Bob Bradley is apparently on Aston Villa's shortlist to replace Martin O'Neill, alon
g with Alan Curbishley, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Martin Jol, with Jurgen Klinsmann, Gareth Southgate and, improbably, Fulham's Mark Hughes also mentioned. This morning the BBC was reporting that the New Jersey man was in the driving seat. So has the time come at last for football's homeland to acknowledge those Yanks have a thing or two to teach them about the game they invented?I have always been a strong Bradley supporter and hoped that when his US National Team gig was over he would be the first American coaching pro soccer over here (Terry Smith's absurd cameo at Chester City does not count). I would love see him take Villa to victory.
But I can't help thinking this is the wrong club at the wrong time for Bob.
O'Neill stormed out because he was given no money to spend this season, in a nutshell. It was the same reason Curbishley walked out on West Ham and Kevin Keegan ended his Newcastle homecoming prematurely. It is probably the most common reason for manager resignation. Few people want to be handed the controls of a plane running out of fuel and then be blamed for crashing it.
The Irishman's increasing exasperation with the disconnect between job description and the tools at his disposal was clear this week when he stated, “Losing your best players at the club would cause anyone a headache."
Wages have soared 42% in a year but the club remains stuck in sixth for the past three years. Season-ticket sales are down 40%, while Lerner has watched $280 million trickle away and the club's most recent results showed an annual loss of $69 million. So a lean season beckons for the Villans, with fan frustration surely not far behind.
Villa owner Randy Lerner never gives interviews (although when the BBC ambushed him once he came across as intelligent and reasonable) and has been a hands-off owner, what with his commitments in Cleveland and elsewhere. This has won him respect, in contrast to the unpopular Americans in charge at Anfield and Old Trafford. With the kitty empty, it is easy to see him picking a compatriot as a trusted ally. Yet equally, Bradley could find himself tainted by association, with 'Yanks out' flags fluttering if Villa start to plunge down the table. Lerner is the man it all revolves around, while O'Neill, having grown as a player under Brian Clough's tutelage, is of the generation which uses manager in both senses of the word.
How big is the task? Birmingham is England's second city in population, but some way behind Manchester in prestige and profile. Yet Brum's biggest football team, although clearly no Man Utd, dream of similarly great expectations. Villa were European Cup Winners in 1980 but apart from a flirtation with the title race under Graham Taylor in the late 1980s, a second-place finish under Ron Atkinson and fourth-place under Brian Little in the 1990s, they have failed to break into the promised land of Champions League qualifying places.
Manchester City and Tottenham have recently slipped past the Villans and a resurgent Liverpool will not finish seventh forever. With Lerner explicitly stating the club must sell before they buy, and two of their best players, James Milner and Ashely Young (both signed by O'Neill) heading for the exit with no guarantee of replacement, any incoming manager will find it tough. Then there is the question of the backroom staff most foreign managers like to bring with them. Americans need work permits for the European Union, and given the problems Christian Gross had trying, and ultimately failing to bring a Swiss physio to Tottenham, it is hard to see Bradley being able to take anyone across the pond with him, apart from maybe Pierre Barrieu.
This in no way is to cast aspersions on Bradley's competence. A famously attentive and diligent man who takes his job very seriously, his sharp tactical acumen in both the Confederations Cup and the World Cup won him a legion of international admirers. But it is impossible to escape the fear that Villa right now is too big an ask for the first American in the EPL. The last time that club hired an overseas manager he was the first to coach in the division - Jozef Venglos, who had taken Czechoslovakia to the last eight of Italia '90, but failed utterly at Villa Park and was fired after a season.
While Bradley will not have much of a language barrier to contend with, the cultural adaptation of becoming the gaffer, and of relating to the fans and the press would be smoother at a club like Fulham, Blackburn or even Villa's neighbours Birmingham City, where the budget is no greater but the expectations surrounding the dressing-room are not so onerous.
The club expects a Europa League qualification at least and ideally a top-four finish, but with the transfer well having dried up and key players leaving, I would not wish the historic arrival of an American coach in England's top-flight to go down as a spell best forgotten. Bruce Arena expressed an interest in coaching in England some years ago but it came to nothing. I sincerely hope Bradley lands here before long and is a shining success, but only when the ground has been properly smoothed for him first.
-Sean O'Conor, London
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5 comments:
"Beggars can't be choosers"...
As much as I'd like Bradely to have a smooth landing strip, I don't see him getting the luxury of having one. Not even at a lower club.
It's obviously a potentially bad situation to step into Villa, but since everyone is aware of that, it could be viewed as a no lose situation for Bob. If Bob fails, it was because of the bad situation. If Bradely keeps the wheels from coming off or does well, then automatic mythic coaching status. He'd be able to ride on that alone for another 8 years of coaching jobs...
We do need more American coaches in Europe, so at this point, I'll take it any way we can get them there. More importantly we need to get Bob away from the USMNT, otherwise I'm afraid Sunil will just be content to keep Bob for another term.
Yeah, I sort of wish Bradley was being linked with a more "quiet" post in Europe like a job in the Danish league, the 2nd Bundesliga, or the Championship.
Not because I think he'd do a bad job at Villa, just because if things don't go his way, it would invariably be rolled out as proof that all American coaches are rubbish, which is ridiculous but it could have real consequences for future American coaches.
But if he took job at a middling club in a middling league in Europe and helped them punch above their weight, bigger teams would come calling, and he'd have a decent resume in Europe already.
I really wonder whether or not *players* in the EPL are ready for an American manager. If the expectation is that quality American players are the exception rather than the rule, why would they offer any more respect to an American manager?
Further, what is with this all-Americans-love-each-other obfuscation tactic? Just because Lerner is a yank doesn't mean that he wants to hire a yank. Just because Fulham has had American players in the past doesn't mean that they want an American manager. The whole bit seems speculative-by-association and without basis in fact.
Coaching Aston Villa and failing would do nothing to diminish Bradley's future opportunities in MLS. Those will always be there. Succeeding at AV though is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If he gets it he has to take it.
@ Matt, if the USMNT coach fails at a lower league club don't you think it'd be rolled out as even more proof that all American coaches are rubbish.
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