Telegraph says Coppell is Manager of the Season

[JC]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.j ... njim28.xml


Give Coppell top manager gong
By Jim White

If we were to hand out prizes for English football's leading personality Jose Mourinho would win it every August, before a ball had been kicked in anger. If he charged for admission to his command performances disguised as press conferences, Chelsea could become financially independent overnight.

With his talk of lies, conspiracy and discrimination, he benefits from considerably funnier scripts than Paul Whitehouse's Jose Arrogantio parody. The man is a constant joy. But despite all the fun and the mind games, one thing is certain about Mourinho: Arsene Wenger got it right this week when he did not even mention the Portuguese humorist as his candidate for manager of the season.

If, given the fact that the Chelsea manager stands within touching distance of the quadruple, that seems like the product of lengthily distilled sour grapes on the part of the Frenchman, consider this: in terms of demonstrating his management skills, by any objective measure this season has been his worst since Mourinho first rose to prominence at Porto.

This has been the first season in which the carefully groomed image of managerial omnipotence has sprung a leak, the first in which Mourinho has made mistakes. Avoidable ones, too, like denuding his squad of centre-backs before adequate replacements had been procured, the kind of error he would never have made if he had not been distracted by the byzantine politics of his boardroom. Wenger is right: this season, Mourinho would be lucky to scrape into a top three in any list of Premiership bosses.

No such doubt about Wenger's previous bete noir, however. In second place in any objective managerial pecking order would be Sir Alex Ferguson. There is an easy way to weigh up the achievements of Ferguson and Mourinho this term: compare the viewing figures for Manchester United's Champions League semi-final against Milan with that between Chelsea and Liverpool. The result was more than seven to one in United's favour. Sure, one was on ITV the other on Sky, but next week when the broadcasters are reversed, United's game will again be the one those wishing to be entertained seek out.

This year, Ferguson has responded to Chelsea's growing dominance in the most thrilling manner imaginable. While Mourinho's side exudes power, stamina and will to win, Ferguson's is built on skill, flair and love of drama. You simply can't take your eyes off them for a second - and that is down to management.

Still, despite the old boy's undiminished genius, it helps when you have the finances, power and clout of a club of United's scale behind you. At Reading, Steve Coppell has none of that. Which is why, if these things were not simply decided by how many trophies a manager accrues, Coppell would walk away with the boss of the year gong.

How he has taken his team to the very edge of European competition is one of the great mysteries of the season. It is clearly not by overt force of personality. Our household cannot be the only one in the country in which the junior members greet Coppell's every interview on Match of the Day with exaggerated yawns. Both facially and in his expressionless manner, he is a ringer for Colonel Gerd Weisler, the Stasi surveillance expert in the brilliant new film The Lives of Others, a man who appears not to have cracked a grin since the Berlin air lift.

Coppell is no Roy Keane, a manager whose presence alone produces results; you could miss him in an empty lift. He doesn't indulge in Neil Warnock-style touchline histrionics, preferring to deadpan in the technical area, his expression barely changing in acknowledgment of setback or success. Though an advocate of sports science, he does not believe, like Sam Allardyce, that everything can be distilled down to percentages. Nor, despite being one of the few graduates in the dug-out, does he put much store in bookishness. Aidy Boothroyd, at Watford, reads voraciously and borrows heavily from the strategic thinking of everyone from Chinese warlords to American presidents. Yet, despite his studiousness, Boothroyd was in charge of the sort of instant return from whence he came that was widely predicted for Coppell.

In contrast to so many of his peers, there appear to be no gimmicks in Coppell's methodology. Before big games, the American football coach Jackie Sherrill used to take his team to watch a bull being castrated. It was, he said, a pertinent demonstration of the need to take advantage of opportunity while you still have the wherewithal so to do. Vets in Berkshire are unlikely to be getting any calls from the Reading manager for such a service. He would regard motivational games like that as a bizarre distraction. Indeed, what Coppell has done is far subtler than any of that. His inspired idea was to go against the received wisdom which informs us that the gulf between the Championship and Premiership is so entirely unbridgeable, you need a new team the moment you gain promotion.

