un-accountable for just very stupid! Very annoyed by this!
I need to hear more of this if its true but if so its disgraceful that Ben Buckley has done this, he should be responsible for this error!
And the FFA want to be a top 10 nation really? if they make dumb decisions like this they wont! I guarantee this would happen no doubt if they continue like this into the future.
I dont have the knowledge but i dont think you would see this happen in Germany, Holland or Brazil for that matter, what a joke FFA!
Rant Over for now!
December 22nd 2011 @ 7:39pm
Philip said | December 22nd 2011 @ 7:39pm | Report comment
If this is true, it is appalling that Buckley would give anyone approval to coach without a required qualifications. Buckley knows sweet FA about the technical aspects of football and should defer to following the rules that have been laid down in order to improve the professionalism of the game.
While some may argue there are plenty of bad coaches with the right qualifications, it is also true that the best coaches in the world all have qualifications that are significantly higher than the A-League requirement.
December 22nd 2011 @ 7:47pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 7:47pm | Report comment
Han Berger’s interest is the NT and by extension, the development of younger players through the various underage teams.
In other words, he has no business deciding who a club can hire, recalling that clubs are independent entities, and if they want to hire poor players, and hopeless coaches, it’s their business, nothing to do with the NT.
Kossie has already won silverware in the A-League, and was a decorated Socceroo, what business is it of Berger’s to declare that Kossie can’t coach at A-League level?
Interestingly, Berger’s last full time coaching stint was with J-League division 2 team, Oita Trinita. In the one and only year he coached them, they finished 13th of 16 teams.
December 22nd 2011 @ 8:07pm
Davidde Corran said | December 22nd 2011 @ 8:07pm | Report comment
Cattery, Berger is also responsible for raising the level of coaching education in this country so it’s entirely his business.
December 22nd 2011 @ 10:12pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 10:12pm | Report comment
Fair enough – but the line is drawn at dictating to clubs who they can and cannot hire.
Han can put in place structures, and a curriculum, and the rest of it – but how can he possibly have a say about how an independent club goes about its business – which is primarily about winning silverware and avoiding going bankrupt.
If the AU board and owners believe a certain individual is best placed to deliver them onfield success, then they have every right to hire that person, and the bureaucrats can go back to what they do best, sitting down at a desk whinging and moaning.
December 23rd 2011 @ 8:05pm
Davidde Corran said | December 23rd 2011 @ 8:05pm | Report comment
I don’t really see how Berger and FFA can increase the level of coaching if there aren’t minimum standards which are enforced. If coaches can get a job at the top of the football pyramid without them than the whole system is undermined in my opinion. That is what is concerning Berger.
December 22nd 2011 @ 1:00pm
Bayman said | December 22nd 2011 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
Of course, the other side of the “coaching qualification” coin is this; If Kosmina, with all his experience as a player and coach doesn’t know more about the game than a school teacher who has sat the exam I’ll be very surprised.
So the argument here is not about knowledge but qualification. If we are going to the trouble of setting up a coaching qualification then the least we can do is insist that every coach has that qualification. That way we can also cement the “coaching school” as a mandatory part of football and guarantee employment to some people. We can also then become a “special club” which can keep out the riff raff and maintain our control over the game. And yes, I am being a little sarcastic.
All of this control is interfered with when a novice like Buckley accepts Kosmina merely on the grounds of hundreds of games as player and coach previously. What would Kosmina possibly know about football?
Having a qualification on its own, especially in coaching, has never meant the person knows anything about the game. It just means he can read. Berger’s issue is with the undermining of his authority and his “technical” empire. Given the FFA set up this empire then Berger’s annoyance is understandable. Who needs enemies when you have friends like Buckley.
However, the idea that these qualifications are mandatory for the benefit of the game is, if not laughable, then flawed. They are mandatory because it gives the FFA, and the world body in turn, control over the process and creates an exclusivity over the game.
The great clubs of Europe and South America went decades doing very nicely with coaches who had no qualifications. So, apparently, we can assume such qualifications are not really needed.
Then someone thought of creating a coaching school probably for lower grade coaches to give them access to recent trends and ideas for skills training. That seemed like a good idea so an “advanced” course was provided. Then probably an even more advanced course. Finally one of these qualified coaches queried why he couldn’t get a better coaching gig since he had the best qualification.
Why don’t we make it mandatory for all coaches, at all levels, then 1) nobody can blame us for appointing an unqualified coach, 2) if push comes to shove we can blame the coaching authorities for not teaching him properly. In any case, we the administration are off the hook.
