Glenn Hoddle

Paully D

I'd like to get your thoughts on Glenn Hoddle as I've seen his name start to creep up a lot more lately.

I know we're talking years ago now, but his England side played some lovely stuff and I think Capello is the only manager that has bettered his win percentage.

He did superbly well at Southampton, keeping them up against all the odds and then had them on course to finish in the top 10 before Tottenham came calling and he ended up there.

He reached the League Cup final with Spurs and had them in the top 10 twice (below expectations but not too bad at the time either I suppose) but did get the chop for a poor start to the following season.

At Wolves he only lost 15 of 76 games, but it seems draws cost him as he missed out on the players by one position and pressure from the fans seen him step down. However, he completely changed the way the played etc and for months it looked like he had finally found a formula to get them going.

Since then he's set up his own academy in Spain for young players who have been thrown on the scrapheap by clubs in England and give them another chance of getting picked up.

He claims he's had 26 serious offers to get back into management but won't take any until his academy can run itself.

Personally, I think he's got a brilliant football mind and is a very good coach (the innovation he brings with it is interesting). There's something about him that makes me think that if he lands a job with the right club he could go on to do really well again. Do you think this could be the case or do you think he's been out of it for far too long now and that, along with other factors such as the comments he made when England manager about the disabled, will see that it's not going to happen for him?

Interesting article in today's Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/glenn-hoddle-im-ready-to-be-englands-caretaker-at-the-euros-7584860.html

Almost as soon as Glenn Hoddle arrived in the Tottenham Hotspur first team he began to play football with a beauty that many in England had never seen before, at least not from an Englishman. The inspirational quality of his elegance extended beyond our shores – Dennis Bergkamp was later to ascribe his own skill on the volley, which contributed to several of his most memorable goals, to study of Hoddle on television throughout an Amsterdam adolescence – but, to the English aesthete, this young man of earnest demeanour but apparently effortless class represented something special: a gangway to the beautiful game. Eureka! Or as Jasper Carrott put it, when told that Hoddle had found God: "What a pass!"

Nor did Hoddle let us down once his playing days reached their autumn and his collection of caps ended at 53: a figure that led Michel Platini and other luminaries of the world game to observe that it might have been doubled in a less philistine country than England tended to be in the 1970s and 1980s. Hoddle became a player-manager at Swindon, where, operating as a creative sweeper, he designed football in his own image to such effect that the club were promoted to the Premier League, and then began the revolution at Chelsea, taking the club to an FA Cup final and the semi-finals of the European Cup-Winners' Cup. The invitation from England that followed had an air of inevitability and, as Hoddle took over from Terry Venables after Euro 96, those describing him as "the perfect man for the job", even though he was not quite 39 years of age, included Harry Redknapp.

He began by introducing David Beckham, who, unlike other members of an outstanding Manchester United generation, had been left out of the summer tournament, and the win in Moldova with which the World Cup qualifying process began was one of nine in 11 matches. The damage done by a home defeat at Italy's hands – in which Gianfranco Zola scored – was restored when England went to Rome and achieved the scoreless draw that secured their place in the finals in France. The previous summer, England had beaten the Italians, along with the hosts, in the customary rehearsal tournament – the Tournoi de France – and Hoddle felt they were serious candidates. Recalling the classic second-round match against Argentina that ended in their failure on penalties after Beckham had been sent off, he declared: "Even to this day, just thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine."

An unusual shiver it was on this day, a glorious spring one in the grounds of a hotel near Hoddle's home in Berkshire, where I had sought his richest memories of an all-too-short tenure. "I was so proud of the lads that day in Lens," he said. "For a start, David should never have been shown the red card – it was a yellow." Hoddle paused. "I had to laugh when I read afterwards that I hadn't even glanced at David as he came off. I can assure you that, when a nation's fate is resting on your shoulders, the priority is what you are going to do next! I'd told Terry Byrne, who was also on the bench, to look after David. The normal decision when you go down to 10 is to take off one of your strikers. But Michael Owen had scored a wonder goal – and the other was Alan Shearer. So, considering that there was nearly half of normal time left, I was bold. I went for two banks of four but sent Alan to left midfield with instructions to rotate with Michael every three or four minutes. Argentina's defenders were having to cope with Alan's strength one minute and Michael's pace the next. Michael took incredible responsibility for a lad of 18 and we had enough chances to win.

"In fact, we were denied what would have been a winning golden goal by Sol Campbell when the ref gave a foul against Alan Shearer that was 50-50. It was one of those sad situations that befall England. I remember thinking that when Sol had a goal disallowed against Portugal in 2004 [for a foul by John Terry]. I don't know about Mario Balotelli saying 'Why always me?' – England should be saying as a nation 'Why always us?' You can go back to 1970, when Gordon Banks got food poisoning and we lost to West Germany. Then there was 1986 and Maradona's hand. And last time Frank Lampard not getting his goal against the Germans. There seems to be something every tournament." Hoddle grinned. "Maybe other nations say the same."

