Suspense seems in short supply around the major leagues of Europe. As
Manchester United seek today to pump up the cushion between themselves and
the rest of the Premier League, Bayern Munich will guard a healthy advantage
in the Bundesliga. Olympique Lyonnais opened the French weekend with a
six-point gap, while Real Madrid tonight look to consolidate a seven-point
lead in Spain. Italy’s race has turned closer of late but Internazionale,
four points ahead of Roma, remain on course for a successive title, perhaps
with time to spare.
In the countries long tired of keeping up with the same steed in one-horse
races, little respite. PSV Eindhoven could become Dutch champions again
today. Porto have already won their league. Apart from United, these
pacesetters cruise on without distractions. Apart from United, none remains
in the Champions League, which explains why almost all the
soon-to-be-champion head coaches will sip the champagne that celebrates
domestic triumph with half an eye on whom the president or the chairman
might be calling on his mobile.
A bloody summer in Europe’s dugouts looms. The coaches at Inter, Barcelona,
Milan, Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern and Lyons may very well all have
extended summer holidays. It is a terrific time to be Jose Mourinho,
actively seeking employment; an interesting time for Rafa Benitez, whose
name will be linked to destinations in Spain and maybe Italy; and a tough
time for Chelsea should they decide Avram Grant is clutching in vain for the
confidence of his players. Chelsea would find themselves competing with a
number of the highest payers for the pick of good replacements.
Anticipating the mad merry-go-round, some acted fast. Once Bayern have won
their league they will thank coach Ottmar Hitzfeld for his 18 months work in
this, his second spell, and usher in Jurgen Klinsmann. PSV have Huub Stevens
of Hamburg ready to start in July. Ajax have contracted Marco van Basten to
resurrect their reputation as the major Dutch club and give them a presence
again in Europe. Klinsmann and Van Basten have a special cachet elsewhere,
especially in Italy, where both played at their peaks as centre-forwards.
In Italy, uncertainty stalks the big three. After defeat against Liverpool in
the European Cup quarter-finals, Inter’s Roberto Mancini announced he would
quit in the summer, retracting with a league title still to be won, but with
Mourinho’s shadow falling consistently over his job. Milan under Carlo
Ancelotti are the 21st century’s most successful Champions League club, but
may struggle to even be in it come August. Juventus should be, but harbour
doubts that Claudio Ranieri is the man to negotiate that terrain.
In Spain, the usual game of to-sack-or-to-stick will be played out, with
traditional outcomes anticipated. At Real Madrid, Bernd Schuster, top of the
league but with a 2008 record that shows eight defeats, twitches in his
chair as if it were an ejector seat. It is. The last two head coaches to win
the league for Madrid, Vicente del Bosque and Fabio Capello, were sacked
within days. Top of the table most of the season, Schuster finds it hard to
speak of long-term aims. “I don’t know how long I’ll be here,” he told
compatriots back in the autumn. Madrid were top then, too, and have stayed
there consistently even if on some Monday mornings, Schuster, appointed last
July, must notice it has been a supremacy maintained by default. He is the
eighth man in charge of the first team in the past five years and has not
resolved their difficulties in Europe. Madrid have not won a knockout tie in
the Champions League for four seasons.
France’s Lyons also feel frustrated, dominant at home, last 16 in Europe.
Lyons apparently contacted Mourinho soon after he left Chelsea, disturbed by
the ropey start made by Alain Perrin. Perrin’s future still looks cloudy,
but Mourinho will not go to France. The Jose-to-Inter story endures more
plausibly than Jose-to-Lyons ever did. Jose-to-Barcelona had some mileage,
too, though those within Barça who lobby for the Portuguese to return to the
club where he once served as assistant coach have work to do to persuade the
president, Joan Laporta, that Mourinho’s intense style makes an appropriate
antidote to the drift currently overseen by Frank Rijkaard. When Laporta
declares that “this club has a style of play, keeping the ball, that we must
respect”, as he did last week, it can be taken as a rebuke to the Mourinhistas
on his board. Besides, Rijkaard’s Barça remain active in the Champions
League, the only team holding up the English juggernaut.
It is the power of that juggernaut that makes the rest of Europe edgy. Italy
bears fresh wounds on the field, English clubs having knocked Milan, Inter
and Roma out of this European Cup. Off the pitch, English football, short of
indigenous talent, is notoriously predatory. Bayern snapped up Klinsmann
knowing Liverpool had put out feelers. Spain feels acutely the Premier
League’s economic clout. Managers now rise in La Liga – Benitez, Juande
Ramos – and go to England to multiply their salaries. The best young Madrileo
footballer, Fernando Torres, shines there; so does the most talented Barcelonista
under the age of 21: Cesc Fabregas. Likewise, the captain of Germany,
Michael Ballack, lives in London and in an economic stratosphere beyond the
pay structure even of big-spending Bayern.
