Swansea
City did away with Michael Laudrup during the week after a run of
Premier League games that saw them win only one in ten. Garry Monk
has stepped in for now but this will surely be no more than a
temporary arrangement. The bookies have thrown up some interesting
names in terms of who eventually gets to fill Laudrup's boots. Graeme
Jones, the Everton assistant manager, was initially tipped to take
the role and even former Athletic Blibao and Argentina manager Marco
Bielsa has also been mentioned. Oscar Garcia of Brighton could also
be in on the running. The favourite, however, is ex-Tottenham and
England gaffer Glenn Hoddle.
Kites
had been flown for Hoddle to take over at Tottenham earlier in the
season when Andre Villas Boas got the axe though Daniel Levy went
with Tim Sherwood instead. Perhaps the speculation has given Hoddle
the managerial bug, the need to get back into the game after sitting
in TV studios for nearly eight years now. His last managerial role
had been at Wolves with was preceded by two short spells at Tottenham
and Southampton. Between 1996 and 1999, Hoddle managed to take reins
of the English national team, leading them in the France '98 World
Cup where they were eliminated by Argentina after David Beckham's
infamous sending off. Hoddle's win percentage for England was 60%
which has only been topped by Fabio Capello and the legendary Sir Alf
Ramsey. Why he was let go by the Football Association can be
explained with the following quote from an interview with The Times
in January 1999:
"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."
Such
superstitious, insulting views should never have been aired and
granted, many years have passed but this remains the defining moment
of Hoddle's public image as a football manager. In terms of what he
brings to the table as an actual head coach, we can't be sure. He's
been out of the game for a long while and there could be quite a lot
of rust there considering how quickly the modern game is evolving.
That is not the main point however. Hoddle's views on disabled people
come from a man who is either extremely misguided or completed
bigoted. He makes delusional ex-France manager Raymond Domenech seem
harmless fiddling around with his astrology. Perhaps he has reviewed
his opinions after the embarrassment of losing the England job but if
Swansea do appoint him, they will have to deal with that dark cloud
hanging over them. Swansea City, such a progressive club of the
people, deserve better.
D.
Ray Morton, 7th Febuary 2014.
@D_Ray_Morton
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