Although England's fall in 1998 ranked among their best received – Beckham alone was blamed – the clouds had begun to gather over Hoddle. He was ridiculed, mildly at first, for using the faith healer Eileen Drewery to work with the squad and there was a story that he had upset Beckham by teasing him at free-kick practice in France. Hoddle regards this as mythical. "The only thing I can think of," he said, "was an incident one day when I did get angry with the substitutes for talking behind the goal while we were practising free-kicks – I told them to pay attention because we might need them during the match. That was something I always insisted on. As for David, all I ever told him was that his free-kicks were our most direct route to goal. I was always positive."

England had played some marvellous football under Hoddle, often in the 3-5-2 formation he employed in order to flood the midfield – it was a key lesson taken from his career as an international, when the amount of running he had to do left him "physically and mentally shattered" – and the ensuing aid to creativity led to memorable performances, one that brought a 2-0 victory in Poland in 1997 being rated by many as at least equal to the 4-1 triumph over the Netherlands under Venables the previous year. Hoddle was excited by the prospect of continuing the development of Beckham and Owen, of utilising the class he savoured in Paul Ince – "some players are a disappointment when you get close to them but Paul was the opposite" – and Paul Scholes and of encouraging Rio Ferdinand to become an attacking libero in the manner of Mattias Sammer, a star of Euro 96 (a more athletic version, you might say, of Hoddle in his latter years). But some in the media – and, perhaps, the FA – did not share his excitement.

The qualifiers for Euro 2000 began poorly with defeat in Sweden and a draw at home to Bulgaria and, although a win in Luxembourg was followed by success in a home friendly with the Czech Republic, Hoddle accepted a suggestion by David Davies, the FA's head of communications, that he do a series of six or seven "friendly interviews" with selected newspapers. The first proved the only one. It cost him his job and left his admirers to reflect on England's infinite resourcefulness in devising ways of parting company with a national team manager. And, according to Hoddle, whose insistence has never wavered in more than 13 years since it happened, it was profoundly unfair. Whatever the truth, he is not alone in still considering it a shameful depiction of our society: as the disabled-rights campaigner Lord Ashley put it at the time, a "witch-hunt" that culminated in a "sad day for British tolerance and freedom of speech".

The interview was given to The Times and conducted by telephone with Matt Dickinson, whom Hoddle remembers opening with 20 innocuous minutes about the imminent visit to Wembley of France, the world champions. "I remember thinking this was a proper football interview," said Hoddle, "just as David Davies had promised. But then the line of questioning changed and it became about my beliefs on reincarnation." Hoddle had discussed these on the radio some months earlier and Dickinson, he said, appeared especially interested in whether he thought disability might be a punishment for sins in an earlier life. "I gave the example of rich and poor but not – never – the disabled. It was, in any case, a conversation requiring hours, days, weeks – not a couple of minutes.

"When I was told that the story had appeared on the front page, I was horrified. Not because of whether I'd lose my job or not – that didn't occur to me – but because I didn't want people to believe I'd said what I was supposed to have said. Especially disabled people. The thought of that hurt a lot." His denials went unheard, along with Ashley's plea that everyone grow up a little, amid a cacophony of demands that the FA dismiss him. "The thing just grew." And verged on farce when the Prime Minister was asked about it by Richard and Judy on morning television. "When Tony Blair said 'Well, if he did say those things...' I realised it was getting out of hand." Within a day or two, Hoddle was sacked, his gifts and experience sacrificed on the altar of an increasingly crass popular culture from which formerly broadsheet organs of journalism no longer even tried to distance themselves.

Yet today he is only 54, wiser and free, apart from his interests in the Glenn Hoddle Academy, a project based in Spain that has earned professional contracts for mainly British footballers, and 20-20 Football, a tournament for ex-star players that goes into its second year at Loftus Road in May. The FA could do worse than to call him in again. David Bernstein and company might be pleasantly surprised by what he has to say, for, if their approach is to let matters drift towards the appointment of a caretaker for the European Championship, he would assure them that they are doing precisely the right thing.

