John Toshack: People Abroad do not rate us British
Moderators: Moderator Team, phpBB2 - Administrators
John Toshack: People Abroad do not rate us British
PEOPLE ABROAD DO NOT RATE US
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/260 ... ot-rate-us
World-travelled John Toshack claims that Europe does not rate England and in a stinging attack on British football says no one is surprised that none of the home nations will be at Euro 2008.
Toshack has worked successfully in five different countries over nearly 30 years in management and achieved one of Wales’s best results when they held Germany to a goalless draw on the night England went out of the European Championship.
“England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales, we’ve got nobody in there. We’re not rated on the Continent,” said Toshack. “British managers are not, coaches are not, players are not.
“People abroad, I assure you, haven’t got a high opinion of our game. They have of our Premier League because it’s full of foreign players, but they haven’t about our football in general.
We play 4-4-2, straight lines, and we think that’s it. It’s Land of Hope and Glory and the bulldog spirit. Out comes the British boxer at the Royal Albert Hall, bang, bang, throws punches at the little Puerto Rican, who steps away and goes ‘bump’.
“All of a sudden there’s a moan, the British fighter’s cut, the referee has a look and the fight’s stopped. The British boxer says, ‘I was unlucky, I was winning on points when he caught me’. Sorry, the fight’s stopped.
“Our teams hammer away, they hit the bar, the goalkeeper makes a save, it’s 0-0 but then the opposition counter-attacks, bump, we lose 1-0. We were so unlucky… I’ve seen it for 40 years.
And we’re still the same. “It might not be a bad thing that the five teams haven’t qualified. I don’t so much mean Wales because we weren’t expected to anyway.
“What’s the answer, whether they should have a complete look at the coaching system here?
A lot of people have talked about foreign player quotas, but that’s going to be difficult because of the possible restraint of trade. I’ve seen people in Britain complain about the coaches coming in from abroad, they say we should give our own coaches a fairer crack of the whip. But we’ve got the same chance to go abroad that they have to come here.
“Why don’t we go over to the Bayern Munichs, the Barcelonas or the Real Madrids, or the Paris St Germains, and come back as better coaches or better managers? Maybe because over there they don’t rate us that highly.
“I go around the lower divisions a lot in Britain to see players for Wales and once you’ve seen one game you’ve seen them all. It’s 4-4-2, hit the front man, get on the second ball. It hasn’t changed and maybe we should look at those things. It frustrates me at times, it really does.”
Toshack is trying to rebuild Welsh national football with a limited amount of talent, mostly found outside the Premier League, and given the context, claimed the draw with Germany the best of his Welsh international reign.
He has managed Spanish clubs Real Madrid twice and Real Sociedad three times, Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Besiktas (Turkey), St Etienne (France) and Swansea in a nine-club career.
He has had conflict with his Welsh players about playing systems other than the orthodox 4-4-2 and feels he is beginning to win the argument.
“It becomes so comfortable for the players unless you take them out of the 4-4-2, the way they’ve been brought up,” said Toshack.
“You get your people like Teddy Sheringham, Peter Beardsley and Wayne Rooney, people who nobody taught, they know how to play in these positions in between the lines.
“We’ve seen Zola, Bergkamp, people who come over here who are naturals at it, but we still haven’t learnt, we haven’t changed. England have got to be bitterly disappointed with this.
“You mustn’t confuse the Premier League with English football or the English game. You look at Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool who play in the Champions League and I think of the 44 players who played last time, only 10 of them were British, nevermind English.
“I will try to carry on in the way I believe. I don’t have the tools that some of the others have. I think, ‘John, you’ve got to keep going and they’re going to have to learn to try and play that way’.”
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/260 ... ot-rate-us
World-travelled John Toshack claims that Europe does not rate England and in a stinging attack on British football says no one is surprised that none of the home nations will be at Euro 2008.
Toshack has worked successfully in five different countries over nearly 30 years in management and achieved one of Wales’s best results when they held Germany to a goalless draw on the night England went out of the European Championship.
“England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales, we’ve got nobody in there. We’re not rated on the Continent,” said Toshack. “British managers are not, coaches are not, players are not.
“People abroad, I assure you, haven’t got a high opinion of our game. They have of our Premier League because it’s full of foreign players, but they haven’t about our football in general.
We play 4-4-2, straight lines, and we think that’s it. It’s Land of Hope and Glory and the bulldog spirit. Out comes the British boxer at the Royal Albert Hall, bang, bang, throws punches at the little Puerto Rican, who steps away and goes ‘bump’.
“All of a sudden there’s a moan, the British fighter’s cut, the referee has a look and the fight’s stopped. The British boxer says, ‘I was unlucky, I was winning on points when he caught me’. Sorry, the fight’s stopped.
“Our teams hammer away, they hit the bar, the goalkeeper makes a save, it’s 0-0 but then the opposition counter-attacks, bump, we lose 1-0. We were so unlucky… I’ve seen it for 40 years.
And we’re still the same. “It might not be a bad thing that the five teams haven’t qualified. I don’t so much mean Wales because we weren’t expected to anyway.
“What’s the answer, whether they should have a complete look at the coaching system here?
