By Garry Cook
In the 1990/91 season Crystal Palace finished third in the league, behind champions Arsenal and runners-up Liverpool.
Do you find this inspiring? Palace had only won promotion to England’s top flight two season’s previously.
They had taken the league by storm – and Steve Coppell was the man inspiring them.
He built a super-fast young side, spearheaded by Ian Wright, which caught the rest of the football establishment off-side. I remember thinking at the time, just months after Graham Taylor succeeded Bobby Robson as manager of England, that Steve Coppell should be the next England manager. What a good idea.
Truly inspirational
That was 15 years ago. Football has changed a lot since then. Many of Steve Coppell’s contemporaries of that time have long since retired. But he is still around. And he is still pretty good.
Now with Reading, he has achieved much the same with his current club as he did with Palace a decade-and-a-half ago.
The days of winning promotion and then hitting the top three in the Premiership are long gone in British football, but Coppell’s achievements in keeping John Madejski’s club in decent Premiership fettle, not to mention last season’s record-breaking points haul in the Championship, should not be undervalued. Inspired enough yet?
He clearly knows his football, probably more so now than he did twenty-two years ago when he first began his managerial career.
So the question is: An Englishman, fantastic experience as a boss, motivational ability to get the best out of his squad, uncontroversial and (seemingly) no skeletons in the closet – why was Steve Coppell not considered for the England job?
If you don’t find Steve Coppell inspirational, perhaps that’s the problem.
I agree that he is not the most inspiring choice – but is that the point. The point is: he can do the job and he is infinitely better than those who were considered as Sven Goran Eriksson’s replacement.
Steve McClaren got it. Awful season with Middlesbrough rescued by UEFA Cup run.
Sam Allardyce was in the running. Kept Bolton in the Premiership. One promotion via play-offs (inherited a team that was already Championship-winning standard).
Stuart Pearce was being touted. Manchester City boss had less than 12 months experience. Who in their right mind would tout him? Even Pearce agrees.
In my opinion, it all comes down to your face fitting. Coppell’s face clearly does not fit with the media. The British press have never heralded Coppell and the FA, however much they deny it, will not consider someone who does not have a high enough media profile.
So that means that inexperienced guys like McClaren and Pearce are considered for the role of England manager.
What problems would Coppell bring to England?
He does not come across as a talismanic, charismatic speaker and leader. But so what? He can clearly handle players. He has them playing for him, he inspires them somehow.
His experience would surely mean that he was unlikely to f*** it up, produce weird formations when the pressure is gets too much or pick inexperienced 16-year-olds for World Cup squads.
No, people, Steve Coppell would do a good job, not create inappropriate headlines and get the best out of the players he has at his disposal. And how long is it since we had an England boss who could do that?
I don’t believe it - Coppell’s history.
Coppell managed Palace for nine years (1984-1993, winning the Zenith Data Systems Cup, reaching the FA Cup Final) and returned to the club for eight months (1995-96), then again for a season (1997-98, winning promotion via the play-offs). Then he made a fourth appearance as manager over 18 months from 1999-2000.
His many unhappy returns to Selhurst Park never quite equaled his glory-filled first 442-game stint. In fact, sandwiched in between his four spells at the club was a bizarre six game run at Manchester City which was most memorable for the broken-man look Coppell displayed when he quit.
But the former England striker dusted himself down and gradually rebuilt his reputation as Brentford (54 games) Brighton (49 games) and eventually Reading, where he remains today having guided the club into the Premiership for the first time in their history.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Monday, November 13, 2006
The Amazing Mike Newell of Luton Town
Mike Newell, female officials and an apology to die for.
By Garry Cook
I have just been watching TV Gold that was Mike Newell live from Luton Town's training ground apologising for his sexist comments at the weekend.
Newell, if you remember, gave female official Amy Rayner a bashing after his side lost 3-2 at home to QPR on Saturday (November 11, 2006).
The former Everton and Blackburn Rovers striker was incensed over some of Rayner's decisions as a linesman in the match.
This is what he said in full: "She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that.
"We have a problem in this country with political correctness, and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom.
"It is absolutely beyond belief. When do we reach a stage when all officials are women, because then we are in trouble?
"It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have, but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems.
"This is Championship football. This is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically-correct idiots."
'I know that sounds sexist, I am sexist'! It's great stuff if you like a laugh, but Newell has been hit hard for his comments.
Not only did his Luton board call an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss his comments but every paper and news channel has had a field day.
Hence the decision by Newell to do a live interview on Sky Sports News to publicly apologise.
Problem was, Sky Sports had done their research and what followed was the type of cringing hatchet job which Jeremy Paxman would have been proud of.
Basically, Newell was apologising for his comments, but when pressed he admitted that he still believed in what he had said. In journalistic terms, this is a weakness and the interviewer kept pushing the point, repeatedly asking the same question (just using different words).
