One of the difficulties associated with operating within an environment whereby intensely close scrutiny comes with the territory is that, when the dust has settled and it’s time to reflect on a lifetime’s endeavour, there’s relatively little left to inform, far less surprise or entertain, when it comes to such musings.
My, how the tables have turned. As this season started it was being billed as one of the most open in recent years with many teams given a fighting chance of challenging at the top end of the league, and Spurs definitely being one of them. But now, is Spurs manager André Villas-Boas just one game from the sack?
After this week’s round of World Cup qualification play-offs the dust is finally settling and the World Cup is in sight for many. Yes, next year’s World Cup in Brazil (the real home of football?) will be a real spectacle and a hearty congratulations are in order for those who have made it. But what about those who have not?
Have you looked at the Eredivisie league table so far this season? If not then you may be a little surprised by the team that sit at the top. Title winners from recent years fill up the top five; FC Twente, Ajax and AZ Alkmaar are all jostling for position. But ahead of all of these teams are Vitesse, a club that has never won the Eredivisie and who herald from the city of Arnhem in the East of the Netherlands.
The world of football management is one full of potential pitfalls and stumbling blocks. It appears to be a world that pushes it’s incumbent to the very limit with numerous challenges that test a person’s ability to deal with all sorts of, often contradictory, problems. Of all of the paradoxes that a manager deals with the one that seems most prevalent at the moment is the post-match interview. Especially when broached on the subject of the referee.