http://soccer.nbcsports.com/2016/09/26/bob-bradley-to-take-over-at-swansea-city/ probably wrong thread but it's a pretty popular place. Can get some good discussion going on where Bradley's future coming to. whether he will get Le Havre promoted this season or next? And should he jump at whatever chance he gets from a club in a top3 league?
I would say he is at the point in his career that getting the cash might be a good way to go. I know I would certainly consider it.
Was gonna look for the Bob Bradley the Sky's the Limit thread but this new thread will suffice... He's at Le Havre trying to get them promoted as a springboard to a top league. If Swansea comes knocking and offers him the job he should take it. They're struggling right now but they're a solid team with some talent. Their a regular Mid Table EPL team since their return to the top flight.
the danger of taking a club fighting relegation is he could easily be fired after say 5 or 6 losses (so basically within 2 months and probably never get another PL chance again)
I'm not sure they actually do have the talent. They've been a regular mid-table team in England, but many prognosticators picked them to really struggle. If I was Bradley I'd take the job (no brainer really), but its a really tough proposition.
Dude they have some talent... Fernando Llorente Sigurdsson Jefferson Montero Leroy Fer That is some good attacking talent with players like Wayne Routledge and Nathan Dyer providing adequate depth. They have Fabianski in the net as a solid keeper. Their defense could use some improvements but Angel Rangel and Neil Taylor are solid outside backs. This isn't a relegation bound team because of talent. They're struggling to start the season but the talent is there to turn it around.
He's a small shareholder so I seriously doubt he's a driving force behind it. I'm sure they'll ask him what he thinks of bob tho. But the ownership group is American and that's where this really tracks back to.
He'll probably never get a PL chance if he doesn't take it (if it's offered). Barring an American ownership group, the only way Bob's getting to a Euro 1st division is promotion.
Swansea is majority owned by American Jason Levien, who is also an owner of DC United. The English press (if they're to be believed) are reporting that its Jason that's driving the meeting with Bradley. It may not happen, of course, but Swansea is just the type of club that might roll the dice on an American coach. I just think its a pretty tough gig right now. Let's not forget that Swansea were in the relegation zone last January before Guidolin guided them out of it. They have a pretty small squad. This past summer they sold a bunch of their better players (Ashley Williams, Andrew Ayew, etc.) and replaced them with question marks & the aging Llorente. Lots of folks have predicted real struggles for them this season. [Of course these are the same people that predicted Leicester would get relegated last season.] https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/aug/10/premier-league-previews-2016-17-swansea-city Yes, they have some talented players. Every club in the premier league has talented players. Bradley may not get this kind of offer again, so he should seriously consider it if Swansea decides to roll the dice on him. But seeing as they've had 7 managers since 2009, his stay probably won't be very long. They were in the relegation zone in the second half of last year, Guidolin guided them to safety, and he's already on the chopping block! What's wrong with Guidolin? I don't know......................................
I say this as a member of his generation: It's getting late to consider passing up a Prem opportunity. If he gets the shot, he'll have to take it, or accept that he's had a hell of a career, but it is unlikely to include managing in the Prem. Also, while it's true they've churned through managers, it hasn't necessarily been a bad thing for those managers. They've generally left on their own and for better gigs (in fact, a who's who of the stylish Prem managers): Martinez, Sousa, Rodgers, Laudrup are four. It's not bad. I'm not sure the Swansea wouldn't give him the money to rebuild a bit in January. They do have ambition, but so do the players and managers who've left for bigger clubs. All this aside, can American owners hire an American manager? I think Bradley would quiet the terraces pretty quickly, but there would be an immediate and strong reaction against homer-ism, and to bring in less than a name manager (they are fighting relegation, and Big Sam is suddenly available, and he doesn't get relegated). IMO, it would be an easier sell if the owner were English, or Russian or anywhere else.
I wish someone was smart enough make Bradley the head of our entire youth program. I remember him when he coached youth club teams. I thought he was a fantastic youth coach.
...but would it happen if the owners were English, Russian or anything else? The status-quo of European sports is not as prone to chance-taking as American sports. That is why you see the same names frequently recycled. That is why players almost never move directly to managerial jobs without "apprenticing" under an established manager for a few years first. American sports are different in that respect. It's why minority head coaches in the NFL spread so quickly, although the NFL is as reluctant as Europe to hire players straight off the playing field. This happens more in the NBA where there are fewer moving parts and more can be gleamed through playing. I just don't see a typical EPL ownership taking a chance on any manager who isn't European or South American until a nation from outside those two regions wins a World Cup. Some exceptions might be made for former African Footballers who played extensively in Europe, have European passports and apprentice for years under a well-known coach but even this is no guarantee. There is a steep hierarchy in European leagues. With the threat of relegation, money, league standing, UCL, Europa League, and other things in the balance, the risk of picking an unconventional manager is hard to gauge for Europeans not used to making such leaps. I'd say that only an American owner and management would be willing to do it. And I also think that an American ownership group would be willing to make unconventional hires that don't involve Americans at all. Were licensing not an issue, we'd probably see an American ownership group consider former players straight-off, or even immediately after completing their license without any requisite experience. We might also see an American ownership take an Asian or African coach simply to generate interest or because they felt that the individual in question had a unique understanding of the sport which could give them an advantage. I once thought that, maybe, a Middle-Eastern ownership might make unconventional moves when they began to invest in the sport, but they have typically been as conservative in their hiring as other owners. Even more-so as they usually only hire established names and have promoted no "apprenticed" managers in Man City or PSG for example. There is the school of thought that the bigger European clubs have such a collection of World-Class players that it's difficult to manage the personalities without a resume that "qualifies" you in their eyes. But Barca is one of the few European clubs that actually does consistently promote managers from within, however, the players usually already know the man and are comfortable playing under him.