And when Newell had become over-irritated with those questions he was then given the opportunity to become over-irritated with questions about his other comments criticising the Luton board.
He had said things like the club had gone backwards, the chairman's decisions had been awful and he had been promised funds that did not materialise. The Sky man had it all written down. "You might hit me for this question, but will you still be in a job by Saturday?" asked the Sky man. The questions came at Newell like a flurry of Amir Khan jabs.
And Newell was all over the place. His eyes were rolling, he was stuttering. He was laughing in frustration. "I'm only here to apologise about what I said, not discuss the ins and outs of it," he kept repeating.
What we learned about Newell, apart from the fact that him and his chairman obviously can't stand the sight of each other, is that Newell is someone to respect.
Not only does he tell it like he see it, his views are also considered - even if you disagree with him about female officials in men's football.
Newell has impressed me down the years. He's done a fabulous job at Luton Town. He was doing great at Hartlepool.
He is obviously a determined man. He worked for several years as a scout for Blackpool Football Club. I have seen him not only at League matches, but also at Premiership reserve matches and non-League grounds - at UniBond League games - quietly watching players, doing the groundwork. Hardwork.
And then there was the bung comments. Seemingly a quiet man who would not actively court the limelight, Newell was the first manager to speak openly about bungs in football. For that alone I see him as a pioneer.
To criticise the sport when many clubs, chairman, managers and agents are indulging in illegal practices was quiet incredible. In this area football is something of a closed shop and his chances of getting a job at the highest level could yet be restricted because of his honesty.
Newell has spoken out against bad practices in football, had a go at his own bosses whne they gone back on their word and voiced his opinions on women officials in professional football.
But it is honesty which resonates with me. Clearly he has decent values. He must be applauded.
I salute the bloke.
By Garry Cook
I have just been watching TV Gold that was Mike Newell live from Luton Town's training ground apologising for his sexist comments at the weekend.
Newell, if you remember, gave female official Amy Rayner a bashing after his side lost 3-2 at home to QPR on Saturday (November 11, 2006).
The former Everton and Blackburn Rovers striker was incensed over some of Rayner's decisions as a linesman in the match.
This is what he said in full: "She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that.
"We have a problem in this country with political correctness, and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom.
"It is absolutely beyond belief. When do we reach a stage when all officials are women, because then we are in trouble?
"It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have, but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems.
"This is Championship football. This is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically-correct idiots."
'I know that sounds sexist, I am sexist'! It's great stuff if you like a laugh, but Newell has been hit hard for his comments.
Not only did his Luton board call an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss his comments but every paper and news channel has had a field day.
Hence the decision by Newell to do a live interview on Sky Sports News to publicly apologise.
Problem was, Sky Sports had done their research and what followed was the type of cringing hatchet job which Jeremy Paxman would have been proud of.
Basically, Newell was apologising for his comments, but when pressed he admitted that he still believed in what he had said. In journalistic terms, this is a weakness and the interviewer kept pushing the point, repeatedly asking the same question (just using different words).
And when Newell had become over-irritated with those questions he was then given the opportunity to become over-irritated with questions about his other comments criticising the Luton board.
He had said things like the club had gone backwards, the chairman's decisions had been awful and he had been promised funds that did not materialise. The Sky man had it all written down. "You might hit me for this question, but will you still be in a job by Saturday?" asked the Sky man. The questions came at Newell like a flurry of Amir Khan jabs.
And Newell was all over the place. His eyes were rolling, he was stuttering. He was laughing in frustration. "I'm only here to apologise about what I said, not discuss the ins and outs of it," he kept repeating.
What we learned about Newell, apart from the fact that him and his chairman obviously can't stand the sight of each other, is that Newell is someone to respect.
Not only does he tell it like he see it, his views are also considered - even if you disagree with him about female officials in men's football.
Newell has impressed me down the years. He's done a fabulous job at Luton Town. He was doing great at Hartlepool.
He is obviously a determined man. He worked for several years as a scout for Blackpool Football Club. I have seen him not only at League matches, but also at Premiership reserve matches and non-League grounds - at UniBond League games - quietly watching players, doing the groundwork. Hardwork.
And then there was the bung comments. Seemingly a quiet man who would not actively court the limelight, Newell was the first manager to speak openly about bungs in football. For that alone I see him as a pioneer.
To criticise the sport when many clubs, chairman, managers and agents are indulging in illegal practices was quiet incredible. In this area football is something of a closed shop and his chances of getting a job at the highest level could yet be restricted because of his honesty.
Newell has spoken out against bad practices in football, had a go at his own bosses whne they gone back on their word and voiced his opinions on women officials in professional football.
But it is honesty which resonates with me. Clearly he has decent values. He must be applauded.
I salute the bloke.
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