A lot of people have talked about foreign player quotas, but that’s going to be difficult because of the possible restraint of trade. I’ve seen people in Britain complain about the coaches coming in from abroad, they say we should give our own coaches a fairer crack of the whip. But we’ve got the same chance to go abroad that they have to come here.
“Why don’t we go over to the Bayern Munichs, the Barcelonas or the Real Madrids, or the Paris St Germains, and come back as better coaches or better managers? Maybe because over there they don’t rate us that highly.
“I go around the lower divisions a lot in Britain to see players for Wales and once you’ve seen one game you’ve seen them all. It’s 4-4-2, hit the front man, get on the second ball. It hasn’t changed and maybe we should look at those things. It frustrates me at times, it really does.”
Toshack is trying to rebuild Welsh national football with a limited amount of talent, mostly found outside the Premier League, and given the context, claimed the draw with Germany the best of his Welsh international reign.
He has managed Spanish clubs Real Madrid twice and Real Sociedad three times, Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Besiktas (Turkey), St Etienne (France) and Swansea in a nine-club career.
He has had conflict with his Welsh players about playing systems other than the orthodox 4-4-2 and feels he is beginning to win the argument.
“It becomes so comfortable for the players unless you take them out of the 4-4-2, the way they’ve been brought up,” said Toshack.
“You get your people like Teddy Sheringham, Peter Beardsley and Wayne Rooney, people who nobody taught, they know how to play in these positions in between the lines.
“We’ve seen Zola, Bergkamp, people who come over here who are naturals at it, but we still haven’t learnt, we haven’t changed. England have got to be bitterly disappointed with this.
“You mustn’t confuse the Premier League with English football or the English game. You look at Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool who play in the Champions League and I think of the 44 players who played last time, only 10 of them were British, nevermind English.
“I will try to carry on in the way I believe. I don’t have the tools that some of the others have. I think, ‘John, you’ve got to keep going and they’re going to have to learn to try and play that way’.”
If I can't express my opinion, I have no reason to be part of this union."
Co Adriaanse - AZ Coach
We’re not rated on the Continent,” said Toshack. “British managers are not, coaches are not, players are not. It’s all 4-4-2, hit the front man, get on the second ball. It hasn’t changed. It frustrates me at times, it really does.”
- John Toshack (British Wales Coach viewtopic.php?t=111511 ).
Co Adriaanse - AZ Coach
We’re not rated on the Continent,” said Toshack. “British managers are not, coaches are not, players are not. It’s all 4-4-2, hit the front man, get on the second ball. It hasn’t changed. It frustrates me at times, it really does.”
- John Toshack (British Wales Coach viewtopic.php?t=111511 ).
-
kongi the emir
stargazer wrote:The British attitude is a bit like Nigeria's though ..right? Who is gonna be the Toshack of Nigeria and speak the truth!
u right bout dat bloood..... naijas think other teams show to sell groundnut to SE.They wanted a FC and got now they wanna fire him cos he disgraced them with a 2-2 draw in mexico.
Re: John Toshack: People Abroad do not rate us British
Bobo Dan wrote:
We’re not rated on the Continent,” said Toshack. “British managers are not, coaches are not, players are not.
It’s all 4-4-2, hit the front man, get on the second ball. It hasn’t changed. It frustrates me at times, it really does.”
After all said and done, I am only grateful that Brian Robson wasn't employed few years back as was championed by few on this board. At least our FA had the decency to save us that embarasment. Had he been employed, God knows where Naija footies would be now.
If I can't express my opinion, I have no reason to be part of this union."
Co Adriaanse - AZ Coach
We’re not rated on the Continent,” said Toshack. “British managers are not, coaches are not, players are not. It’s all 4-4-2, hit the front man, get on the second ball. It hasn’t changed. It frustrates me at times, it really does.”
- John Toshack (British Wales Coach viewtopic.php?t=111511 ).
Co Adriaanse - AZ Coach
We’re not rated on the Continent,” said Toshack. “British managers are not, coaches are not, players are not. It’s all 4-4-2, hit the front man, get on the second ball. It hasn’t changed. It frustrates me at times, it really does.”
- John Toshack (British Wales Coach viewtopic.php?t=111511 ).
-
Ayo Akinfe
- Flying Eagle
- Posts: 55076
- Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2003 4:57 pm
- Location: United Kingdom
- Contact:
Re: John Toshack: People Abroad do not rate us British
In all fairness, there are certain exceptions. English coaches who do not think like that include:Bobo Dan wrote:Bobo Dan wrote:
We’re not rated on the Continent,” said Toshack. “British managers are not, coaches are not, players are not.
It’s all 4-4-2, hit the front man, get on the second ball. It hasn’t changed. It frustrates me at times, it really does.”
After all said and done, I am only grateful that Brian Robson wasn't employed few years back as was championed by few on this board. At least our FA had the decency to save us that embarasment. Had he been employed, God knows where Naija footies would be now.
Bryan Robson
Glen Hoddle
Steve Coppell
Alan Pardew
Alan Curbishley
Kevin Kegan
-
cic old boy
- Flying Eagle
- Posts: 64227
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 7:59 pm