Some things, however, remain true – great coaches would be great coaches with or without the qualification, ordinary coaches don’t become great no matter how many qualifications they may have. The modern professional sport has pushed up, typically, modern professional administrators. These people often have some sort of qualification and love the idea of the elite aspect such qualifications bring to the table. Insisting on coaching qualifications seems a natural thing for them to do.
The idea that this approach may exclude many who offer far more value to the game than many who might have such a qualification does not seem to register with them. It will not change and it will only get worse and, if it hasn’t already happened, all professional sports will soon be in the same boat.
December 22nd 2011 @ 2:12pm
Futbanous said | December 22nd 2011 @ 2:12pm | Report comment
Whilst I agree with great coaches not necessarily having a qualification on the other hand a qualification wouldnt harm a great natural coach. In fact it should enhance his knowledge.
In my experience great natural coaches derive their knowledge from actually having played the game(there are exceptions of course). Obviously some man management skills are required also to stand out.
But I know myself having coached at Junior level that my knowledge derived from playing was further enhanced by a coaching course albeit rudimentary. Anybody who believes they have nothing new to learn are depriving themselves of self improvement no matter how competent they are at their job.
December 22nd 2011 @ 4:31pm
Rob Gremio said | December 22nd 2011 @ 4:31pm | Report comment
If you think about it this way, all professions have minimum requirements in terms of qualifications. For builders, you do an apprenticeship coupled with TAFE courses to develop the “theoretical” knowledge required. Lawyers do a degree and then have to do an articles clerkship and sit a bar exam before being allowed to practice as solicitors, etc etc. Even Forklift Drivers have to do a course and have a professional certificate stating they meet the required standard (including theory) before being let loose in a warehouse.
Why should being a football coach be any different? In order to meet the standard requirements of your profession, you need to do course ‘x’ (in this case an A-License) before being given the reins of an A-League team.
It makes perfect sense to require an A-League coach have a certain level of credentials prior to taking the reins.
And yes, I agree that all those who coach football should do at least some kind of course before coaching kids or adults.
December 22nd 2011 @ 5:08pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 5:08pm | Report comment
Let’s not forget the unusual case of AVB. He never played the game professionally, started out as a translator for first Robson and then Mourinho, and under their tutelage completed all the various coaching courses, right up to UEFA Pro Licence, and after a one year stint with Porto, winning four trophies, he finds himself at Chelsea.
December 22nd 2011 @ 7:47pm
Philip said | December 22nd 2011 @ 7:47pm | Report comment
Bayman, would you like to go back to the time when doctors didn’t have qualifications, the world survived quite nicely for ages. I don’t think so. The world has moved on in all careers, sciences, knowledge etc and that includes football managers who should have mandatory skills and knowledge depending on their level of operation. You wouldn’t let a GP loose with a scalpel on your brain, you’d insist on a neurosurgeon for that. It’s the same in all walks of life. At any level there has to be standards and then it’s then up to personal ability to make the best of it. Kossie should comply with the standard required or he should not be allowed on the bench.
December 22nd 2011 @ 7:50pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 7:50pm | Report comment
Yeh, but coaching an A-League team is hardly life and death, and in the case of Kossie, we’re talking about someone who has already won silverware in the A-League, so of course Buckley had good grounds to excuse him from some bureaucrat’s rules, whose own coaching record is hardly exemplary.
December 22nd 2011 @ 8:17pm
Philip said | December 22nd 2011 @ 8:17pm | Report comment
Kossie finished coaching at the top level and became a media pundit. He wasn’t interested in coaching again at A-League level (or J-League or any reasonable league) or he would have continued to develop his licence while waiting for an opportunity. Now a job opportunity comes up and we should say, ‘Hey Kossie, you weren’t interested in developing yourself but don’t worry, we’ll change the rules just for you.’ That makes no sense to me if you are serious about developing and progressing the football in this country.
December 22nd 2011 @ 10:16pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 10:16pm | Report comment
But Philip – Kossie didn’t badger AU for a job – they approached him – so you can’t blame Kossie for anything.
AU wanted him, they approached him, he was surprised, but took up the offer, and given what he has achieved in the job not too long ago (in two seasons, a premiership and a grand final loss), then how can anyone possibly argue that he is not up to the task, or complain that he has accepted an offer from the board of a club?
