High Press Episode 14: Why have the ‘Golden Generation’ failed as managers?

High Press Episode 14:

Episode 14 of High Press focuses on how England’s ‘Golden Generation’ have struggled as managers.
Host Alison Bender is joined by Martin Lipton, Paul McCarthy and Vaishali Bhardwaj to look at the failings of Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard since swapping their playing career for the dugout.

Better than the players they manage

First focusing on Rooney’s sacking at Birmingham City, Lipton says, “It’s very hard if you’re a naturally gifted player, if it all comes so easy. I think sometimes it’s really hard to deal with players who just aren’t as good as you.”

Bender mentions how managers joining in with training could damage the confidence of their squad.
McCarthy replies, “I don’t think managers should be joining in with training. Why? That’s not your job, you’re not a player anymore. Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should do it.”

After citing Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney as examples of managers being better than their players, McCarthy references how Glenn Hoddle undermined a ‘player as good as David Beckham.’

Bhardwaj says, “I think some of the best managers we’ve seen that used to be great players are the ones who were able to take themselves out of that playing mindset and realise management is a completely different job entirely.”

Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard

Despite the criticism of Rooney at Birmingham, McCarthy defends Rooney’s time at Derby, saying he did an ‘absolutely, bang-on job’ by taking on the off-field pressure and protecting others at the club.

After a discussion about Lampard’s difficult spell(s) at Chelsea, Lipton states, “The reality is, everyone thinks their club hero is going to be Pep Guardiola now… Like Pep at Barcelona, come back to the club, reinvent the club, make them brilliant again… Maybe Guardiola’s the outlier.”
McCarthy draws the comparison between Guardiola’s wait to become Barcelona manager and the patience Xabi Alonso had before taking over at Bayer Leverkusen.

Xabi Alonso

He adds, “I think he [Xabi Alonso] has gone away and learnt his craft away from the glare.
“Ex-players, and we’re talking about the ‘Golden Generation’. I was consulting for a football club, and the player we’re talking about, who was definitely of the standard we’re talking about, applied for a job.

“And I got to see his application, you were asked to submit how you would set the team up, where do you see the progress over the next five years, how are you going to bring through academy players, what’s the culture of the club going to be… the ex-superstar player put in something that looked like it could’ve been written on the back of a cigarette pack. It was rubbish.”

Lipton responds, “We’re in the age of analytics now… it’s the in-depth planning, in-depth thought.”
After dismissing the idea that ‘knowing the club’ is important in the modern game, McCarthy says, “The best managers now are almost academics. There has to be an unquenchable desire to learn.”

Lipton remembers how Arrigo Sacchi responded when he was questioned how he could be a manager having never played. Sacchi’s famous quote was ‘you don’t have to be a horse to be a jockey’.

Steven Gerrard

Turning to Gerrard, McCarthy believes it was a ‘huge mistake’ to take the Villa job, while Lipton thinks the former England international carries pressure because of the expectation he will one day manage Liverpool.

Who in England squad can become a manager?

Bender then looks at the current England squad and wonders which players could become good managers. Bhardwaj picks out Declan Rice, McCarthy names Kieran Trippier, while Lipton thinks Harry Kane will want to be Tottenham manager one day, and chooses Bukayo Saka as a left-field pick.

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