Thu 23 Nov 06
Licence to Chill
The League Managers’ Association is justifiably upset over the EPL’s decision to let Gareth Southgate continue to manage at Boro without the required professional certifications:
The LMA added: “The decision does not sit comfortably with those managers who were told that if they did not achieve Pro Licence status prior to the 2003-04 season, they would not be allowed to manage in the Premiership.
“They as a result applied themselves, in many cases at their own considerable expense, to obtain the required qualification.”
Over at the 606 chat boards there are those who contend that the managerial greats of yore had no UEFA licences. But the issue is not whether professional certification is a necessity in modern football, it’s that the EPL takes an inconsistent cavalier approach to enforcing rules that demand a considerable commitment of time and money for managers to satisfy.
Are Gareth Southgate and Glenn Roeder such wellsprings of talent and cunning that they merit these exceptions? Maybe in the Bizarro Premier League, which according to the stats may indeed be the next destination for the Toon, if not Boro as well.
Paul Canniff
