Ranieri, Bilić & Pochettino: Small Time Managers, Big Time Success

Unless you are a rabid English Premier League fan and not a supporter of Big 4- Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal; chances are you might not have heard of or registered the following names: Claudio Ranieri, Slaven Bilić, and Mauricio Pochettino. They are the managers of Leicester City F. C., West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspurs F. C., respectively. And these teams, although hard core English in their DNA, have found success in the last couple of years under non-English managers.

Leicester City F. C. is now at the top of the English Premier League, a dream run no one could have predicted at the start of the current season. Ranieri, a former Italian player and manager of teams like Napoli, Valencia, Juventus etc. had had only experience but no glory. He had to even suffer the ignominy of being sacked as the manager of the Greek national team within 4 months of taking charge.

When he took over at L. C. F. C., no one could have seen how the script would be rewritten. With players only household names in England like Vardy, Drinkwater, Huth, he started to go about building a team that could give a good account of it. After all, they did not have the star power of any of the Big 4. But Vardy, Mahrez, Kanté, Ulloa had other ideas. With nothing to lose and everything to be gained, they went about wreaking havoc, defeating the smaller teams and also the giants. They are currently leading the EPL table at 73 points, and look like firm contenders for the League title.

Slaven Bilić has to be the coolest football manager in the current scenario. Not only is he a rhythm guitarist for a Croatian rock band, he also wears a diamond stud in one ear, and quite possibly is the only one who can pull off wearing a beanie cap with a finely tailored suit! As a player he earned caps with WHU and Everton, as also the Croatian national team. As a manager, he guided his national team to the quarter finals of the 2008 Euro Championships.

He returned to his former club, WHU, as manager in 2015. And the team that used to be everybody’s favourite punching bag is finding its football wings, taking advantage of the new script being written by L. C. F. C., “hammering” the iron while it is hot. Although they are placed 6^th in the table at the moment, it is a considerable climb if you remember that they were 13^th in the 2013-14 season and 12^th in the 2014-15 season.

The Spurs are at the no. 2 spot with 68 points, 5 points behind leaders L. C. F. C., with an astounding goal difference of 39. Just like the Foxes and quite particularly Jamie Vardy, Spurs and their star striker Harry Kane had a breakout year.

Their manager, Mauricio Pochettino, the boyish Argentinian has had a good playing career, starting with Newell’s Old Boys, the club which has nurtured many of that country’s and the world’s best talents like Batistuta, Valdano, Maradona, Messi. Having managed teams like Espanyol and Southampton, he took over as Spurs manager in 2014. His arrival has certainly coincided with the blooming of Kane, Dier and Alli.

So what are these 3 “small time” managers doing right? Is it their down to earth, no nonsense way of going about their business? Is it their complete faith in their players? Or is it because they are untouched by the spotlight that has allowed them to focus on the job at hand? Certainly they have not been bothered by the trappings and glamour that have plagued managers like Ferguson, Mourinho and Wenger.

With big names come big responsibilities and accountability to a larger audience. When every move or statement made by the managers are watched, analysed, criticised and debated by fans and football pundits alike, it must be cumbersome at times to do one’s job efficiently.

The die-hard fans can be very hard to please. They spend most of their non-working (and sometimes working ones too) hours talking of nothing but their teams. They wear their hearts on their sleeves, singing their club song loudly, wearing the colours proudly and their pride at its utmost when their team wins. Fans of L. C. F. C., WHU, and T. H. F. C. have certainly earned their happiness.

They have stuck by their teams during the lean times, during the relegation years, their stubborn faith in their teams’ abilities finally paying off. And they owe a huge amount of gratitude to these 3 managers for doing their jobs with dignity, diligence and master class.

-Bindu Nayar

 

Jamie Vardy: The Rise of an Unlikely Hero

At a time in their careers where professional footballers take stock of their future, in terms of playing time, fitness and earnings, a new story is being written. It is the story of the rise of a team and a player, an unprecedented rise, a complete turn-around from playing in the B division to heading the Premier League table. Jaime Vardy, the hero of Leicester City F. C., is rewriting history and so is the club. It’s a case of David vs Goliath, and as underdogs, both player and club are enjoying their moment in the spotlight.

The top 4 spots in the English Premier League have been, for the last few years, dominated by Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal. These clubs have had managers who have carved their names in the history books. And precisely for this reason it is particularly interesting that Leicester F. C. has as manager, Claudio Ranieri, who was once fired from a previous outing as manager of the Greek national team for poor results.

Jaime Vardy learned his craft at Sheffield Wednesday, his local club, and at the age of 16 years signed on with Stockbridge Park Steels. Impressing talent scouts for other teams, he ensured his steady climb across the other English football divisions by playing for teams like F. C. Halifax Town, Fleetwood Town, finally arriving at Leicester in 2012. That first year proved to be a disaster that left him questioning his future as a player, to the extent that it needed a lot of persuasion from the team management for him to commit to continue playing.

It was a wise decision all around, because the new season turned out to be Vardy’s breakout year. He became Leicester’s most prolific scorer, with them winning the Football League Championship, and earning a promotion to the Premier League.

The following year, 2014-15, Vardy’s performance ensured them a relegation-free spot in the League table, finishing at number 14. On the personal front, Vardy won the Premier League Player of the Month for April 2015. He was also included in the English national team for the first time, and although was only brought up as a substitute, he justified his inclusion by scoring for his country in 2 matches in 2016.

In the current season, Vardy is the architect behind Leicester’s astonishing climb to the top of the table. His flexible ability to play as both midfielder and striker ensures that he is either scoring or setting up assists for other players like Mahrez and Kanté to score.

In Claudio Ranieri’s words: “He has great intensity, great concentration. He’s got a strong mentality and never gives up. He’s an inspiration with the way he is because then others believe.”

Tenacity and grit! These are the two adjectives that come to mind when one sees Vardy weave his way around the field, outfoxing opponents (pun intended here as Leicester are known as ‘The Foxes’), and finding the goal. He was deemed too “slight” during his formative years with Sheffield Wednesday. Coming from a working class background, he has not had the benefit of a football academy like Leo Messi, but like Cristiano Ronaldo, he has put his heart and soul into the game. And all that hard work has put him in top of the pedestal.

With 19 goals (and counting) this season for Leicester, Vardy is certainly a late bloomer (like Salvatore Schillaci for Italy in the 1996 World Cup), but he has come into his own as a player and team leader, leading by example and inspiration to a whole new generation of players and fans alike.

He’s already been called England’s great hope for the upcoming Euro Championship. Take a bow, Jaime, you’ve certainly earned your glory and honors.

The League is still up for grabs, although Leicester is enjoying a 9-point lead over Tottenham Hotspurs, ranked second in the table. There are 6 more matches to be played, and as the British have long displayed an affinity for the underdogs, it is ensured that new admirers along with die-hard Leicester supporters will be cheering them on; hopefully all the way to the podium for the lifting of the Cup.

And no one would contradict me when I say that it’ll be a victory most justified.

– Bindu Nayar