We have heard thousands of times about experience in football. There are always questions marks coming into the season when a young and inexperienced coach takes control of a big club.
All the analysts speak about the lack of experience, and suggest that it could be the first problem for him and for the team. The most recent example of this is Pep Guardiola, new head coach of Barcelona.
It is his first job, and there were doubts about how was he going to manage the team, and how he was going to make them a winning team. The grind of the season, and the way they are currently playing the game is answering the questions.
His early success and some other examples of inexperienced although successful coaches have brought to my mind a new question:
Is coaching experience something overrated in football?
In the past, I’m sure that I would have answered this question with an "absolutely not. An experienced coach is the main key for a winning team."
Right now, my opinion is different; and yes, believe or not, coaching experience is something overrated in football. It’s not as important as motivation, preparation and finding the correct pieces and way of playing.
I think that these are real factors, the other one is a media issue. Let’s take a look to a bunch of examples:
Vicente del Bosque
Current head coach of the Spanish national team, Del Bosque had the best times in his first four seasons as Real Madrid coach.
He won two Champions Leagues, two La Liga titles, the Spanish Super Cup, the European Super Cup, and the Toyota Cup. Above this, he was able to keep joined a bunch of stars, making them play as a team. Because of his character, Del Bosque didn’t have the credit he deserved.
Later in his career, he struggled as Besiktas head coach. He had no coaching experience; yet he was able to lead Real to the top.
Jose Mourinho/ Avram Grant
It took him a couple of seasons to build his legacy. Mourinho led an underdog such as FC Porto to back-to-back European titles. The UEFA Cup and the Champions League trophies made him the most highly rated coach in football.
His way of preparing the team, and the effective game Porto practised during his era opened the future for Mou, as Roman Abramovich made him the best paid coach of the world when he was brought to Chelsea.
13 comments Last one added 6 months ago — Leave a Comment
Miles Kenton 9 months ago
i think experience can't be overrated. there will always be individual cases that prove otherwise but experience is an attribute that will always take presidence over inexperience.
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Inaki Angulo 8 months ago
I agree with you in this point. Experience ‘’will always take presidence over inexperience''. But, in my opinion it is overrated. It hard to rate this, but I think that many analyst give so much credit to coaching experience.
Thanks for the comment.
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Yoosof Farah 9 months ago
yeah i have to agree with miles on that one. and going back to point made about chelsea, avram grant may have got them to ucl final, but he didn't win any trophies, whereas mourinho did, so i don't really think that one was a good example. apart from that, good article iñaki.
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Inaki Angulo 8 months ago
Yeah, Grant did not win any trophy, but, on the other hand he was able to advance to the UCL Final, something that Mourinho couldn't get.
Thanks for the comment.
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Neil Melms 9 months ago
Hey Inaki, I have to side with experienced coaches and managers and I'll use one example. Capello took over as the manager of England, he basically had the same talent when the previous manager was managing that country. I'm talking of course about Steve McClaren. The difference between the two is that so far, Capello has managed the team much better than McClaren. Capello also brought a title to Los Blancos after three or four years of mediocrity and basically a failed Galacticos era. He eventually got fired because he didn't play "sexy" attacking football but that is the difference between an experienced manager and a manager who just seems to take orders from someone else.
The only other thing I'm going to say is that some people have the talent to manage such as Unai Emery of Valencia and some managers become great managers through experience. Thanks.
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Inaki Angulo 8 months ago
Capello is a great coach. He has won six leagues with six different teams. His way of playing the game could be criticised, but his motivation skills, and the attitude showed by his teams is under no suspect
Also agree on Emery, he is a young, although talented coach.
Thanks for the comment.
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Anthony Sanchez 8 months ago
I think certain managers with motivational skills can get by without experience but experience only improves them so personally I don't agree. Nice read though.
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Inaki Angulo 8 months ago
Good point of view.
Thanks for the comment.
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Salaar Arshad Shamsi 8 months ago
Good read Inaki, there are different cases so yes experience plays a huge part but some managers have the blood within them and some learn from playing under great managers...
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Inaki Angulo 8 months ago
I agree with you Salaar. Each case is different. I some managers, experience could be a major factor, but in other not.
Thanks for the comment.
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Maire Ofeire 8 months ago
Good article Inaki. Sometimes managers can just "have the knack" and be good managers right away but I think most learn from experience. Take the Rep.Ireland for instance, gave rookie Steve Staunton a go at managing and by God did that crash and burn, now the managerial job is gone to a man at the other end of the managerial scale with Il Trapattoni and he seems to know what he is doing (I'll answer that for definite if we qualify for the WC 2010)
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Inaki Angulo 8 months ago
Good example.
I hope Ireland could get the job done and being at South Africa. I still remember the 2002 WC game in which Spain advanced to the quarters after a dramatic penalty shootout against Ireland. Casillas, we still believe in you.
Thanks for the comment.
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illya mclellan 6 months ago
mate, you have to look at your facts, Grant was hardly inexperienced, look at what he did in Israel before Chelsea. What you said about him is flat out wrong!
Rikjaard can hardly be called inexperienced either he was one of the worlds top players for a time which is invaluable experience for anyone who goes into coaching.
with mourinho you forget that he won back to back titles with Chelsea, the champions league is a lottery, its a knock out luck comes into play in every game after group. the league title is work for a manager week in and week out. your article is poorly reasoned and backed up with facts that are not correct. sorry my friend but this is well written but completely wrong.
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