Post: #1

http://www.canada.com/sports/2nddivision...story.html


Basically, the second division soccer club, Clermont,hired a Portuguese woman to manage the team for the upcoming season.

She has some credentials like coaching the Iran female team, and an amateur club that ended first in their division, and internship with Jose Mourinho, the well known soccer coach.

Everyone on the planet is congratulating her, claiming it's a great advance in sports, etc etc.

However, how many of them are truly sincere? And not just remaining PC in their interviews?

She has been slapping us with the word " skills", hoping she will be judged from there only.

For me, the president of the club only wanted to create some publicity ( which he will get, indeed) and get some money. You may call soccer "soft", compared to american football or rugby, but I wonder how will the team obey to her. Will she get to see them naked in the locker rooms? Will they dare to crack some crude jokes in her presence? Will they just remain as masculine as they were previously?

For me this is more of a bad decision than a good one.

And you, what do you think? Can we only hope this will happen in the NBA or the NFL , for example?

Post: #2

This is bullshit, many teams win games because of a good coach, and many win games despite of the coach.

Maradona once told the press that they won the ´86 world cup because they didnt listen to Bilardo.

So this is just for the show.

Post: #3

On second thought, futbol players are pussies so they´ll listen her advice on moisturizing creams and what hair salon does she goes to.

Post: #4

There is a wider problem.

It is unfair that the world of football management is limited to ex-professionals. Even though the greatest of all time - Jose Mourinho - was never a pro footballer. [Sidenote: I predict Mourinho will go down in history as the best]

And even though Sven Goran Eriksson and Arsene Wenger were pretty unsuccessful footballers. Brendan Rodgers (at Liverpool) is a more recent example of an unsuccessful footballer doing well in management.

It is silly that 99.999% of the world's talent is locked out of football. It makes no sense. Regularly I see football journalists (who never played football) offering more insightful opinions bout a match than the ex-footballers in the studio.

And it is common to see some of the best players of all time go on to become poor managers.

So - aside from having more women as managers - I think a more interesting issue would be to have managers from outside the field of football. It is silly that it is expected that you be an ex-pro before you get a chance at management. That is like saying you had to have once been a bookseller - if you wanted to run Amazon. Or had to have been a Coke salesman if you wanted to run Coca-Cola.

Indeed - I think the next big innovation in football - will be when teams start to experiment with having people from outside the world of football become managers.

But there is a big snag. Footballers are cunts. And rich ones at that.

As such - they regularly withdraw their efforts if they are not happy with the manager. And will happily leave a club if they are unable to force the removal of an unpopular manager.

This is pretty different to every other business. Where the expectation is that you follow the bosses orders and try your hardest.

Otherwise you may not be able to pay the rent next month.

As such - I am unsure if people outside of football would ever be given a fair chance by the players. And the same equally applies to any women entering management.

Judging the strength of a manager is very difficult. Especially since there is a very strong correlation in football between the wage bill and success on the pitch. But on top of that - footballers are fickle creatures. And too often they are prepared to sabotage the manager than give their all. Which is something that recently happened with David Moyes and Man United.

So - watch this space. It will be interesting to see which prejudice is stronger. The prejudice against women or the prejudice against those outside of football. I suspect it will be the latter. But irregardless - there are too many confounding variables in football to ever allow women to be a success at the top level. Even if they have the talent to do it. Whatever that means - since I think the importance of the football manager is incredibly overrated as it happens.

Post: #5

^ Mourinho will never do down as the best cardguy mate, at least not playing that boring, negative football. I'm not a hater, I think he's a cool dude and he was my choice for United after SAF retired...not long term, but just because he has the shoulders to be the 'man who followed Fergie'.

Moreover, people from outside football will never become managers. Because "manager" is just a British term for what everywhere else calls "coach". How the hell is a bank manager going to become an elite football coach, I don't understand your logic there?

Post: #6

Well - look at Alan Shearer.

Brilliant footballer.

And terrible pundit.

And his punditry is so poor - that I am sure he would be a poor manager.

And we have evidence he was a poor manager - since he helped get NUFC relegated.

I would back myself (and many others) to be a better manager than him.

I will never know for sure. But Shearer will - since he could easily walk into another managing job in football.

Cardguy

PS My first act as manager would be to explain my legendary "Shoot To Miss Theory". Whenever your side takes the lead - you spend the rest of the game deliberately missing the opposition's goal. There is no better way of defending a lead - than to continually pin the opposition in their own half as they repeatedly take one goal kick after another.