The UEFA pro license course lasts 18 months, and is required for anyone managing a club for more than something like three months. To qualify for that, you need the B then the A first. Standards are a good thing, right? So, the reality is that licensing is a huge issue, and maybe one of the primary ones. Look at Zidane, IMO the greatest player of the last 20 years ( though that's a debate no one would argue he wasn't one of the true greats). he retired, bopped around the world being a legend and head butting folks for charity, then in 2013 decided he wanted back in the game as a manager. He tried to speed it up, but was suspended for managing without the proper badges. He got the thing in 2015 and it wasn't long after that he was managing RMad. Now, to me that's pretty damn swift.
Former pro players are enabled by the licensing board to speed through the courses at a faster rate than regular coaches because of their expensive playing careers. My brother took his UEFA B or A (can't remember which) with Carlo Cudicini and he kinda spelled out how it worked for former players. They get to skip some steps.
Did you know when Franz Beckenbauer managed the German men's national team to a World Cup championship in 1990. He did not have a coaching license then.
Did the Pro exist at that point? Were the regs in place? This was a 2003 thing, and those with 10 years experience got something out of the deal. But yeah, others have managed as well. Grant managed Chelsea without his badges. He did not need them, he might have said.
It's too much a part of their mindset to look down on Americans as ignorant, to accept an American manager. I was listening to the SportTalk morning show and they were discussing the article written by the golfer's brother, belittling American golf fans. The host said "well he didn't say anything that wasn't true." It would be hard for them to swallow having an American manager in the PL, when there are so few English ones that they are down to Pardew and Bruce as leading candidates for England manager job. Come on Swans, set your prejudices aside and hire the best manager available. I know Giggs is a hometown hero, but all he's ever been is a clipboard holder.
The Swansea speculation is pretty hot down there. Love this Bradley about himself quote: "When I have the chance to observe different managers, the ones that do good work, I mention Mauricio Pochettino, Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel who took over from Klopp at Dortmund. I will tell you what, maybe I'm stupid, but I think I'm a manager in and around that level." They've got several stories about Bradley, in fact. I mean, there is no candidate as the current manager is the current manager, but he's making sounds as if he's on his way out, and the papers are focusing on Bob as a primary suspect for a replacement. Big Sam, of course, is getting mentions at 8/1, which are tempting odds.
This isn't exactly revolutionary though. His playing career ended in 2006. It's not like they hired him straight off the pitch. What you'll never see a typical European owner doing is; say Messi retires this year, decides to to go immediately to get his licensing and gets hired to manage Atletico Madrid within 3 years of his retirement. Maybe I'm mis-remembering how quickly guys like Danny Ainge or Byron Scott got coaching jobs after they retired, but I know for a fact that Avery Johnson was handed the head coaching position of the Dallas Mavericks almost immediately after he retired. Granted, he was already pretty old by them, but still. Even Zidane was a junior coach in Real's system for a few years. American ownerships simply might have bypassed that step altogether. The question is, is this closer to meritocracy or quasi-nepotism? It could be argued both ways... I do believe that having standards are a good thing for certain circumstances, especially for countries still developing their football infrastructure. It ensure that tactics being used are up to world-class standards and hopefully limits stagnation. But UEFA licensing hasn't stopped the de-evolution, or perhaps merely lack of evolution, of English tactics to the point that the top clubs in the EPL would be hard-pressed to touch an English manager. Many leagues in UEFA are entrenched with enough good tacticians that merely playing under and subsequently assisting under one of them for a year or two should suffice. The licensing could bee seen as redundant in those cases. So, to me, it makes sense that former pro players get fast-tracked providing that he proves capable. It's almost like clepping college courses, if you already know the material, why waste time and resources "learning" it. In the words of Will, some people just know how to play... Not saying that it's a good or bad thing. Football, simply due to the sheer number of teams in the world, is inherently more competitive due to a larger pool of people involved in the sport who want the best jobs. Increasing standards is a common means of weeding through large pools of applicants. Such things are done here in the States with desirable public professions like being a firefighter-paramedic, for instance.