December 22nd 2011 @ 10:42pm
dasilva said | December 22nd 2011 @ 10:42pm | Report comment
In Europe the national league sets down minimum coaching license that a manager has to have. A club can’t just picked anyone they want to be a manager of a professional club. They can only select and hire manager that are suitably qualified.
even England who were skeptical of the idea of minimum license has adopted that stance recently.
Australia in the process of trying to catch up with the professionalism with the rest of the world and FFA allowing this is a retrograde step
December 22nd 2011 @ 10:52pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 10:52pm | Report comment
Yeh, Europe is the home of the EC, where you can only grow apples of a certain dimension.
December 22nd 2011 @ 11:07pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 11:07pm | Report comment
Here’s a good article in The Guardian about the worth of the UEFA Pro quals:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/dec/14/sport.comment
It raises an interesting point: no one has ever failed the course, which makes you sort of wonder about how stringent it is.
By the way, UEFA had also given dispensation to managers who are yet to complete the course – so it really isn’t as big a deal as people are making out.
December 22nd 2011 @ 11:57pm
j binnie said | December 22nd 2011 @ 11:57pm | Report comment
Bayman – A well written and laid out article that has caused a multitude of replies,some for,some against,but very few,if any, have got to the root of why a coach needs qualification.The answer is very simple and can be discussed thus——
A coach in any sport is a TEACHER. He is employed to teach the game to a group of players be they 8 year-old kids or full time professionals. That is where qualification enters the argument.
Under our present general educational system we have a minimum of 3 years of education to enable the teaching of young primary school children. This usually advances to 5 years to enable the teaching of senior pupils and, if we want to take it to the most common peak, a 7 year education followed by an internship to become a teacher of doctors.Think about this for a moment and you will see where I am heading.
No matter what experience & knowledge is gained in a playing career, that alone does not mean that person will automatically have the talent on how to put their messages across, in other words TEACH. Hence qualifications.
Getting back to Kossie, it surprises me that for one so long involved in the game at playing and coaching level he has never gone to the trouble of gaining these qualifications,after all organised coaching certificate courses started in Australia back in 1974,when he was still playing and one would assume if he has the talents that many here are claiming he would have walked through the exams and today would be a fully qualified ——FOOTBALL TEACHER . jb
December 23rd 2011 @ 1:02am
The Cattery said | December 23rd 2011 @ 1:02am | Report comment
jb
Alex Ferguson would have had a room full of trophies before UEFA started mandating the need for all managers at club level to have a formal qualification.
The rationale to mandate it just isn’t there.
If coaches who have done their qualification have a huge advantage in knowledge, clubs will naturally gravitate towards them, that being the case, why oblige clubs to only employ managers with a qualification? It almost sounds like a protection racket.
December 23rd 2011 @ 11:44am
j binnie said | December 23rd 2011 @ 11:44am | Report comment
Cattery- I do wish you would think on what has been presented before you go to the trouble of singling out an individual and holding him up as an example to this site. In this case you have probably singled out the most outstanding manager of the last 30 years.Would you care to describe what makes him “special” before enumerating the hundreds of apparently successful players (Alex wasn’t too hot in that department) who have been tried, and found wanting, in the same environment as AF over those same last 30 years.?????
Back to my attempt at explaining what coaching is at ALL levels of the game, or for that matter ALL sports. It is the ability to absorb knowledge and then present it in such a way that is comprehensible to the pupils.That’s where the qualification comes in. In an attempt to “fast track” this teaching ability, courses have been created that allows the game to be broken into sections – skills,tactics movement,fitness, & man -management etc, and in turn breaking down these functions into a method that, when presented as an exercise, the pupils will enjoy and voluntarily take part. Could AF do this? I don’t doubt it, but maybe it is the lack of this “teaching” knowledge that has caused so many others to fail.
So. a piece of paper may not be of such importance as long as the potential coach has recognised the “teaching” side of the task and has gone to the trouble of gaining that knowledge that allows him to coach/teach in the proper manner. Forget AF, it is at the grass roots of the game that these qualification become necessary,not so much to prove you have done a course, but more importantly, have gone to the trouble of gaining a skill that may help in doing the job at hand.jb
December 23rd 2011 @ 12:16pm
The Cattery said | December 23rd 2011 @ 12:16pm | Report comment
jb
But it’s not just Ferguson, basically all the great managers we’ve ever known got there without the help of a certificate.
