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A-League coaches are saying but not doing

8th February, 2012
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Jim Magilton is confident he can get Melbourne Victory firing again AAP Image/Joe Castro
Roar Guru
8th February, 2012
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Melbourne Victory’s position as the A-League’s biggest club was highlighted over the last week as interim coach Jim Magilton continued to make headlines.

From debate over his British heritage through to whether it is he or the players who should hold responsibility for recent results, it seems every aspect of the 42-year-old’s time south of the Murray is coming under scrutiny.

In the lead up to last week’s Melbourne derby, the discussion moved on to the Northern Irishman’s coaching past and what that says about the style of football he wants to implement at the Victory.

John Gorman, who was Magilton’s assistant at Ipswich Town and Queens Park Ranges, was positive when he described Magilton’s past teams to the Herald Sun’s David Davutovic.

“People still talk about the football his teams played,” Gorman said.

“We both believed in passing and playing out from the back.”

Philip Ham, editor of Ipswich Town’s twtd.co.uk website, emphasized this point saying “He’ll play football in the right way”.

A brief diversion, for those looking for some insight into Magilton I suggest you read Davutovic’s article, an interesting reading that further highlights his place as the best story breaker in the Australian football press.

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Back to those quotes though, it’s not the first time I’ve heard the claim “he likes to play good football”. The issue is there’s a difference between wanting to and being able to.

I was told a story last week that, while it might be a tad apocryphal, apparently comes from Steve Pitts’ book 39 days of Gazza, which recounts Paul Gascoigne’s short-lived tenure as Kettering Town’s manager.

In it Gascoigne sits his team down in front of a TV and shows his players a video of Zinedine Zidane before explaining this is how he wants them to play. Naturally it didn’t work out.

While nowhere near as extreme or incompetent, the A-League and Australian national teams have their fair share of similar tales of coaches wanting to play good football without having developed the necessary skills to instruct their players on how to do so.

Thankfully this is slowly being rectified with improving coach education programs.

The only true barometer of a coaches ability is the football his teams produce and not whether he likes a “passing game”.

Across 90 minutes on that green patch of grass, there is no hiding behind words, no matter how well intentioned they may be.

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