Asked if he had unfinished business with the FA, he candidly confessed: "If I were to die tomorrow, my life would be incomplete." Could he manage England again? "Would I get that opportunity? Probably not. But I don't dwell on the past and, if we fast-forward to the present, I think we have a batch of players capable of going to the Euros and doing well. I find it a very interesting moment. Because Stuart Pearce, Harry Redknapp, Roy Hodgson, myself – anyone – who went to the tournament with the status of a caretaker would have the pressure off him and the players would be liberated too, not least those who have been on the fringes and are accustomed to thinking that the manager doesn't fancy them. Micah Richards, say – I'm not saying he should be in the team or not but he's certainly one who, after maybe not convincing Fabio Capello, could benefit from a fresh start.

"Look at how a caretaker has worked for the England rugby team in the Six Nations – they've done fantastically. Everyone's got an edge. No one's sure of a place and everyone has an incentive. So I'd back the FA if they decided not to go for a full-time manager yet. If Harry goes and does well, fine.

"Knowing the score as I do – having experienced tournament pressure as a player and a manager – I believe, strangely enough, that the situation we are in presents a real opportunity for an England manager. If it goes wrong, as in South Africa, people will say 'What did you expect?' And, if it works, it could be perfect for us to click. And those players will have to click this time, because the next World Cup is in Brazil and history shows we're unlikely to win in South America. Yes, we have to qualify, but if you look at the crop of young players – Hart, Jones, Smalling, Sturridge, Wilshere, Welbeck, Cleverley – most won't be at their peaks until we're back in Europe in France in 2016. Meanwhile, we can have a real go at these Euros."

kfallon

If he was made of ice cream he'd eat himself!

Always view him as very arrogant!

MD1990

he done ever so well

Jayob10

I agree with you Paully D, he has a great footballing brain. A great coach doesn't always translate into a great manager though.

He provides excellent analysis when acting as a pundit on tv. Points out some of the finer technical points that your more average cliche ridden pundit just cannot see.

I'll always remember his analysis of the England v Croatia game at Wembley when England were beaten to a place in Euro 2008. It was fantastic, broke down exactly where English football is lagging behind in terms of intelligence. Not having players capable of "playing between the lines".

And how trying to beat the top teams at their own game is never going to work against the best.

He is a strange man by all accounts, but he does have a streak of genius in him.

Luap

Was only thinking of him today when watching Pointless.

stovelid

Ironic to think of hin being reincarnated as a manager.

CSF

Anything is better than Pearce to be fair.

Sugarlumps

Legend.

stovelid

stovelid wrote: »

Ironic to think of hin being reincarnated as a manager.

Purely for his completely insane views I can't respect the guy. He should have never worked again after he made this remark;

"You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains. Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime. I have nothing to hide about that. It is not only people with disabilities. What you sow, you have to reap."

"You have to look at things that happened in your life and ask why. It comes around."


Cascarino describes him;

"When Glenn tried to be funny, it was time to pass round the laughing gas because he was probably the unfunniest man I have ever known. He was also completely besotted with himself. If he had been an ice cream, he would have licked himself"

Paparazzo

So he's denying what he said before? Apparently he's not liked by players at all.

~Rebel~

Pretty much unrelated to the debate, but this quote amused me:

And those players will have to click this time, because the next World Cup is in Brazil and history shows we're unlikely to win in South America.

History show's that you're equally unlikely to win at a tournament anywhere else in the world outside of England.

_blank_

Sacramento wrote: »

Cascarino describes him;

"When Glenn tried to be funny, it was time to pass round the laughing gas because he was probably the unfunniest man I have ever known. He was also completely besotted with himself. If he had been an ice cream, he would have licked himself"

Cascarino forms opinions on the basis of what is going to make the most column inches, the man is a charlatan.

Des

Des wrote: »

Sacramento wrote: »

Cascarino describes him;

"When Glenn tried to be funny, it was time to pass round the laughing gas because he was probably the unfunniest man I have ever known. He was also completely besotted with himself. If he had been an ice cream, he would have licked himself"

Cascarino forms opinions on the basis of what is going to make the most column inches, the man is a charlatan.

While that may be true, it doesn't make his point any less valid here. My main point refers to the original quote from Hoddle, which was insane and disgraceful.

SlickRic

Hoddle's ability gets overshadowed horrendously but his personality, which, to put it mildly, is a bit "off".

i think he's a far better manager than his public persona has allowed him to be seen, and he would do a better job that Pearce IMO.

mike65

Well he won't get the job so its all a bit academic. Leave him to do his good works in Spain.

tim_holsters

Good football brain no doubt, his analysis does engage more so than some others for sure but the guy just creeps me out. I'll put that down to the E Drewery fiasco.

fryup

i honestly believe he was mis-quoted that time about diabled people, i don't think he's a nasty person at heart

tim_holsters

fryup wrote: »

i honestly believe he was mis-quoted that time about diabled people, i don't think he's a nasty person at heart

It is sometime ago, but I don't think he was misquoted.