The hostility towards managers in Scotland who do not fit the tried-and-failed formula of ex-player is holding back the country’s development.
It has to be the only time that ex-Scotland striker Kris Boyd has caught the spirit of the moment. When the ultimate throwback centre-forward wrote in his Sun column last December that new Hearts coach Ian Cathro hadn’t “been this excited since FIFA 17 came out on PlayStation”, his musings chimed with the opinion of a large, conservative element within the Scottish football community.
Apart from Boyd (or his ghostwriter) coming up with something funny, the real surprise was that a footballer, still currently playing for Kilmarnock, would criticise a coach. Boyd wrote that a “lap-top” manager with no playing experience could never command the respect of the dressing room, conveniently ignoring the example of Brendan Rodgers, who had to retire at the age of 20 and has less senior experience than any of his colleagues in all four of Scotland’s divisions.
Boyd was joined by former Motherwell player and BT Sport analyst Stephen Craigan, who spluttered live on air: “A pioneer of football? He’s a football coach. He’s not Thomas Edison, he didn’t invent the lightbulb.” And Jamie Fullarton also joined in the heckling, unimpressed with Cathro after meeting him nine years previously.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2017-Ausgabe von When Saturday Comes.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2017-Ausgabe von When Saturday Comes.
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