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Editors' Roundtable: Bob Bradley, Europe And The American Coach
Aug 10, 2010 2:13:00 PM
Andrea Canales: USA national team coach Bob Bradley has been mentioned as a possible replacement for the coaching job at Aston Villa. How is this a good fit, and how is it perhaps not?
Allen Ramsey: It's a good fit because Bob would have plenty of solid players to work with and his defensive counterattacking style fits the EPL fairly well. It's not a good fit because Bob is not Martin O'Neill, and will likely not get the same types of results with Villa that the fans and the board have come to expect.
Zac Lee Rigg: For Randy Lerner it's a good fit because you know Bob Bradley's not going to throw a hissy fit every time one of his players is sold or not enough millions of pounds are supplied. Too much experience in MLS-level salaries and (lack of) transfer fees to get too upset about that.
Seth Vertelney: Villa is not a very attractive position right now. They have no funds to buy players and will probably have to sell a couple guys, like Ashley Young. They finished 6th last season and that seems to be their ceiling for this season. Will their fans and the press be understanding if they don't finish that high? No, no they will not
Canales: In some ways for me, it would be a neat resolution of a conflicting situation. I like and respect Bob, and think he deserves a good coaching position, but I think it's time for him to leave the USA national post. He isn't really going to bring anything fresh to the table any more, and they need to evolve.
What I think is problematic is that Villa is a bigger team than Bradley is really ready for - I still think his best bet would be to rescue a struggling team.
Luis Bueno: Bob should do whatever he can to get himself to Europe. It would be a great move for him - for any American really - to get into a managerial position in a top European league.
Canales: It would not be a great move if he gets in over his head, though. It also bothers me a little that the assumption abroad is that Bradley has the inside track because Lerner is American. That shouldn't be much of a factor in the decision.
Vertelney: I just hope other American managers are given a fair shake in the future if Bob has a poor season- something that seems very possible with the turmoil at that club right now
Canales: It'll also be the first thing anyone attacks if Bradley struggles even a little.
Ramsey: No matter where Bob goes, if he struggles 'the American coach is rubbish' attacks will start.
Rigg: Well, to be fair, the coach is the guy attacked when things go bad no matter the ethnicity.
Ramsey: True. But it's just easier if the guy is American and never played in the pros.
Canales: But with Americans, the opportunities and options are limited. No one says all French coaches suck when attacking Domenech, for example. Because there's Aresne Wenger and other successful coaches.
Rigg: No, but people attack all fat people when Benitez sucks. Just common jibes.
Vertelney: The flip side though, is if Bob can do well, it could open the door to more American coaches.
Bueno: Don't know about that. Javier Aguirre did well in Spain but only one other Mexican was hired in Spain and he didn't last very long. If Bradley does tremendous, I doubt we see an exodus of MLS coaches.
Canales: Where's Aguirre going now? Is he an option for Europe again?
Bueno: I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in Spain somewhere, but as of now he's just laying low.
Canales: Maybe Aguirre's thinking about the Villa job, too. His English has gotten a lot better.
Bueno: As it is, aren't the majority of MLS coaches foreigners anyway? U.S.-born coaches in MLS: Arena, Kreis, Olsen... Who did I miss?
Vertelney: Peter Vermes.
Bueno: Yeah, Vermes. Three full-time coaches and an interim out of 16. But I'm not sure that means a great deal.
Vertelney: Jason Kries is a young American coach I could see having a promising future.
Canales: He's the youngest coach ever to win an MLS championship. But does the "American-born" part matter? Like Sigi Schmid not counting as American seems weird. He was the first AYSO player in history, practically.
Vertelney: He moved to the USA at the age of four.
Canales: I guess I think more of an American coach as one who made his career in America - perhaps both through playing and coaching. Like Steve Nicol has coached here forever, but he's always going to be thought of as mainly a Liverpool legend abroad.
Bueno: Guess it depends who you ask, but I don't think any MLS coach's birthplace matters. American and foreign coaches have had success and failures in the league time and again.
Canales: Anyway, the bottom line is, Bradley has coached up the American ranks of soccer, and still, it'll only really make an impression on the international level if he's successful with a European team.
Bueno: If he's successful, I think it will only be a story here in the U.S. Nobody is going to care in Europe that an American-led squad placed seventh in the EPL.
