carlyluvsunited
17-11-2007, 04:32 PM
As Denis Law Was To Willie Ormond, So Sir Alex Is To McLeish
BACK in 1974, when Scotland qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in
16 years, the manager, Willie Ormond, included Denis Law in his squad for West
Germany, despite the fact the veteran striker was, by then, 34 years old.
Wee Willie, not much interested in tactics but as good a judge of a player as
there was, selected the peerless Law on the grounds that, if you still had access
to one of the half-dozen or so authentically world-class players the country had
produced since the War, you were almost morally obliged to offer him a place.
There is a similar principle behind Alex McLeish's semi-regular consultations with
his mentor, Sir Alex Ferguson, quite apart from the warm relationship that has
existed between them since their time together as player and manager at
Aberdeen.
While Ferguson is still at work and clearly as pervasively influential as ever, it
would be folly not to take advantage of his experience and wisdom. The
Manchester United manager himself has talked often enough of his indebtedness
to Jock Stein over the guidance he would seek and receive from the late Celtic
and Scotland manager.
McLeish's readiness to consult Ferguson, however, should not be mistaken for
reliance on the older man to do the job for him. As the Old Trafford manager has
frequently emphasised - and does so again elsewhere in today's Scotsman
sports section - McLeish is an intelligent and assertive leader whose
preparations for occasions such as this evening's showdown with Italy are
meticulous.
He is also astute enough to examine and analyse advice and decide what is
sound and what is inappropriate. Should the Scots achieve the small miracle at
Hampden later today, the managerial credit will be due entirely to McLeish.
IT IS at times like these, of course, we are reminded that Scotland's national
football team has around two million managers, many of them, it has seemed for
the past week, clamouring to bombard phone-ins and hotlines with the selection,
formation and tactics McLeish will have to employ if Italy are to be overcome.
Much of the counsel urges the actual manager, i.e. the one paid by the Scottish
Football Association, to adopt the kind of cavalier aggressiveness most
professionals would prefer to call recklessness. One wannabe tactical genius
suggested an outfield of 3-5-3, presumably on the basis that the Scots will spend
so much time in their opponents' half of the field that there will be no need for
the services of goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
There appears to be a curious psychology at work here. It is as if those who are
throwing the advice around are preparing for the launch of another salvo - this
time of vituperation - in the direction of McLeish in the event of failure. This, of
course, will be due largely to his disregarding their instructions and doing it his
way.
However heroic the squad's efforts may have been up to this climactic point, you
may be sure that, in the event of defeat, the criticism which follows from some
quarters will be as hysterical and generally ill-founded as the 'wha's-like-us'
optimism that has accompanied the build-up. Supporters can be masters of
turning disappointment into cynicism.
The overwhelming majority of the suggestions posted to McLeish insist that,
whatever he does, it should not include fielding a lone striker. The Italian jugular
must, at all costs, be gone straight for. None of this seems to take any account of
how the team came to where they are in the first place. It also indicates a
ludicrous distrust in the manager and his players which they have not earned.
THE notion that Scotland's resurgence at international level is attributable to the
reduction in recent years of the number of foreign players in the domestic game
has taken root in England. This is hardly surprising, considering the serious
doubts over Steve McClaren's under-achieving team's prospects of qualifying for
Euro 2008.
Such is the alarm south of the border that even high-ranking politicians have
been expressing a desire to introduce a 'capping' system which will limit the
number of imports, thereby encouraging the development of native talent. In
referring to Scotland as a model, however, they miss a couple of points.
The first is that the problem Scottish football faced was not necessarily the
number of foreigners, but the fact so many of them were bad players. That
remains true in many areas, despite the increase in the amount of emergent
native Scots in the past two or three years.
Secondly, no foreign player will keep a Scottish, or an English, youngster out of a
team if the latter's talent demands inclusion. Nobody kept Alex Ferguson's class
of '93 - Scholes, Beckham, Giggs et al - out of the Manchester United team. Nor
were Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and others kept waiting by
inferior foreigners.
In Scotland, Alan Hutton, Craig Gordon, Aiden McGeady, Scott Brown and any
number of the latter's former Hibs team-mates are prime examples of talent that
could not be prevented from flourishing. Putting a limit on the number of foreign
players in the domestic game may be of some help in producing more exceptional
natives, but it is certainly no cure-all.