By adding none of the gloss and glitter supposed to be required for survival, he bolstered the self-confidence of his squad beyond measure. Players like Kevin Doyle, Leroy Lita and Steve Sidwell have flourished in his trust, to the point that they all now know, beyond any flicker of doubt, that they belong in the Premiership. Which, in itself, may have planted the seeds of difficulty in the future. Next season, when the players believe they have earnt the right to be regarded as big noises, he cannot pull off the same trick.

But, in the meantime, let's celebrate his success. Reading in Europe: who could doubt that if, over the next fortnight, he realises that most unlikely of concepts, Coppell would deserve every award going.

[Z-Head]

Let's all stand for coppell and the boys!
















Am i in a dream?? is this really happening????????

[Lieutenant Pigeon]

Nice piece....


C.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/04/28/sfnjim28.xml






How he has taken his team to the very edge of European competition is one of the great mysteries of the season. It is clearly not by overt force of personality. Our household cannot be the only one in the country in which the junior members greet Coppell's every interview on Match of the Day with exaggerated yawns. Both facially and in his expressionless manner, he is a ringer for Colonel Gerd Weisler, the Stasi surveillance expert in the brilliant new film The Lives of Others, a man who appears not to have cracked a grin since the Berlin air lift.

Coppell is no Roy Keane, a manager whose presence alone produces results; you could miss him in an empty lift. He doesn't indulge in Neil Warnock-style touchline histrionics, preferring to deadpan in the technical area, his expression barely changing in acknowledgment of setback or success. Though an advocate of sports science, he does not believe, like Sam Allardyce, that everything can be distilled down to percentages. Nor, despite being one of the few graduates in the dug-out, does he put much store in bookishness. Aidy Boothroyd, at Watford, reads voraciously and borrows heavily from the strategic thinking of everyone from Chinese warlords to American presidents. Yet, despite his studiousness, Boothroyd was in charge of the sort of instant return from whence he came that was widely predicted for Coppell.

People really do not understand Coppell, the way he speaks to the media is in no way a reflection of the guys personality, of course he's a big and strong character he just exudes it in a different way. I just hate comments like "Coppell is no Roy Keane, a manager whose presence alone produces results; you could miss him in an empty lift." What complete and utter bollox, the way the players react to Coppell he's clearly got a massive presence and his ability to use his presence to get the best out of his players is his strongest attribute imo.

[Lieutenant Pigeon]

True - the measure of a great leader is not what happens when you're 'there' but what happens when you're not there....


C.

[Jerry St Clair]

Obviously, though, the manager of whichever team wins the championship will get manager of the year.

Tediously predictable.

[Henleyensian]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/04/28/sfnjim28.xml






How he has taken his team to the very edge of European competition is one of the great mysteries of the season. It is clearly not by overt force of personality. Our household cannot be the only one in the country in which the junior members greet Coppell's every interview on Match of the Day with exaggerated yawns. Both facially and in his expressionless manner, he is a ringer for Colonel Gerd Weisler, the Stasi surveillance expert in the brilliant new film The Lives of Others, a man who appears not to have cracked a grin since the Berlin air lift.

Coppell is no Roy Keane, a manager whose presence alone produces results; you could miss him in an empty lift. He doesn't indulge in Neil Warnock-style touchline histrionics, preferring to deadpan in the technical area, his expression barely changing in acknowledgment of setback or success. Though an advocate of sports science, he does not believe, like Sam Allardyce, that everything can be distilled down to percentages. Nor, despite being one of the few graduates in the dug-out, does he put much store in bookishness. Aidy Boothroyd, at Watford, reads voraciously and borrows heavily from the strategic thinking of everyone from Chinese warlords to American presidents. Yet, despite his studiousness, Boothroyd was in charge of the sort of instant return from whence he came that was widely predicted for Coppell.

People really do not understand Coppell, the way he speaks to the media is in no way a reflection of the guys personality, of course he's a big and strong character he just exudes it in a different way. I just hate comments like "Coppell is no Roy Keane, a manager whose presence alone produces results; you could miss him in an empty lift." What complete and utter bollox, the way the players react to Coppell he's clearly got a massive presence and his ability to use his presence to get the best out of his players is his strongest attribute imo.

