Meet the new boss – same as the old boss?
It was only a couple of weeks ago that Roy Keane, having turned down the chance to manage in Turkey, was being “strongly linked” — as we like to say in the business when wildly speculating — with the vacant posts at Blackburn and Bolton and even the rumoured soon-to-be-vacant post of manager of Ireland, though the names of Mick McCarthy and Harry Redknapp tended to figure far more prominently in the many column inches devoted to what was supposed to be Giovanni Trapattoni’s last stand.
And where are we now? Dougie Freedman is ensconced at Bolton, his empty chair at Crystal Palace looking like it might be filled by Ian Holloway. Henning Berg has taken over at Blackburn. Mick McCarthy is back in the game at Ipswich. And while Roy and Harry remain on the outside looking in, Trapattoni has defied the predictions to remain in situ as boss of the Republic.
Of course, this is meant to be a Trap of a different colour, the FAI’s backing for the under-fire gaffer seemingly coming with various strings attached, including the suggestion — for heaven’s sake, don’t call it a demand — that it might be a good idea for him to turn up at a football match in England once in a while. And, lordy, but the Italian couldn’t have responded with more urgency if a gun had been put to his head: today, at Carrow Road, will be his third Premier League game on the trot.
“It’s no problem, I can go every Saturday,” the 73-year-old airily informed us this week, during a press conference in which he seized every opportunity not to turn a drama into a crisis.
Still, it was notable that while Trapattoni was happy to say he had no problem attending games in England on a regular basis, he was much less forthcoming about the lot of good he thought it might do him. Au contraire, he spent most of his time on the subject extolling the virtues of watching football on DVD, the very habit which the new dispensation was intended to tackle.
In short, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the presence of the manager at a ground in England is, from his point of view, less about him actually doing something significantly advantageous, and more about him being seen to do something which gives the appearance, to the rest of us, of being significantly advantageous.
On the face of it, this week’s call-up of Wes Hoolahan — immediately after the manager had been in Norwich to see him star against Arsenal — would seem to indicate that the new understanding between employer and employee is already bearing fruit. But that’s to overlook the fact that Hoolahan had actually been called up to the first post-Euros squad, only to withdraw.
When Trapattoni says that he has long been aware of the player, that’s manifestly true, since Hoolahan had also featured in a squad right at the outset of the manager’s time in charge. The only reason the player hasn’t featured since is that Trapattoni simply didn’t think his play-making style would fit into his preferred 4-4-2 formation, one in which the two central midfielders are charged more with defensive than creative duties. Now, the manager says he’s not only considering Hoolahan in the ‘Totti’ role behind a striker but, for the upcoming friendly against Greece, he would be interested to see how he might fare alongside James McCarthy in the middle of the park.
The key word there, however, is ‘friendly’: barring one monumental injury crisis, you’d get long odds on both of those players being named in the starting line-ups for the World Cup qualifiers against Sweden and Austria in March.
Say this for Trap though, he has played a blinder over the last couple of weeks, managing the neat trick of never seeming more in charge than when he was being assailed from all sides. A paragraph on the art of management from the excellent book Soccernomics, by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski, seems germane: “The forte of most managers is not winning matches — something over which they have little control — but keeping all the interest groups in and around the club (players, board, fans, media, sponsors) united behind them. That’s why so many managers are charismatic. Their charisma may not help their teams win matches, but it does help the managers keep support.”
Or, in Trapattoni’s case, win back some crucial support at a time when he seemed to have exhausted almost all remaining reservoirs of goodwill. But, as the authors say, charisma won’t win you matches — and, if there’s one thing the charismatic Trapattoni knows, it’s that results and results only now stand between him and another trip to the threshold of the exit door.
Everything else is mere window dressing.
* liammackey@hotmail.com