By the way, I’m not against professionals continuing to learn, undertake additional studies, get together with their peers to share ideas,etc.
What I am against, are a bunch of bureaucrats dictating to independent clubs who they can and can’t hire.
December 23rd 2011 @ 12:30pm
j binnie said | December 23rd 2011 @ 12:30pm | Report comment
Thanks Cattery – I repeat,it’s not about “great managers” it’s about TEACHING,and as you say “undertaking additional studies” to ensure that TEACHING can be undertaken in a uniform and organised form that ensures comprehension in pupils. That’s all qualifications denote, a person has undergone that training. jb
December 23rd 2011 @ 12:45pm
The Cattery said | December 23rd 2011 @ 12:45pm | Report comment
jb
I would argue that the importance you place on the manager’s ability to teach will vary with where a particular team’s maturation cycle is.
Younger players need that more than mature players.
On top of that, different teams have different needs at different points of their history.
In the case of AU at the moment, many view it as a case of getting back to basics, getting motivation back into the players, getting some discipline back into the team, instilling some confidence in being able to follow a game plan – even the most basic game plan imaginable.
The experienced player doesn’t need to be taught how to mark a player – he has to be motivated enough to bloody well do it when instructed to do so! (obviously I’m talking at a very basic level here, the instructions will come with various intricacies and variables to assist in correct decision making, but first thing is first, and that’s getting the motivation, focus and hunger back in the players)
It’s quite possible that Kossie is the man for the job right now – and I would contend that whether he has done this specific training or not is not going to help him one iota with the immediate challenge he has.
This is another reason why I dislike these blanket manadatory provisions that force clubs to go down a particular route, when they are more in need of someone like Kossie than another Rini – they should be free to make the choice that best suits their circumstances at a given point in time.
December 22nd 2011 @ 3:28pm
Axelv said | December 22nd 2011 @ 3:28pm | Report comment
Good article and it makes perfect sense.
Although I must say, as a Melbourne Victory fan I’m looking forward to Kosmina’s press conferences again, the guy is a total moron but at the same time you love to hate him, he is hilarious. When he was coach Adelaide on the field were very professional and competitive, they were the most consistent team in the A-League at the time, the standard has improved since then so Kosmina may struggle especially since he is lacking the coaching qualifications this time around. But that said I think that Adelaide will improve vastly on what Coolen has done.
December 22nd 2011 @ 3:30pm
mike said | December 22nd 2011 @ 3:30pm | Report comment
How do we know Kossie is a bad coach?
Before Postacoglu joined the Roar – the general consensus was he was a pretty bad coach from his time with the under 21 nation team. Did he learn some new tricks between jobs or was he a good coach all along but we just didnt know’? The same could be said of Arnold.
And what makes a coach ‘good’ in the first place? i would argue its the management of men 1st, then tactical knowledge of the game 2nd.
December 22nd 2011 @ 7:54pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 7:54pm | Report comment
I think it’s a silly argument.
The man Kossie has replaced has a resume as good as any other coach in the A-League, and presumably he’s got the requisite qualifications (including the right nationality, as it had been decreed a few years back).
In other words, AU already had a “great” coach, only problem is that the team was not so good on the paddock.
Whether Kossie is the right man or not for the job, he’s qualifications are the very, very least of AU’s problems at the moment.
December 22nd 2011 @ 8:44pm
Philip said | December 22nd 2011 @ 8:44pm | Report comment
Just because you have a license to drive doesn’t make you a ‘great’ driver. But we all agree having a license is a good prerequisite for getting behind the wheel.
No one said Rini was great. No one said he shouldn’t be sacked. But he should be replaced with a correctly qualified and licensed individual.
December 22nd 2011 @ 9:11pm
Philip said | December 22nd 2011 @ 9:11pm | Report comment
Let me try another angle. Imagine a player gets the sack. He’s out of the game for 12 months and during that time the rules of the game change. The player makes a comeback. Should he be allowed to play according to the old rules that he knew or the new rules that now exist? The answer is obvious.
Kossie should play (ie coach) by the new rules that require him to have an A-License or he should not play (coach) at all.
December 22nd 2011 @ 10:09pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 10:09pm | Report comment
Philip
I’m saying Rini came to Adelaide with a very good resume – he had had a good career in Holland – so how would we expect a little club like AU to find another coach with an even better resume? It’s unrealistic.
At the end of the day, no Adelaide coach has ever matched what Kossie did in the first two seasons of the A-League – surely that remains every bit as valuable as the next bloke with some quals.
