THE appointment of Ian Cathro as Hearts' new Head Coach
is an exciting development. Cathro is clearly the future of coaching
in this country. He has, since his first faltering steps in coaching
on Tayside been an innovator. He has had a rapid rise and I would
dearly love to see him succeed.
He is perhaps in the right place at Tynecastle. Craig
Levein was the first person t realise, Cathro had the X-factor, so,
he will support him, while Anne Budge is anything but the
stereotypical Scottish club owner, she too will cut him the necessary
slack when he makes the mistakes which every tyro coach makes.
His problems I feel, lie elsewhere. For a start, will
the Hearts fans buy into the Cathro way. They want to see Hearts up
there challenging the Old Firm for the major prizes; they want their
team in Europe; naturally, they want frequent trips to Hampden for
the big matches and to return to Gorgie with silverware. Will they
give him the time he will need to put in place the structures to
bring this about?
Then, there is the unpalatable fact – the hardest part
of coaching is getting it right on a Saturday. This includes, perhaps
THE single most-difficult skill – getting the team right. Jock
Stein, who of course operated in a very-different football planet
always said having a good team was easy, it was all a matter of
having the five players who like you having a greater impact on the
team than the five who loathed you – Big Jock never had much time
for goalkeepers, by the way.
To take an example from another code of football: former
Scotland rugby coach Andy Robinson is widely held within the handling
game as a fantastic training ground coach. Some say he had a greater
impact on the World Cup-winning England team of 2003 than had Clive
Woodward, who got his knighthood on the back of that victory.
However, when Robinson succeeded Woodward, and had to actually pick
the team, England fell to bits.
Now, to be fair, retirements, some players slipping off
the top of the hill, injuries and loss of form had an impact on
England's fall from grace, but, quite simply, Robinson couldn't cut
it at the top level.
He then came to Scotland and sorted-out Edinburgh,
without delivering trophy-winning success, then he got Scotland out
of the really bad place they had got into from the horrific Matt
Williams episode. But, he hit the brick wall and fell on his sword.
He then moved to Bristol, got them back into the
Premiership, but, was sacked earlier this season as the team failed
to kick-on.
Again in football, one of the finest coaching/management
dynasties in post-war Scottish football was McLean Brothers of
Ashgill. Jim wrought miracles with his “corner shop” in Tannadice
Street, regularly beating-up the big “supermarkets”. Tommy, the
most-celebrated player, tasted success at Motherwell and Hearts,
while oldest brother Willie did little of note at various clubs.
Indeed, I recall, during his tenure at Somerset Park, a group of
Honest Man turning-up at the opening pre-season friendly of one
particular season, against Irish non-leaguers Larne, with a huge
banner: “McLean Must Go” - this was in mid-July.
Yet, football insiders, who know their coaching, will
tell you, Willie was the best coach of the three McLean brothers.
Now, we wait to find out, will Ian Cathro be a Willie
McLean, or a Jim? Yes, between Monday morning and Friday lunch time,
he may well improve his players' skills levels and possibly their
fitness – but, can he get inside their heads and persuade them to
make the stuff which works against token opposition on the training
ground during the week, work as effectively when it matters on a
Saturday afternoon?
If he can do that, and I hope for Hearts' sake he can,
then the Gorgie club will have won, not so-much a watch as a Rolex.
There is one further piece of grit in the machine. Just
suppose he comes in, works his coaching magic, improves the players
and the product and Hearts win a trophy this season – what will
happen when the money English sides come in for their best players?
This is the great insurmountable problem for Scottish
football and Scottish teams: domestic success in Scotland, followed
by European exposure makes the players increasingly vulnerable to the
advances of richer English clubs.
Players follow the money and have to be replaced, which
puts more pressure on the coaches to replace the departed with new
talent which is just as good.
The Old Firm has always had the advantage that, they
could keep more players than the rest. OK, today, even they cannot
compete with the silly money in England, but, their players can
command enough in transfer fees to make replacement procurement
easier.
Just imagine how many more trophies Hearts might have
won had they been able to hold onto Alex Young, Ian Crawford and
most-definitely Dave Mackay, back in the day.
I HAVE known big Chris Iwelumo since he was a
16-year-old schoolboy in the St Mirren youth team. He is a smashing
big fellow, who, sadly, will forever be tarred by that miss against
Norway.
Last week, Chris was appointed assistant manager at
non-league Chester, and, I wish the big man every good fortune in his
new role. Now, Chris has an advantage over many footballers, his
brain is in his head rather than his feet. He chose to leave St
Joseph's Academy in Kilmarnock in his Fifth Year to go full-time with
the Buddies, when he could have stayed on and like his big brother
and wee sister, gone to college.
So, having a bit more intelligence than your average
player, he has a chance in management. Also, he is going in at a
fairly low level, and will surely work his way up. Of course, and it
is terrible I should require to say this, the colour of his skin
might be something of a handicap in some parts of England, but, I am
sure he can go far.
In British football, too-many former internationalists
seem to be rushed into big jobs with limited management experience,
then fail. In the much-more professional realm of North American
sport, an NFL quarterback with say, the Dallas Cowboys, does not
retire one day, and the next is appointed Head Coach of, say the San
Francisco 49ers. No, over there, where professional sport really is
professional, a retired player will perhaps start off coaching at a
High School, then get an assistant coach's post at a small college,
then move-up to a bigger school, before becoming a Head Coach.
If he cuts it in college ball, he will be given a chance
in the big show, after which, he can retire in some comfort to
Florida. Coaches over there are allowed to develop, not flung to the
wolves in a big job, too soon – which pretty-much brings this post
back round to where we began some 1200 words ago.
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