How to combat the flight of talent? The sense grows among the heavyweights of
the Continent that momentum will be best regained by trusting the future to
their own men, unveiling new leaders around whom declarations can be made
that they “have the club in their veins”. Bayern, who were also linked with
Mourinho, moved to bring in a glamorous young name with a successful
background as a player at their club. Klinsmann is a risk – his CV includes
just seven competitive matches in charge of any senior side, the German
national one at the last World Cup – but a glitzy one. Ditto Ajax. Van
Basten, the former European Footballer of the Year, will take his first club
job in a city he used to play in once he completes his spell in charge of
the Dutch national squad after Euro 2008.
Barcelona are attracted to a similar idea: to answer a crisis with rhetoric
about restoring the club’s identity, appointing a man admired by the fans,
close to the institution. Barça’s former captain and now the coach of Barça
B, Pep Guardiola, has strong backing in a post-Rijkaard future. A related
long-term logic has Gianfranco Zola, loved at Stamford Bridge, one day
taking the Chelsea reins. Milan president Silvio Berlusconi holds a declared
preference for former Milan players as his head coaches. His loyalty to one,
Ancelotti, is under examination. Should Ancelotti go, Roberto Donadoni,
currently in charge of Italy, and Rijkaard, both former Milan players,
become candidates.
But Mourinho does not need a playing CV to impress. Inter, Barça, Milan,
Madrid, Juve? One of those jobs should go to the former Chelsea and Porto
manager. Also available are Marcello Lippi, former Italy, Inter and Juve,
and Didier Deschamps, who took unlikely Monaco to the European Cup final. Of
a similar generation are Laurent Blanc, who has made an excellent start to
management at Bordeaux after a distinguished playing career, and Michael
Laudrup, the former Denmark captain, in charge of Spain’s Getafe. Laudrup
played at Barça, Madrid and Juventus, and has taken Getafe to a Spanish Cup
final and the last eight of the Uefa Cup. The achievement registers with all
of his former employers, as with Chelsea, where compatriot Frank Arnesen
notionally has a say in recruitment.
Roma head coach Luciano Spalletti has admirers, so does Sampdoria’s Walter
Mazzarri, and Villarreal’s Mauricio Pellegrino is following up a Champions
League semi-final in 2006 with the most coherent pursuit of Madrid from
anybody in La Liga. His commitment to pass-and-move and an aura of
considerable dignity are sellable qualities. There will be fall-out from
Euro 2008, too. International tournaments tend to finish with about half the
men in charge falling on their swords or given their cards. Croatia’s Slaven
Bilic and Italy’s Donadoni lead the younger brigade, and, for all he has
committed to a new contract with Russia, Guus Hiddink and Portugal’s Luiz
Felipe Scolari represent the tried-and-tested. But lead item in the summer
auction is Mourinho. By the end of the bidding he should imagine himself a
very special one indeed.
Situations vacant? Who’s going where on this summer’s managerial
merry-go-round
BAYERN MUNICH
On the brink Ottmar Hitzfeld will go, even once Bayern tie up the
Bundesliga and perhaps go all the way in the Uefa Cup.
Next in? Jurgen Klinsmann has agreed to take his first club job in his
native Germany. Jose Mourinho had been linked.
CHELSEA
On the brink Avram Grant has Chelsea in the Champions League semis but
he is continually plagued by unflattering comparisons with Mourinho.
Next in? The Frank Rijkaard lobby has lost some momentum. Getafe’s
Michael Laudrup is a dark horse, Gianfranco Zola a darker one. Not Mourinho
REAL MADRID
On the brink Bernd Schuster might ask: ‘Why change a title-winning
coach?’ He knows the answer: ‘That’s what we usually do.’ Schuster, like
Capello, has clocked up another Madrid failure in Europe.
Next in? No firm plan, but admiration for Milan’s Carlo Ancelotti and
former Italy boss Marcello Lippi, and respect for Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez.
Madrid plan a pre-season phase in Portugal, home of you-know-who.
BARCELONA
On the brink Frank Rijkaard has seen his stock fall since his
back-to-back titles and Champions League triumph.
Next in? Strong Mourinho lobby, but former players such as Pep
Guardiola, Laurent Blanc and Laudrup also favoured.
INTERNAZIONALE
On the brink Roberto Mancini has thrown in the towel once, after defeat
by Liverpool in Europe, but retracted with the league title again in sight.
Next in? Mourinho wants to add Italy to his CV, Inter want to end a
43-year wait for the European Cup.
AC MILAN
On the brink Carlo Ancelotti has brought two European Cups and a
scudetto, but Milan were made to look their age by Arsenal.
Next in? President Berlusconi likes coaches with a long link with
Milan, such as Rijkaard and Italy coach Roberto Donadoni.
LIVERPOOL
On the brink Rafa Benitez has the knack in Europe but lives in
uncertainty over the identity of his medium-term bosses. As likely to walk
as get pushed.
Next in? One of Liverpool´s American stakeholders asked after
Klinsmann, but amid the executive chaos at Anfield, no shortlists as yet.