December 22nd 2011 @ 10:48pm
dasilva said | December 22nd 2011 @ 10:48pm | Report comment
I didn’t think he had that good of resume. He wasn’t exactly a success in FC twente and was sacked in the 2nd season hand had been coaching in the Eerst Division (2nd division) afterwards.
I remember posting when he first got signed to Adelaide United that we were hiring a manager who finished dead last in the Eerste division with AGOVV Apeldoorn and was skeptical of his appoitment.
After the successful first season with Adelaide. I thought that they were good signs but he inherited Vidmar’s squad. The test was how he could handle a season with his own team and his own signing as that was the ultimate test (similar to Lavicka having a poor season after the championship winning debut).
December 22nd 2011 @ 10:59pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 10:59pm | Report comment
dasilva
Yeh, but he coached Twente for two seasons in the Eredivisie. He coached Rosendaal to 3rd spot in the Eerstedivisie just before coming across.
Good, bad, indifferent, you ain’t going to get Eredivisie coaches lining up to come to the A-League, with or without papers.
AU has to pay out Rini for a 4 year contract, and that has just complicated things even further.
so for people to say that AU need to look for someone better than Kossie is plain unrealistic – that’s my main point – and the qualifications issue is a red herring, it’s neither here or there, you’d take Kossie over some Muppet coaching amateurs any day of the week.
December 23rd 2011 @ 8:37am
dasilva said | December 23rd 2011 @ 8:37am | Report comment
Where did he coached Rosendaal to 3rd spot?
AGOVV Apeldoorn, 20th
Roosendaal – 16th than 11 th
I don’t see any 3rd spot. They were 3rd spot the year before Coolen took the job
December 23rd 2011 @ 8:49am
The Cattery said | December 23rd 2011 @ 8:49am | Report comment
Yeh, I guess that ain’t too flash.
The point still remains that he had coached at Eredivisie level for two seasons (with a good club), itwouldn’t be that easy for AU to grab soemone with a better background than that, especially after the big pay out they’ll need to make for Rini.
December 23rd 2011 @ 12:05pm
j binnie said | December 23rd 2011 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
Cattery – Just noticed your “corrective” statement to Mike. Would you care to enlighten me as to what you mean when you say “including the right nationality,as it had been decreed a few years back”. Were you having a dig at FFA policy making? The reason I ask is that in my studies of the game over the last 50 years I can only think of one really outstanding coach of that nationality and that was the oft cited “father of total football” (a title he often denied) Rinus Michels. Now if you want to get into the true innovators of the game you would have to leave that small country, in which the professional game is only 55 years old, and set your sights elsewhere.Almost every country in the world has presented outstanding individuals over the recognised 90 years of football tactical development and they are far too numerous to include in this offering. I await your reply with interest jb
December 23rd 2011 @ 12:13pm
The Cattery said | December 23rd 2011 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
jb
it was a bit tongue and cheek, but you would know that for a few years there, not so much now, everyone we were hiring form outside of Australia appeared to come from one country only.
December 22nd 2011 @ 9:31pm
Los Oso said | December 22nd 2011 @ 9:31pm | Report comment
I think it’s a good decision by AUFC. But think its motivation wasn’t the publicity factor at all – it was Kosmina’s supposed powers of sorting out team spirit and morale, play some dressing room politics and getting everyone back on the job and happy. That’s exactly what the club needed. The fact that he is a passionate local is an advantage – publicity wise, that is – but Kossie is exactly the kind of coach you turn to if, as a board of an A-League club, you are looking for a coach specifically to revive a poor team harmony and galvanise the troops etc. As he has demonstrated when his first match Adelaide got a point in Sydney and should really have had all 3.
December 22nd 2011 @ 9:33pm
Los Oso said | December 22nd 2011 @ 9:33pm | Report comment
And also I think that in terms of the modern professional game, there is nothing at all wrong with a club being results focused. Look at Stoke. Good on em. Not that pretty but don’t we all secretly grudgingly admire them? Kossie openly says he keeps the game simple and in this instance with Adelaide it’s exactly what they need.
December 22nd 2011 @ 10:19pm
The Cattery said | December 22nd 2011 @ 10:19pm | Report comment
Los
both good points.
I wrote above, before I read your posts, that the board believe Kossie is the best man for the job right now, and part of that includes precisely the things you are talking about.
That’s the board’s perogative, and you’d have to say Kossie’s first night out has already delivered on what the board was hoping to see.
