RICH PEOPLE-can’t live with them, can’t live without them and dealing with their whims demand a ton of restraint. Those with the money call the shots and in football, coaches are the ones who suffer the consequences.
There are occupational hazards aligned with every job and for top coaches, dealing with such whims from wealthy people is what they signed up for.
On the bright side, getting spurned by wealthy club owners means a hefty financial compensation comes next which to be honest, is a situation billions and billions of people on this planet would wish to be in.
It is clear the rule is for coaches or managers to not be too nosy or too powerful in football club’s hierarchy. The message seemingly being sent out from club owners and directors to coaches is for the latter group to just do their just job and go home.
To every rule, there is an exception and per recent happenings and though the aforementioned issue is happening across board, one man whose influence and winning run makes him a surefire candidate for The GOAT tag in coaching is the exception and that coach is Pep Guardiola.
But until a coach gains promotion from a club’s academy to the main team and sacks the iconic Ronaldinho in one of several sweeping moves, that coach doesn’t have the clout to demand more power in player personnel like Pep.
Letting Deco leave and only keeping Samuel Eto’o around for just a year due to an impending deal falling through but going on to dominate club football gave Guardiola the absolute right and power to be a key stakeholder in decision making on the playing body.
Even in the face of some poor signings like Kalvin Phillips, Claudio Bravo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mario Gotze made over the years, Guardiola continues to enjoy supreme input on player signings and departures everywhere he goes because his trophy winning rate is quite overwhelming.
Aside the Spanish trainer, practically no coach gets this type of privilege. Mauricio Pochettino’s sudden availability is largely down to this which inadvertently increases the heat on Erik Ten Hag’s seat as Manchester United manager.
The Dutch coach looked to be in a great spot to be retained as Man United manager largely due to the lack of top options on the market but that has sharply changed. Roberto De Zerbi quit as Brighton and Hove Albion manager, Massimiliano Allegri got sacked by Juventus and Mauricio Pochettino suddenly became an option after walking away from the Chelsea Project.
Despite a brilliant finish to close out the season after a very rocky start to life at Stamford Bridge and sealing an European spot for The Blues, Pochettino left his role after falling out with Chelsea’s owners and technical directors.
A loss in the FA Cup Final against Manchester City or even winning the FA Cup without an impressive outing could very possibly shunt Ten Hag out the Old Trafford door.
Beyond repercussions on Ten Hag’s future, Pochettino’s departure is the latest piece of information that signals a strong push by club shot callers to underline their power and indirectly put coaches in their place.
Pochettino wanted more say in Chelsea’s signings particularly on the club’s love affair with signing young largely inexperienced players at the expense of established players with significant experience.
Signing young Brazilian Estevao who isn’t even eligible to play for Chelsea until 2025, broke the camel’s back. Clearly unwilling to budge on their stance of signing players young and have them develop into big stars with value way more than the price they got bought for (a very business-savvy move), Chelsea’s top brass let Pochettino go for his consistent discontent. Essentially, Poch got kicked out for trying to be something more than a coach.
The same fate befell another coach who worked at Chelsea under the Todd Boehly administration who coincidentally is another candidate rumoured to be in the Manchester United sweepstakes. Thomas Tuchel was billed to continue Bayern Munich’s dominance in the Bundesliga but that fell horribly flat despite making a semifinal berth in the UEFA Champions League.
However, Tuchel wasn’t even supposed to be in this position after leading Chelsea to their second Champions League title win but the Russia-Ukraine war happened and Chelsea got affected forcing Roman Abramovic to put the team up for sale.
That cleared the way for the Boehly led group to take over but in a strange twist of fate, the opposite of Pochettino’s situation took place and Tuchel got sacked because all he wanted to do was coach and not be a spokesperson for a club going through a lot of turmoil off the pitch.
Tuchel is German and Jurgen Klopp another top German coach, said goodbye to Anfield after a nine year run that deserves more credit than it gets.
For Klopp, his exit is quite the opposite of Tuchel’s but more in line with Pochettino’s as the charismatic coach sought influence over playing personnel but apparently wasn’t getting it following the return of Sporting Director Michael Edwards.
Edwards return altered the structure of power sharing regarding decisions on player purchases that went amiss in his absence. His excellent run of signing players like Gigi Wijnaldum, Mohammed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Fabinho and Allison Becker meant he was always going to get the backing of Liverpool’s owners-Fenway Sports Group.
This power play led to Klopp’s shock announcement to end his stay at Anfield. Just as club priorities change, coaches should do same and those who don’t either get axed or walk away from all that prestige and everything that comes with it.