Glenn Hoddle. Did so well for himself as a player. Did quite good at Chelsea in the mid '90s-got things going for the team. Was doing good with the national team untill.....well, you know... Did quite well for himself at Southampton. Then he comes back to Spurs and it all goes to pot. What happened?
I actually feel for him--well somewhat anyways--as i always thought of him as a decent manager. How many out there thought that those summer signings would finally get it going for the yids? I must admit i did.
Their summer signings strengthened their offense, but they didn't bring in anyone to strengthen their defense, did they? Is the South African they brought in a defender? Their defense was their weakest position last year. IIRC, they had the third worst defense in the Premiership last season. Only Sunderland and West Brom allowed more goals. Anyway, who do you think will replace Hoddle? Roeder maybe?
His main failing was a lack of man management skill, partly in motivating the players and also in being able to stomach having leaders in the team. I think in some ways he tried too hard, he wanted it to be his team and the players to play exactly the way he wanted and in his style. Therefore he refused to accept anyone else's opinion and did not reward commitment on a par with talent or treat players he felt were beneath him with respect. The real weakness of the team was our mental strength, team spirit and also the complete lack of a tackling midfielder. That's why we leak goals and collapsed in games against inferior but pumped up opposition, i.e. Fulham etc.. That's not to say that we needed to turn ourselves into some kind of 80's Wimbledon, but we needed a bit more grit in midfield to go with the style, Hoddle didn't seem to want that. If your midfield can't tackle, then you will suffer in the Premiership. The best and most consistent teams have a strong centre - ManYoo, A*senal, even Chelski now have Makalele, Geremi, Petit and have taught Lampard how to tackle. Towards the end Hodd's tactics also went down the toilet, I assume out of desperation. I think Glenn would be much better off now getting a coaching job abroad, maybe in France or Spain. I can imagine him fitting in well over there and achieving great things with a club. He has talent, he just needs to take a lesson from someone like Ferguson and I suppose Wenger *spits* on how important it is to keep learning and to be able to have strong characters in your team. Good luck Glenn.
I think Spurs (for Hodd) was THE team he had to succeed at. That was why he was so impossible to play for. He wanted everything done HIS way, or he'd throw a hissy fit and give you a free transfer to Portsmouth. Or Leicester. Or West Ham. Or Kaiserslauten. He's a twat, but, dammit, he was OUR twat. I'll miss him, in a perverse sort of way.
This article sheds an interesting opinion on things: http://www.thisislondon.com/sport/football/articles/6819144 Hoddle is certainly not the only manager to have had a good record as a club manager, then moved to his dream job and died completely. This article does a good job of describing it: http://sport.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,10488,1047254,00.html Souness moving from Rangers to Liverpool, Dalglish to Celtic, Keegan to England etc...
Killer comment...LOL. Poor ol hod. I didn't know he had such a poor relationship with everybody (except the fans). Funny 'ol game it is. Would Petit have made a difference?
Highly doubtful. No-one wanted Petit, so that was a lucky escape. He's past his best,loves money and is an ex-gooner. We could and should be able to get better than that.