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BACK in 1974, when Scotland qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in
16 years, the manager, Willie Ormond, included Denis Law in his squad for West
Germany, despite the fact the veteran striker was, by then, 34 years old.
Wee Willie, not much interested in tactics but as good a judge of a player as
there was, selected the peerless Law on the grounds that, if you still had access
to one of the half-dozen or so authentically world-class players the country had
produced since the War, you were almost morally obliged to offer him a place.
There is a similar principle behind Alex McLeish's semi-regular consultations with
his mentor, Sir Alex Ferguson, quite apart from the warm relationship that has
existed between them since their time together as player and manager at
Aberdeen.
While Ferguson is still at work and clearly as pervasively influential as ever, it
would be folly not to take advantage of his experience and wisdom. The
Manchester United manager himself has talked often enough of his indebtedness
to Jock Stein over the guidance he would seek and receive from the late Celtic
and Scotland manager.
McLeish's readiness to consult Ferguson, however, should not be mistaken for
reliance on the older man to do the job for him. As the Old Trafford manager has
frequently emphasised - and does so again elsewhere in today's Scotsman
sports section - McLeish is an intelligent and assertive leader whose
preparations for occasions such as this evening's showdown with Italy are
meticulous.
He is also astute enough to examine and analyse advice and decide what is
sound and what is inappropriate. Should the Scots achieve the small miracle at
Hampden later today, the managerial credit will be due entirely to McLeish.
IT IS at times like these, of course, we are reminded that Scotland's national
football team has around two million managers, many of them, it has seemed for
the past week, clamouring to bombard phone-ins and hotlines with the selection,
formation and tactics McLeish will have to employ if Italy are to be overcome.
Much of the counsel urges the actual manager, i.e. the one paid by the Scottish
Football Association, to adopt the kind of cavalier aggressiveness most
professionals would prefer to call recklessness. One wannabe tactical genius
suggested an outfield of 3-5-3, presumably on the basis that the Scots will spend
so much time in their opponents' half of the field that there will be no need for
the services of goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
There appears to be a curious psychology at work here. It is as if those who are
throwing the advice around are preparing for the launch of another salvo - this
time of vituperation - in the direction of McLeish in the event of failure. This, of
course, will be due largely to his disregarding their instructions and doing it his
way.
However heroic the squad's efforts may have been up to this climactic point, you
may be sure that, in the event of defeat, the criticism which follows from some
quarters will be as hysterical and generally ill-founded as the 'wha's-like-us'
optimism that has accompanied the build-up. Supporters can be masters of
turning disappointment into cynicism.
The overwhelming majority of the suggestions posted to McLeish insist that,
whatever he does, it should not include fielding a lone striker. The Italian jugular
must, at all costs, be gone straight for. None of this seems to take any account of
how the team came to where they are in the first place. It also indicates a
ludicrous distrust in the manager and his players which they have not earned.
THE notion that Scotland's resurgence at international level is attributable to the
reduction in recent years of the number of foreign players in the domestic game
has taken root in England. This is hardly surprising, considering the serious
doubts over Steve McClaren's under-achieving team's prospects of qualifying for
Euro 2008.
Such is the alarm south of the border that even high-ranking politicians have
been expressing a desire to introduce a 'capping' system which will limit the
number of imports, thereby encouraging the development of native talent. In
referring to Scotland as a model, however, they miss a couple of points.
The first is that the problem Scottish football faced was not necessarily the
number of foreigners, but the fact so many of them were bad players. That
remains true in many areas, despite the increase in the amount of emergent
native Scots in the past two or three years.
Secondly, no foreign player will keep a Scottish, or an English, youngster out of a
team if the latter's talent demands inclusion. Nobody kept Alex Ferguson's class
of '93 - Scholes, Beckham, Giggs et al - out of the Manchester United team. Nor
were Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and others kept waiting by
inferior foreigners.
In Scotland, Alan Hutton, Craig Gordon, Aiden McGeady, Scott Brown and any
number of the latter's former Hibs team-mates are prime examples of talent that
could not be prevented from flourishing. Putting a limit on the number of foreign
players in the domestic game may be of some help in producing more exceptional
natives, but it is certainly no cure-all.
Click below to join manutdtalk.com and read all
breaking news on all things United !!!
http://manutdtalk.com/forums/register.php