Paul Fernie: Radical ideas needed to give English coaches more chance
Paul Fernie: Sporting Director of Wiesbaden and then SV Darmstadt in Germany
Written by Simon Austin — July 22, 2024
There will be more Spanish than English managers in the Premier League when the new season kicks off next month.
This is a situation that would be unthinkable in any other major European league. In La Liga, 15 of the 20 managers are Spanish. In Serie A, 17 of the 20 are Italian. In Ligue 1, 10 of the 17 (Strasbourg are about to appoint) are French. And in the Bundesliga, nine of the 18 are German.
Other than Will Still (who has joint Belgian and British nationality), none of the Head Coaches in the 'Big Five' leagues aside from England are currently English. The Premier League is often described as the world league, with more foreign owners and players than any other, yet it’s hard to escape the conclusion that English managers aren't rated in their own country.
There is currently a debate going on about whether the next England manager should be English. Most fans would ideally this, but the brutal truth is that the pool of credible candidates is small.
Even in the Championship, there are eight overseas managers - three Germans, two Spaniards, a Dane, a Turk and a Frenchman - and little wonder that Paul Fernie, the English Sporting Director of SV Darmstadt in Germany, believes there is an absence of opportunity for English coaches.
Fernie told the TGG Podcast that England was ahead of Germany in terms of player development, but that the situation was reversed when it came to coaches and managers.
He said: “Are the young English coaches getting the exposure, the chances they have maybe earned, or do we typically go for an international coach because they have more experience?
“Why have they got more experience? Because they have had the platform to be able to take the opportunity. We still have room to grow in England with regard to young English coaches getting that chance.
HEAD COACH NATIONALITIES IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE
- Spanish: Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery, Pep Guardiola, Andoni Iraola, Julen Lopetegui
- English: Sean Dyche, Eddie Howe, Gary O’Neil, Russell Martin
- Portuguese: Nuno Espirito Santo, Marco Silva
- Australian: Ange Postecoglou
- Austrian: Oliver Glasner
- Danish: Thomas Frank
- Dutch: Arne Slot, Erik ten Hag
- German: Fabian Hurzeler (above)
- Italian: Enzo Maresca
- Northern Irish: Kieran McKenna
- Welsh: Steve Cooper
“It’s down to chance and opportunity, same with young players. People will surprise you. How often do you see a young player make a debut and people say, ‘Oh wow, I’m really surprised.’
“Well, don’t be surprised, they just need a chance. A chance and a platform and an opportunity, someone who believes in them and gives them to chance to grow and develop. If you don’t give people a chance, you are never going to find out.”
Now, you might argue that Luis de la Fuente, Head Coach of Euro 2024 champions Spain, didn't come into the job on the back of a high-profile club management career, which is true. However, he managed reserve side Bilbao Athletic in the third tier of Spanish football though, as well as having a short stint in charge of Alaves.
Fernie said the absence of B Teams in England - in contrast to the situation in Germany and Spain - deprived young coaches of a stepping stone into bigger roles.
“In German football you’ve got the second team format - the Under-23 teams play in the professional league,” he explained. “In the third league in Germany last year you had Freiburg and Dortmund second teams. Hannover have now gone up into the third league.
“They are playing real football against men in a tough league that’s televised, that’s got exposure. They get exposed to so many different things. Young coaches coach in that league, so they’re getting exposure at a high level.
“Is that a reason why they accelerate a little quicker? Possibly. Because the exposure is there, the chance is there and they’re playing in a real men’s league.”
Former Norwich City Sporting Director Stuart Webber has previously spoken about this. He turned to Dortmund Reserves to hire David Wagner as Huddersfield manager and then Daniel Farke at Norwich. Both went on to achieve promotion to the Premier League.
“I still don’t see the U21 League (Premier League 2) as being a good enough step to being a First Team Head Coach,” Webber told the TGG Podcast.
“You’re not really working with your own team every week, you’re not working in a competitive league, you never know who you’re playing. So it’s a bit of an unrealistic league in my opinion.
“There isn't that crowd pressure. I know there is relegation and promotion, but let’s be honest, no-one really cares. Whereas in Germany, David coached Dortmund second team in the German third league, our equivalent of League One, and you’re playing big clubs and there are big pressures.”
When you consider that foreign Head Coaches also tend to bring in foreign assistants and first-team coaches too (you only have to look at the TGG staff profiles to see this), you do start to wonder where this stepping stone is for young English coaches.
“I was reading something around a year ago, that when an international coach comes into England, they have on average of 100 more games under their belt as a Head Coach than a young English coach, which I found quite fascinating,” Fernie revealed.
“That’s why they’re getting the jobs, because they are more experienced.”
Webber also said he believed that German coach education was better than English coach education.
“I genuinely believe that Germany are the best at preparing coaches for their careers,” he said. “I think their courses are the most regimented, the toughest to pass, and that the DFB take it really seriously in terms of delivering them.
“Anything we talk about in terms of youth and coach development, they were doing it 20 years ago. When I speak to my colleagues out there, they almost laugh when I tell them what’s going on here in those areas. ‘Are you only just doing that?!’”
HEAD COACH NATIONALITIES
La Liga:
- Spanish: 15
- Argentine: 1
- German: 1
- Chilean: 1
- Italian: 1
- Uruguayan: 1
Bundesliga:
- German: 9
- Danish: 3
- Turkish: 1
- American: 1
- Swiss: 1
- Belgian: 1
- Austrian: 1
- Spanish: 1
Ligue 1:
- French: 10
- Spanish: 2
- Slovenian: 1
- Armenian: 1
- Italian: 1
- Austrian: 1
- English/ Belgian: 1
Serie A:
- Italian: 17
- German: 1
- Portuguese: 1
- Spanish: 1
Fernie believes action is required and he has a few ideas as to what that could be. B Teams are probably impossible in England because of the pyramid, but there are other options.
“We’ve seen player loans happen for years,” he said. “Can we start to loan out staff members? We’ve got to solve the problem somehow, of how do we expose the coaches to more minutes and environments where they are going to be at the senior level and ready to perform.
“I’m a big believer in problem solving and that’s one we’ve got to try and solve as a nation.”
- Additional reporting by Matthew Aumeeruddy
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