Canales: That's way wrong. The fans of that particular team will care a lot.
Visit the U.S. national team page on Goal.com for more and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page!
Allen Ramsey: It's a good fit because Bob would have plenty of solid players to work with and his defensive counterattacking style fits the EPL fairly well. It's not a good fit because Bob is not Martin O'Neill, and will likely not get the same types of results with Villa that the fans and the board have come to expect.
Zac Lee Rigg: For Randy Lerner it's a good fit because you know Bob Bradley's not going to throw a hissy fit every time one of his players is sold or not enough millions of pounds are supplied. Too much experience in MLS-level salaries and (lack of) transfer fees to get too upset about that.
Seth Vertelney: Villa is not a very attractive position right now. They have no funds to buy players and will probably have to sell a couple guys, like Ashley Young. They finished 6th last season and that seems to be their ceiling for this season. Will their fans and the press be understanding if they don't finish that high? No, no they will not
Canales: In some ways for me, it would be a neat resolution of a conflicting situation. I like and respect Bob, and think he deserves a good coaching position, but I think it's time for him to leave the USA national post. He isn't really going to bring anything fresh to the table any more, and they need to evolve.
What I think is problematic is that Villa is a bigger team than Bradley is really ready for - I still think his best bet would be to rescue a struggling team.
Luis Bueno: Bob should do whatever he can to get himself to Europe. It would be a great move for him - for any American really - to get into a managerial position in a top European league.
Canales: It would not be a great move if he gets in over his head, though. It also bothers me a little that the assumption abroad is that Bradley has the inside track because Lerner is American. That shouldn't be much of a factor in the decision.
Vertelney: I just hope other American managers are given a fair shake in the future if Bob has a poor season- something that seems very possible with the turmoil at that club right now
Canales: It'll also be the first thing anyone attacks if Bradley struggles even a little.
Ramsey: No matter where Bob goes, if he struggles 'the American coach is rubbish' attacks will start.
Rigg: Well, to be fair, the coach is the guy attacked when things go bad no matter the ethnicity.
Ramsey: True. But it's just easier if the guy is American and never played in the pros.
Canales: But with Americans, the opportunities and options are limited. No one says all French coaches suck when attacking Domenech, for example. Because there's Aresne Wenger and other successful coaches.
Rigg: No, but people attack all fat people when Benitez sucks. Just common jibes.
Vertelney: The flip side though, is if Bob can do well, it could open the door to more American coaches.
Bueno: Don't know about that. Javier Aguirre did well in Spain but only one other Mexican was hired in Spain and he didn't last very long. If Bradley does tremendous, I doubt we see an exodus of MLS coaches.
Canales: Where's Aguirre going now? Is he an option for Europe again?
Bueno: I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in Spain somewhere, but as of now he's just laying low.
Canales: Maybe Aguirre's thinking about the Villa job, too. His English has gotten a lot better.
Bueno: As it is, aren't the majority of MLS coaches foreigners anyway? U.S.-born coaches in MLS: Arena, Kreis, Olsen... Who did I miss?
Vertelney: Peter Vermes.
Bueno: Yeah, Vermes. Three full-time coaches and an interim out of 16. But I'm not sure that means a great deal.
Vertelney: Jason Kries is a young American coach I could see having a promising future.
Canales: He's the youngest coach ever to win an MLS championship. But does the "American-born" part matter? Like Sigi Schmid not counting as American seems weird. He was the first AYSO player in history, practically.
Vertelney: He moved to the USA at the age of four.
Canales: I guess I think more of an American coach as one who made his career in America - perhaps both through playing and coaching. Like Steve Nicol has coached here forever, but he's always going to be thought of as mainly a Liverpool legend abroad.
Bueno: Guess it depends who you ask, but I don't think any MLS coach's birthplace matters. American and foreign coaches have had success and failures in the league time and again.
Canales: Anyway, the bottom line is, Bradley has coached up the American ranks of soccer, and still, it'll only really make an impression on the international level if he's successful with a European team.
Bueno: If he's successful, I think it will only be a story here in the U.S. Nobody is going to care in Europe that an American-led squad placed seventh in the EPL.
Canales: That's way wrong. The fans of that particular team will care a lot.
Visit the U.S. national team page on Goal.com for more and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page!
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