Francesco Totti Deserves Manager Chance, but Roma Must Remain Cautious

Earlier in life, Francesco Totti always maintained that he was too nice a guy to be a coach and that when he hung up his boots it would be for a job in Roma's boardroom rather than on its bench. 

The legendary Giallorosso has seemingly had a change of heart, however, because speaking to the press in Milan, where he was being presented with the Gazzetta dello Sport's prestigious "Premio Internazionale Giacinto Facchetti," the 38-year-old revealed that once he retires he would like to take up a coaching role. 

Speaking to the Gazzetta (original interview here in Italian, with quotes in English via football-italia.net), Totti was asked what he thought of several other respected players such as Roberto Mancini, Vincenzo Montella and Pep Guardiola who turned their hands to managing. He replied: 

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You know, I was speaking about this to a friend just the other day. I said, 'Nowadays everyone's doing it, I think in end it will appeal to me too.' Perhaps I'll start with kids, but maybe there's no need. After all, for someone who's played at my level it doesn't take long to learn. 

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It's obviously tempting to imagine Roma's most iconic player managing the club he loves once his playing days are over. Totti's brilliance was always more cognitive than physical. That's why he's still going—and indeed, excelling—at an age when most have long since given up.

At his best, his most obvious weakness is perhaps his team-mates, because you can't help but feeling that he'd have an almost unlimited potential to surprise and devastate defences if only his colleagues could think and react as quickly under pressure as he can. 

Few players have ever read the game as well, and transferring that footballing intelligence from the pitch to the technical area wouldn't be hard, if he could learn the other skills needed to be a successful coach.

Speaking about management at an award ceremony dedicated to loyalty and sportsmanship—Facchetti was a celebrated defender for almost two decades at Inter in the '60s and '70s—throws into sharp focus the manifest danger in "Er Capitan" becoming the boss at Roma: His legacy could be all too easily ruined. 

CARLO FUMAGALLI/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press

Succeed, and he would become a club legend the likes of which has perhaps never before been seen. Fail, and he'd risk tarnishing 25 years of records, titles and fond memories with the Roma faithful. 

For the player and the club, there's peril either way. 

There is still sadness in the Eternal City that the club didn't do more for Agostino Di Bartolomei some 30 years since he captained the Giallorossi. Another local boy turned hero, Ago was sold against his wishes after winning the title at the Olimpico and never invited back into the fold, something many believe contributed to his subsequent battle with depression and eventual suicide. 

And seeing Di Bartolomei's former teammate Carlo Ancelotti develop into one of the greatest managers of all time, it's easy for Romanisti to succumb to pangs of envy and regret that he has never taken charge of the side with which he won a historic Scudetto in 1983. 

Montella's development since leaving the capital is arguably another cause for lamentation, because while Rudi Garcia has been a huge success, it's not hard to imagine that the former striker could have achieved as much, if not more, than either Luis Enrique or Zdenek Zeman. Roma's loss was both Catania's and Fiorentina's gain. 

There are reasons to be cautious, too. There's no guarantee that a great player will be a good manager, even though club owners never seem to tire of trying to prove otherwise. And just a quick glance at what happened to Clarence Seedorf at Milan—or a quick thought to what might yet come for his successor, Pippo Inzaghi—is enough to give both Totti and the Roma board cause for pause. 

You could spend days spewing out examples to illustrate why he should or shouldn't. Plenty of players become terrible managers, and Arrigo Sacchi was right when he joked that to become a jockey, you didn't have to first be a horse. He, Jose Mourinho and myriad other coaches with little or no playing experience are proof of that. At the same time, players-turned-managers like Ancelotti, Guardiola and Antonio Conte are proof that footballers can excel on the bench. 

Throughout his career, Totti has shown a rare desire to succeed and a commitment to training and personal preparation that is a gleaming example to younger players everywhere. It's what's kept his physical and mental condition in such good shape, 22 years after his senior debut. 

In that time, he's played under some masterly coaches and will have learned much.

He was perfectly suited to the unadulterated brand of footballing expression that bordered on madness that was late '90s Zemanlandia, but developed into Marcello Lippi's main creative flourish for the otherwise gritty, structured virtuosity of Italy's 2006 World Cup success. Fabio Capello, Giovanni Trapattoni and Dino Zoff used him as a classic trequartista and Luciano Spalletti deployed him as the archetypal false-nine. 

Few players past or present have adapted so well to so many different systems or worked with so many idiosyncratic coaches. So if the motivation is there, Totti is correct: There can't be that much more for him to learn. 

In the stands of the Olimpico and the streets of Rome in general, the desire to see their own do well in every possible position perhaps trumps the hunger for titles. Roma might not be unique in that regard, but it's certainly a rare trait these days among football fans who are becoming ever more fickle. How long more it remains like that is anyone's guess. 

You'd hope that, even in a sport as capricious and as unforgiving as football, a player with an ability and a loyalty as rare as Totti's would be given a chance, allowed the time needed to get to grips with the job and prove his worth, but there's always the danger that the need to win will overcome nostalgia.

Ambition could all too easily consume affection, and that would be a great shame, because it will be a long time before football ever sees another player with such an enduring ability to charm and delight. He's given the game more than 20 years of entertainment. Whatever he chooses to do once he calls time on his career—a spectacle of impossible passes and unlikely goals that's been going since 1992—we shouldn't forget that. 

What do you think of Totti's managerial potential? Let me know on twitter, @ColliOBrien.  

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