December 23rd 2011 @ 1:19am
Stephen Smith said | December 23rd 2011 @ 1:19am | Report comment
I do have to smile at Foster’s tub-thumping regarding the correct qualifications for coaching. Following his logic, if people should only be appointed to posts based upon their qualifications, then why on earth is he reading the sports news on television? Did he go to journalism college or hold a media qualification?
December 23rd 2011 @ 12:18pm
j binnie said | December 23rd 2011 @ 12:18pm | Report comment
Stephen – Dangerous road you go down.You single out Foster,what about Slater,Bosnich,Harper,Ruden,Zelic,Kalac,Taliadoris,Awaritife,Meredith,Lowe,et al and of course we could add Postecoglue, Blieberg,Kosmina,Van egmond etc etc. All those I mentioned are constantly on TV or are constantly being interviewed on TV and one thing I am sure of,not every one of those mentioned have a “journalism college certificate or media qualification”.
Before anyone jumps in I do know some of these lads do have qualifications but not the ones that S.Smith mentions..
December 24th 2011 @ 2:05am
Freddie said | December 24th 2011 @ 2:05am | Report comment
Not one of the others JBinnie has mentioned has demanded Kosmina has the qualification – only Foster – probably why he was singled out for his hypocrisy.
December 23rd 2011 @ 12:21pm
The Cattery said | December 23rd 2011 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
SS
A good example.
People can study various journalism courses to improve their skills etc, but employers are free to hire whoever they wish to hire, and more often than not they will hire people who have undertaken such studies, and other times they will not.
And I view this whole coaching certificate business in the same way. Having the courses are good, people should be encouraged to improve their knowledge, but employers shouldn’t be forced to hire only people who have undertaken such-and-such a course of study.
It borders on being a protection racket.
Furthermore, what sets the great coaches apart form the also-rans will not be learned in that course, doesn’t matter how good it is, doesn’t matter how many bureaucrats have sat down together to work out a curriculum, syllabus, study program, learning framework, educational outcomes, etc, etc.
December 23rd 2011 @ 12:48pm
j binnie said | December 23rd 2011 @ 12:48pm | Report comment
Cattery – I have now read all your offerings and it is clear to me you are not against qualifications per.se but a simple “employment issue”. So we go back to this area and let you be the “Nick Tana” in the hot seat. (I use Nick because of his experiences in football and current high profile). He owns a club and is looking for a coach. Along comes Joe Blow and Steve McMahon to apply for the job of coach. Who does Nick(you) pick ?,Joe Blow with a pro-licence certificate of the highest grade, or McMahon who has played with England and Liverpool. Nick(you) makes his choice (the popular one) and gets his fingers and his pockets very very badly burned. Joe Blow ,with his top qualification ( and no great playing career a la Wenger) ,goes on his merry way with his top degree but no job.
That is the problem in football employment all over the world,it is the perception that if a player has had an exceptional playing career he has the exceptional knowledge to become an exceptional teacher of the game, a Professor of Football. Unfortunately nothing is further from the truth and I could go into the financial areas of these transactions but I won’t for the figures would shock you to your back teeth. Cheers, it’s still a great game is our football. jb
December 23rd 2011 @ 1:03pm
The Cattery said | December 23rd 2011 @ 1:03pm | Report comment
jb
yes, more or less, I guess you have nailed it, I don’t think a central authority should be reducing the options a club has in who they employ as their manager, because crucially, if there is a competitive advantage to be had from employing managers with a pro license, then the clubs will go down that route of their own volition – there is actually no need to mandate anything from above.
Now the scenario you have described is a good one, an interesting one, and the sort of thing that clubs will come across every two or three years (or shorter!).
I understand what you are saying, there are many coaches out there who had a non-stellar playing career, and some good players make the transition to coach, and others fail miserably.
To be honest, that situation has been recognised for a very long time, it precedes all of this licensing stuff.
Going back to your scenario, if Mr No-Name is putting his hand up to coach an A-League club with nothing behind him except a pro-license – there is no way I would touch him!
My advice to him would be: work as an assistant, preferably with more than one club, continue leaning and developing, soak up those experiences that you cannot learn in a course of study – like eye-balling a player and telling him he’s not good enough; or telling him about the flaws in his game; or knowing how to bring him back to Earth if he’s walking around with a head the size of a boarding house pudding.
This is the real-world stuff that the course won’t teach you.