No-one can blame Markus Babbel for saying the A-League is nowhere near the Bundesliga’s level.
However, the former Western Sydney Wanderers coach’s comments to German media following his sacking demonstrate why A-League clubs need to tread carefully when making foreign appointments.
Coaches from football-mad nations with top-flight divisions are almost always going to come Down Under looking down their nose at the competition and players.
Babbel’s tenure at the Wanderers was littered with examples of thinking, at some subconscious level, that Australian football is beneath him.
(Nigel Owen/Action Plus via Getty Images)
And maybe it is. His pedigree as a player speaks for itself. He has played and been involved at the highest level for much of his career.
There is no denying that coming to Australia was a step down. But no-one held a gun to Babbel’s head. He arrived of his own volition. He knew – or at least you’d hope he knew – what he was getting into.
You don’t move halfway across the world to coach in a competition without some due diligence.
He criticised his players for not being good enough. He criticised referees for not being good enough. In general there was a pervasive feeling that Babbel’s tenure was destined to fail because of elements out of his control.
Of course the league does not help itself in this respect with some of its ridiculous rules and regulations. Salary caps and no transfers, for instance, must make coaching particularly difficult for those coming from overseas.
If you have made a career for yourself at the highest level and almost exclusively been surrounded by world-class and elite players, then you would demand more from players when you move to a place where the football isn’t as good.
You’re going to question why players aren’t just better at the sport in which they have become a professional.
But that’s not the type of coach we need in Australia, and it’s why the Wanderers and indeed every club needs to tread carefully when looking at international coaches.
Clubs need to delve deeper into the coaches they are getting into bed with.
Will they be comfortable working within the league’s constraints? How do they cope in environments where the technical quality is perhaps not as high as they are used to?
Do they nurture their players? Do they have a track record of improving teams they inherit?
Babbel’s almost instant and prolonged frustration with the elements of the A-League he didn’t like suggest not too many of these questions were properly asked.
None of this is to say Babbel is a bad person or a bad coach.
His honesty in many ways is refreshing.
For the most part his criticisms probably come from a good place. No doubt he wanted his team and his players to perform better than they did.
The problem was he couldn’t help his team and his individual players bridge the gap between where they were and where he wanted them to be.
anon
Roar Pro
You can't silence people. If the quality is mediocre, then people will tell the truth eventually.
Coastyboi
Guest
Okon simply walked away from CCM. That’s unforgivable to many fans. At least Babs stayed until the bitter end with WSW.
Kevin
Roar Rookie
The key to success is to get an ex-Sydney FC player to coach the club. I mean look at the current coaches to have played for that club. Steven Corica, Tony Popovic, Mark Rudan, Ufuk Talay. Then theres Graham Arnold who played for Sydney United during its NSL days. Look what they have been able to do for their respective clubs. Corica has a championship next to his name, Popovic has two premierships and an AFC title next to his, and Mark Rudan and later Ufuk Talay turned previosuly struggling Wellington into championship contenders. Rudans United look poised for a finals birth. And if former Sydney United player Ante Milicic coaches the Bulls to the finals next year then thats another name to add to that list.
Rosario
Guest
I think Babbel should be ashamed of his mutterings to the German press so soon after his departure. They will do a lot of damage to Australian football overseas. WSW should have a good hard look at themselves for hiring this mug. I am so sick and tired of foreign coaches rubbishing the aleague rather than offering solutions. Off you go Babbel- & don't ever be caught in Australian football stands again.
Admiral Ackbar
Guest
What people forget with coaches like Paul Okon/Scott Miller/Mark Jones/Phil Moss etc is that they were coaches at clubs with a shoestring budget. Had Okon been coaching at a club with money like Sydney FC or Melbourne City he might have been able to get the players he wanted to implement the gameplan he wanted (tiki-taka football). I'd hate to see Okon lost to the game just because he bombed as a coach at the Mariners.
AGO74
Guest
Babbel has a fine playing career - but his managerial career has been a mixed bag to say the least. A great player doesn’t make a great manager - and a poor worker always blamed his tools. Something that Babbel seemed to do a lot of....
chris
Guest
Not sure if JP is going to be that successful. He seems old school, set in his ways, and not a very good communicator. I have seen some of his sessions and he didn't seem very inspirational either. Maybe he is a good man-manager. Who knows.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
It would only be fitting if the WSW coaches and players came out and said what they really think of Babbel's coaching. That's what he does. J-P de Marigny should start the ball rolling.
