Graham Perry
A challenging article in today’s Times pinpoints an issue that has always featured in our thoughts about the future. It is written by Matt Dickinson and it focuses on Vieira. It is bitter-sweet. The thrust of the article is an examination of Vieira’s plans for his future as the head coach of New York City FC. It waxes eloquent – justifiably – about his playing career and speculates about how he ended up at City - and not Arsenal - where he started as an Ambassador for the Club, then coaching kids before moving to USA. Clearly the issue is why City and why not Arsenal. He answers the question “Arsenal? I’ve never been contacted by anyone to manage or get involved with the Club”. He is asked if he is disappointed and he replies “I was expecting something from them but it didn’t come.”
Vieira’s tension towards Arsenal is revealed when he is asked to choose a manager to lead his Select XI he replies “Jose”. As Dickinson says Vieira played for nine years under Wenger at Arsenal winning seven trophies leading the famous Invincibles. And yet he Vieira had only 18 months with Mourinho at Inter Milan and was sold mid-season.
The comments and the facts taken together have two possible explanations – Sour grapes because he was overlooked or Wenger got it wrong. Let’s look at both.
Sour Grapes? There is clearly tension between Wenger and Vieira as revealed when Vieira is asked if he has taken advice from Wenger. “He’s a busy man. I didn’t speak to him in quite a long time “. He then stirs matters when he gives reasons for preferring Mourinho to Wenger. “He’s the manager who had more influence on me because he was the one who impressed me most on his work ethic. He knew everything about the opposition, the strength, weakness. His detail was unbelievable, everything was so clear about what he wanted from each player”. Well you pays your money, you takes your choice. It is always possible that Vieira is speaking with complete honesty and that he genuinely believes he learned more in his 18 months at Inter-Milan than he did in his seven years at Arsenal. There is no question that Mourinho is a great coach. We may not like him and I freely confess that I don’t for very well known reasons – strutting egotist, the comments about the Reading Ambulance Brigade, the failure to apologise to Dr Carneiro, his confrontations with authority – but he has had success and Vieria might have a point. But in the context of what he perceives to be the snub from Wenger it does mean that his comments have to be seen in context. That recent comment of mine about studying the historian before you study his history has relevance here. It is more likely that Vieira is bitter about being overlooked by Wenger and this has coloured his views.
The second point is the assumption that he is managerial material – that because he was a top player he will become a top coach. History is not with Vieira. The history of football is littered with examples of players who have failed to make it as coaches. We know from our own experience at Arsenal that Jack Crayston, an England International with Arsenal in the great years of the 1930’s lasted just 18 months before being replaced by George Swindin in 1959. And then when Swindin himself stepped down in 1962 he was replaced by England’s then most capped player – Billy Wright who was replaced by Bertie Mee in 1966 because of his conspicuous failure. There are others – Nobby Stiles and Bobby Charlton tried and failed. Mark Lawrenson and Alan Shearer too. Will Neville succeed at Valencia? Will Giggs step up to be number one at United? Playing success is no guarantee of managerial success. But there is another aspect of importance – how good a player was Wenger? How good a player was Mourinho? Coaching is not a function of simple achievement on the pitch.
Others at Arsenal have apparently been overlooked – Tony Adams and Dennis Bergkamp – possibly Liam Brady. But none of them have any divine right to coach. Being a good player is just that – being a good player. It is the same with a Captain but a coach has a hundred and one more issues to consider. It is very lonely at the top. As US President Harry Truman famously said, “The Buck Stops Here”. He has to keep the squad together, blend skill and experience, make daily decisions about people’s careers, face the media, face the fans and also sleep well at night. You get my drift?
Final point – Eleven years ago today Jermaine Pennant crashed his Mercedes while driving drunk, uninsured and served a 16 month driving ban. He went to prison for 90 days. His career was littered with bad judgment, wrong decisions and ultimately under-achieved. He could have had it all if he had listened to those around him and knuckled down and resisted the temptations dangled in front of him by hangers-on. He had the talent. He let himself down.
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