Post: #7

You gotta play the game at a high level to know what you're doing Cardguy. It doesn't matter if you went pro or not, but at least you need to have played at a high level to have the confidence of the organization. For that initial respect to be there, credentials are a must

Post: #8

Mourinho is the boss. IDK why people says he plays "boring" football. The man is a pragmatist and I rather watch his team than say a pep guardiola team.

Post: #9

Very very bad move to have a female coach a men team! This can only turn into a fiasco.

As to Mourinho being the greatest football coach, that's the biggest joke I've heard this week. Anyone saying Moumou is the best coach ever is either too young to know any better, a Portuguese or one with very limited knowledge about football.

The guy is the greatest clown tough I give you that.

Post: #10

I am not a Mourinho fanboy. I just think he is young enough that he will probably end his career having won the Champions League at about 6 or 7 different clubs.

And that would be a hell of a record that would stand up against anyone else's. Particularly when you consider that Alex Ferguson was one penalty kick away from having won the same number of Champions Leagues as Avram Grant!

Post: #11

^ Avram Grant has none, Ferguson would still have the one from '99.

Post: #12

lol - you misread what I wrote! Maybe I wasn't very clear.

I was just repeating my observation that if John Terry had scored that penalty - then Ferguson and Avram Grant would each have won 1 Champions League.

I always find that an interesting thing to consider.

Post: #13

Ah yeah, I understand now.

Post: #14

Quote:Helena Costa: Female coach decides not to fulfil Clermont role

Helena Costa has decided not to take up the role of head coach at Clermont Foot next season, the French club say.

Portuguese Costa, 36, had been the highest-profile female manager to be put in charge of a men's team in European football when she was appointed in May.

Club president Claude Michy said she had "decided not to honour her commitments".

"This decision was sudden and surprising," he added.

The reasons for Costa's decision have not yet been made known.

Prior to accepting the job at second-tier club Clermont, Costa was coach of the Iran women's team and had also worked as a scout for Celtic and a youth coach at Benfica in Portugal.

Costa's appointment had been celebrated as a watershed moment for women in football.
Costa in short

Born in Alhandra, Portugal, on 15 April 1978, Costa has a Uefa A licence coaching qualification and a Masters degree in sports science.

She helped Benfica's youth team to second place in their national championship in 2005 before going on to combine the role with spells in charge of Cheleirense men's team and the Sociedade Uniao 1 Dezembro and Odivelas women's sides.

Costa left Benfica when she took over the Qatar women's team in 2010 and took charge of their Iranian counterparts side in 2012. She left Iran in September last year.

"The decision will help the club enter a new era," Clermont said in a statement at the time. The club was praised by French women's minister Najat Belkacem for "understanding that giving a place to women is the future of professional football".

Before Costa was unveiled at Clermont, the highest-profile female coach of a men's team in Europe was Carolina Morace, who took charge of Italian Serie C1 team Viterbese for two matches in 1999.

"I deeply regret this situation," Michy said in a statement. "I thank all those who have supported me. The operation of the club will continue to prepare for the new season."

Speaking after she was named Clermont coach, Costa insisted she was "not afraid" of coaching a men's team. "If I didn't think I'm capable of this, I wouldn't be here," she said.

She had also expressed hope that her appointment would "open doors" for other female coaches to work in men's football.
C
osta began her career at Benfica from 1997, spending 13 years at the Lisbon club. She then took charge of Portuguese lower-league men's team Cheleirense, where she won the Lisbon regional championship in 2006.

She went on to guide Portuguese women's side Sociedade Uniao 1 Dezembro to two league titles in 2007 and 2008, winning qualification into the Women's Champions League.

Costa led Qatar's women to their first international victory, a 4-1 win over Maldives in 2012, but was unsuccessful in her attempt to guide Iran to a debut appearance at the 2015 Women's World Cup finals.

She had been set to replace former Montpellier midfielder Regis Brouard at Clermont. The club finished 14th in Ligue 2 last season.

Seems like the hamster put an end to this experiment.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27984653

Post: #15

(05-10-2014 01:56 PM)Teedub Wrote:  ^ How the hell is a bank manager going to become an elite football coach, I don't understand your logic there?

I introduce to you, Maurizio Sarri...

Quote:He is a former banker who for years combined working in amateur football with his day job as a foreign currency trader.

The international reputation he now enjoys has been built slowly and steadily from humble beginnings in the eighth tier of Italian football, almost 30 years ago.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46473490