Waz
Roar Rookie
But Moss, Okon, Miller et al show the danger of hiring Australian coaches. A poor coach is a poor coach irrespective of nationality, same with a good one. The A-League needs to stop flapping around with coaching appointments with each club needing a clear strategy for how they’re going to hire one, then support them while they’re there, then replace them when they leave. SFC did an excellent job replacing the irreplaceable Arnold. Victory did a poor job replacing Muscat. Each club is different but the need for a plan around coaches isn’t.
brookvalesouth
Roar Rookie
Babbel’s tenure at the Wanderers was littered with examples of thinking, at some subconscious level, that Australian football is beneath him. Babbel getting sacked from the A League is a bit like a PHD getting sacked from McDonalds then. I find it amazing that he has the hide to make strange claims about the League's standard, yet, he did not achieve a thing. It reflects more poorly on his ability more than it does Australian football.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Good point about boosting his coaching cv coming here although evidence suggests otherwise unfortunately although he might get away with it as a “blip on the horizon”.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Best example at WSW is their desire to develop and promote youth and get them into the A League side. Whoever they bring in has to be totally aligned with that policy. There again club philosophy needs to be shared with fans too. If the supporters know that the club wants to bring in youth and have a very young side vs bringing in aged overseas players that needs to be shared. People can make up their minds as to whether that is what they want to watch. Of course it has to be a balance as the team needs to be competitive even in an environment where there is no penalty for being bottom - except lower crowds, lower advertising and sponsorship dollars I imagine. When Gombau was at WSW and it was clear he was not getting on well with many players, he fielded a very junior looking side in the derby...... that was a terrible move. It really was men vs boys and the score line reflected the fact and showed him to be somewhat unbalanced in his thinking, or petty or just plain stupid if you prefer.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Due diligence is two-way and Babbel would - or should have - known what he was getting himself into. And I expect he did to some degree. He would have hoped to have some success to bolster his CV because his road to a European coaching career is far more direct and easier than say an Aussie coach, given his playing career. It will be interesting then to see where he goes from here and if he is successful.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
good article, nice headline I think its probably right that most European coaches are going to compare what we have here to what they are familliar with, and the comparison is never going to be flattering, at every turn they willl notice things that appear alien to them: a salary cap, no transfer fees, playing through a hot summer, no promotion and relegation, no 2nd division, a finals system where over half the teams get to play off for the championship, no media attention, etc.
Hoy
Roar Guru
I was going to say something similar... instead of the coach doing due diligence, it would also behove the club more so... to recruit well, and onboard well. By onboard, I mean prepare the coach... all well and good to hire Sir Alex, but to hire Sir Alex, and do so having not given him the honest home truths about the league, the club the players etc... negligence really. It does come down to what the club honestly needs... vs wants... wants a big name coach, vs needs a coach who can nurture, build, develop players and players styles. That's my take... I am not a large A league follower, but I am always interested in the coaching and club side and how the two interact...
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I don’t see that Mr B took a step down by coaching in the A League, if he was a 30 year old defender having won a league title with a big club in England and European silverware too, and he was considering playing a few seasons in the A League then yes it would have been a step down even though there may be other compensations and reasons for making such a move. Seeing Oscar and Hulk playing for Chinese teams is a constant reminder that players do not view their careers in the same way that fans of the game do. As a coach Mr B’s CV is pretty ordinary really. On each occasion he started off well and then appeared to slide down the table. That’s exactly what we did in the A League this season before being fired and as far as I’m aware he has never won any silverware as a coach. As for whether an A League team should hire an Australian or foreign coach, the answer should always be to look for the person that best suits the position. Whilst that might sound glib or just stating the obvious, my criticism of club boards and specifically WSW is that their recruiting leaves a lot to be desired and imo the club needs to look more carefully at the quality of its recruiters and decision makers. Recruiting Josep Gombau was a classic case of not looking beyond the surface to find someone that was going to suit the club, had a personality that the club needed and a desired coaching style. It is all well and good to look at a coaching cv which might be good or even excellent but successful recruiting to an organisation goes way beyond that and the cost of poor recruitment cannot be under stated.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Babbel is obviously not intelligent enough to work out that if he is sacked from a "poor" standard league, having won 10/40 games, being regularly out thought by opposition coaches, that the evidence suggests he's a poor coach. The A-league is probably a level too high for his coaching skill. Time to recruit Australian coaches rather than hacks from Europe, relying on their reputation as players, and we wearing fancy hats