The transition from player to coach

So news has just hit the wire that 1998 World Cup Champion and arguably Arsenal’s greatest footballer Thierry Henry has been suspended as coach of Ligue 1 strugglers Monaco.

So bad was Henry at the helm that the team only had five wins in over three months and only two wins in 12 league matches.

Word is that Henry, who was in only his second coaching job after retiring from football, was making key player-related decisions without consultation. He has also been accused of insulting opponents and relegating key members of the squad to the bench on his way to the relegation zone.

It’s so bad for Monaco that they have called on his predecessor, Leonardo Jardim, who they had fired a little over three months ago, to regain control of the team in the interim.

Now, Henry was a great player in his time and the fifth-highest scorer in English Premier League history, but we have seen time and again that great players don’t always translate to great coaches. Henry is just one in a long list of players who failed miserably at coaching.

We have to look no further than arguably football’s greatest player, Diego Maradona, for a great example of a good player who didn’t quite translate as a coach. Maradona has been dabbling in coaching since 1994 and has been to seven clubs, but he was most visible as coach of Argentina from 2008 to the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Argentina barely qualified for the World Cup on that occasion, and although the team went to the quarterfinals in 2010, his squad selection was poor and he didn’t quite seem to exercise the kind of self-control expected of a man of his stature.

Barnes’ stint

Liverpool legend John Barnes may now relish his role as pundit of which he does an excellent job, but his stint at coaching wasn’t quite as illustrious as his playing career. Barnes did not impress as coach of Jamaica’s national football team, nor in any of his other coaching roles. He was sacked by the Tranmere Rovers following a disastrous start to their season with only two league wins from 11 matches, which left the Rovers languishing 22nd in the league.

Gary Neville is another famous footballer who failed in the manager’s seat. Neville had an impressive run at Manchester United as a player and captain, who has never plied his trade at any other club. He is one of the most decorated English footballers of all time, having won a total of 20 trophies, including eight Premier League titles and two UEFA Champions League titles. He left his job as a pundit and assistant coach in England to become the top man in charge of Spanish league outfit Valencia in 2015. It was an ill-fated four months in which he lost 11 matches and drew seven in what was the lowest win percentage of any coach in Valencia’s history. Luckily for the rest of us, Neville vowed never to coach again.

But truth is, for every great player that didn’t quite make it in the manager’s seat, there are those who blossomed into masterly strategists and great managers.

One of the names that come readily to mind is Henry’s former French teammate, Zinedine Zidane, who led Real Madrid to an unprecedented three successive UEFA Champions League titles. Who can forget the godfather of modern football, three-time Ballon d’Or winner Johan Cruyff, who won a slew of trophies for Barcelona as coach during his stint from 1988 to 1996. He virtually won everything there is to win both as player and coach.

And, of course, the real McKoys are Brazil legend Mario Zagallo, Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer, and France’s Didier Deschamps, who have won the World Cup as both player and coach. So yes, players do make great coaches but not in every instance.

One Love.