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THE HODDLE DEBACLE
Bird-brain Hoddle
Cody Wong comments on Saints' admission that their 'biggest' mistake was not to re-appoint Hoddle manager in the face of fan and media protest when Gordon Strachan left.
I simply cannot believe the board think the one mistake that most likely got Saints relegated was the missed opportunity to re-appoint Glenn Hoddle as manager. Either the board are thick or we the fans are thick for the logic of the argument fails me.
Glenn Hoddle it must be remembered was on a run of very poor results when Spurs sacked him. Indeed it was Saints who drilled the nail into his coffin when we beat them 3-1 at White Hart Lane in September 2003. It turned out quite fittingly that the club which he spurned was the one which put the boot in - Sod's law or just karma? What sense was there appointing someone who was so bad at his job his team of expensive players comprehensively lost to a smaller club?
Ok Hoddle was good for us the first time round one might argue. Sure but what worked the first time might not the second. Kevin Davies anyone?
In expressing their regret the board have lost sight of one thing: football is not just dollars and cents (though it is very much that now) and success on the pitch, it is loyalty and guts and a sense of family between players and fans. The worst thing a manager could do is not to leave, but the way he leaves. Hoddle could not wait till the season ended and Saints were given every opportunity to look for a suitable successor, no his "calling" required him to up sticks post-haste and take Dean Richards - a rock in our defence at the time - with him. Saints were betrayed and the worst thing in football as in life is betrayal.
If you ask me, there are many reasons more pertinent than the failure to appoint Hoddle for Saints' relegation. Chief of these is the failure to back a promising manager in the form of Paul Sturrock. When he came, I could not have been more thrilled (unless we had appointed Del Bosque, formerly of Real Madrid) and thought his appointment was absolutely inspired. In his first game in charge, Sturrock led Saints to a comfortable 2-0 win over Liverpool. Would Glenn Hoddle have done as well one wonders?
Paul Sturrock it was who got Claus Lundekvam to finally score after a trillion games (he has not scored since). It was under Sturrock's charge Rory Delap scored that brilliant overhead kick - arguably goal of the season - as Saints turned over Spurs. Saints won 3-1 away to Manchester City and 4-1 away to Wolves. No manager in the last five years - that would be five or six managers at the rate of one a year - had got Saints attacking and scoring the way Paul Sturrock did and no one has since. What the board failed to do was to back him over the players when some of the players (not Beattie, maybe Dodd) led a revolt of sorts because of his no-nonsense managerial style. The failure to back Sturrock imho is a greater failure than the failure to appoint Hoddle.
And what about the failure to appoint an experienced manager after Sturrock, choosing instead an unexceptional albeit loyal coach namely Steve Wigley? Wasn't this gambling? For 14 games that produced dire results - the first league win took something like 10 league games in coming - the board gambled till they could gamble no more. This too was a bigger mistake than the failure to appoint Judas Hoddle.
And what about monumental cock-ups, bad tactics and instances of bad luck in our relegation season? Had Peter Crouch taken the ball to the corner flag in injury time when we were leading Everton by the odd goal, we would have got two more points that would have secured our place in the Premiership. Had somone marked Van Persie in injury time, Arsenal would not have got their equaliser at Highbury. And on and on we could go.
Who is to say we would not have been relegated sooner if Hoddle had come back as Hoddle's bad results at Spurs might suggest? Who is to say we would not have been relegated anyway under Hoddle when the vices of the managerial merry-go-round finally caught up with Saints?
So while the board is entitled to their opinion, I think their opinion is based on shifting sand. Anyway Hoddle was too many managers removed from Harry Redknapp for his non-appointment to be the cause of relegation.
One wonders then why the club have highlighted this part of the AGM on the club website. Isn't there anything more important than harping on the past? Are the club effectively laying the blame for Saints' relegation on the fans when they say the board should have stood up to the fans? Is it to prepare for a day in the future when a Hoddle-like situation might arise? In other words are the board training the fans as seals are trained not to question the board? If so, that is deplorable conduct as worthy of condemnation as is their failure to keep Saints in the Premiership.
Or are the board just naive? One hopes it is this. Then again one hopes it is not as one shudders to think the club is run by clueless sheep in the midst of football wolves.
With Saints as all fans know one thing is practically certain - excitement (even if the football itself may not be exciting).
Cody Wong
03-11-05
E-mail comments to singasaints@hotmail.com
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