It could be said to be a pity that the press are not allowed into the Fans' Forum, but we would not want what he says for the benefit of supporters only to be splashed all over the press. The last Fans' Forum was thoroughly enjoyable in the it seemed that he was taking part in a conversation between friends (which is what I suppose it was) and it gave us an inisght into his thinking in many ways.

[Forbury Lion]

If the press were allowed into fans forums then it would take the form of a press conference and we won't get the same responses.

[Ian Royal]

Surely the press could get someone in fairly easily if they want?


It does seem like Coppell is totally misunderstood by most. Which is good. It means no one else will take him away from us. The Man has earnt total legendary status along with Maurice Evans, Madjeski, Death, Friday et al.

[Jerry St Clair]

It does seem like Coppell is totally misunderstood by most. Which is good. It means no one else will take him away from us. The Man has earnt total legendary status along with Maurice Evans, Madjeski, Death, Friday et al.

So why is he STILL not reveered by the East Stand as much as even TB2?

Even in the dark days of 1999, the vast majority of the crowd would sing "Tommy Burns' Barmy Army".

It's still an effort to get more than a few hundred on their feet in praise of Sir Steve.

[Ian Royal]

It does seem like Coppell is totally misunderstood by most. Which is good. It means no one else will take him away from us. The Man has earnt total legendary status along with Maurice Evans, Madjeski, Death, Friday et al.

So why is he STILL not reveered by the East Stand as much as even TB2?

Even in the dark days of 1999, the vast majority of the crowd would sing "Tommy Burns' Barmy Army".

It's still an effort to get more than a few hundred on their feet in praise of Sir Steve.

Singing a song has nothing to do with how much he is reveered. As far as I'm concerned TB2 was reviled by the end. We had such high hopes for an expereinced reasonably big name manager and he was dog shit. There wasn't exactly much to chant about on the pitch so he got it.

We now have plenty to chant about on the pitch. Also there is no need to keep singing Coppell's name, he knows how much he is appreciated there is no need to make a song and dance about it the whole time. It doesn't fit in with his style.

[Dirk Gently]

Just to back up what he's saying :


Steve Coppell.....................................................................Ulrich Muehe in Sony Pictures Classics' The Lives of Others - 2007

[PieEater]

.... and it gave us an inisght into his thinking in many ways.

Lol, you've been Coppelled.

[readingbedding]

We've known this for the last two years.
Coppell is one of the best English managers in the game.
Coppell is God!

[Archie's penalty]

What a great manager and a thoroughly nice guy as well. What he's done is unbelievable and I think the journo has it right when he talks of giving our championship squad the belief they could be premiership players. He is wrong however when he says Coppell has no personality. For me his interviews are a joy - I love the way he cleverly squirms out of the interviewer's questions. He deals with the press amazingly in my book and why - cos he know what he's doing at heart - he doesn't need to pander to a press soundbite.

I hope he keeps it up next year!

[Coppelled Streets]

"Stand up, for Steve Coppell, stand up, for Steve Coppell............."

[The 17 Bus]

"Stand up, for Steve Coppell, stand up, for Steve Coppell............."

shut the oxf*rd up please

[nivek elyod]

Coppell is no Roy Keane, a manager whose presence alone produces results

If I was playing under Sir Steve, his presence would make a colossal difference to my mental attitude. He radiates quiet confidence in his player's ability. Roy Keane and Sir Steve both have that quality.

[Forest Gump]

Good article if a little unflattering at times.

Interesting to read the comparisons with more audible managers like Mourinho and Allerdyce;

Based on the saying that "empty cans rattle the most", Coppell most be a very full tin indeed!

[Cripple Creek]

I generally like Jim White but I thought that piece was, frankly, crap. I"m kind of tired of listening to the tired old cliches of Coppell being so deadpan that it equates to dullness etc. etc. etc. He has a dry sense of humour and has a dim view of the media. I work in the media that he has such a dim view of and while I don't always agree with his attitude to the press he is a damn sight more interesting than the Hanson's and Lawro's of this world. He is probably one of the most interesting characters in British football right now. Oh, no, hang on...Big Ron was a character wasn't he? Thank God we have Steve instead of a twat like that. White's rubbish unthought out copy was written in haste just to fill up a bit of space I suspect.