pat was and still is a legend of a player for our club. but that's where it stops.
ideally you'd want someone for the role who is competent and who loves the club but unfortunately pat is very single minded and would only do it for the right money, nothing else which would mean we'd be looking for someone else in a couple of years. he'd offer no longetivity.
Three reasons, possibly erroneous.Originally Posted by Synti Claus
1. That the player is 'coming home'. Fans have a ready-made affection for ex-players and feel that because you've worn the shirt you're one of us, plus the idea that the player himself reciprocates those feels.
2. That a player will coach or manage in the style that they played. So fans imagine Bergkamp coaching our kids how to do all the little pirouettes, flicks and play the Ajax way. And they imagine Vieira teaching them how to destroy the opponent and make blockbusting runs upfield.
Yet for every positive example (Laudrup coaching technical passing football) there is a counter example, George Graham (nicknamed 'The Stroller' for his languid, creative style) coached a much more pragmatic defensive style.
3. That they will be as good a coach as they were a player. While there are notable examples (Mancini, Pep), the majority of top coaches had only very modest footballing careers.
As Arrigo Sacchi once famously said: "I did not realise that to be a jockey, one has to have been born a horse". His point was that imparting skills and knowledge is a completely different ability to their application.
Most players have no idea how they do what they do and would make terrible managers.
They are sound reasons but point 3 is about a gazillion times more important than the first two. And that was my point. I would go as far as to say truly great, naturally gifted players (bergkamp is in that bracket, Vieira might miss out) are unlikely to make good coaches because they have something you can't teach. It's harder for them to identify with players who are struggling with their game because it all came naturally to them.
I think we need ex players around the club just so we can keep what little is left of our identity. It was bad enough that we shipped out the old veterans so quickly and went for youth over experience, I feel we'd be making the same mistake if we started to do the same with our coaching staff. At Board level it seems as though PHW is the only one left that has a connection to the Highbury years. As much as a git he is it's better than nothing at all. I wouldn't want Stan running things without proper Arsenal people to consult. Wenger has to look into the coaching side of things and starting passing off duties to his coaching staff.
PnG I'm not sure Vieira should count as a figure in the 'identity' of the club. Probably not even PHW...does he really care? (Genuine question. You'd think so but his behaviour suggests otherwise). You see Henry in and around training and there was a picture with him, Arteta and Cazorla in the dressing room (no homo. Unfortunately.) and you get the feeling he is making an active effort to stay involved. There may be others like Adams who weren't offered a role and were frozen out a bit - and that's probably wrong. But at the same time, we can't invent fake roles like Man City (club ambassador...wtf?) and keep our legends on the payroll. We already have a problem of paying out to staff who have no function.
Yes, because both have a great pedigree in management.
Being great players doesn't mean they'll be great managers.
As said earlier, I'm against Vieira coming back but would like to see more ex players that care for the club involved. Bergkamp I'm all for.
both, or any other ex player, could be completely useless but the interesting thing with Dennis is his progression through a few different levels at ajax through to assisting De Boer with the first team.
That's why I want Dennis to come back here. Wenger was inspired by the Ajax, Total Football philosophy and their youth development system. Cryuff took what he learned there and imported it over to Barca when he was coach. Wishful thinking but it would be great if Dennis could do something similar here.
presuming vieira can coach and at a level good enough for us, i would take him back. forget some things he may have said or done as he wasnt working for arsenal then (some people on here were willing to take cashley back). if he were to be a good coach plus have the history behind him as part of the invicibles and the 1st part of wengers jigsaw this can only be a good thing. people want to be around good players whether they are coaches or not. They have an aura and command respect. They are also a show to the yoof that you can reach the heights of these great players one day. who better to show them the way than one of the invincibles. BUT AS LONG AS HE CAN COACH.
If they were all good coaches i would love to have people like jens, keown, viera and bergy back. Bergkamp is the one though i would vote for out of all of them
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