We have seen football coaches. Many and many football coaches. Now, what would a common man expect a football coach to be. A person who has had his time in the game. Now a retired person who is a little more older and a little more wiser, is to pass on his legacy to his students. But this is where imagination does not mean reality. According to these standards a legendary football player is destined to be a legendary coach. But does it actually happen?
Well in most cases, no. The common scenario is that the most obvious legend of the game gets into coaching and fails horribly. Apart from the very few exceptions of course. Now why does this happen? Why do these players fail so horribly when they enter coaching? Well, turns out, coaching is a whole different ball game then actually playing the game. And also, there are some other complications. Let's point them out.
The easiest way for a club to hire a coach is obviously hiring the legend of the club. He knows the club, he knows the pressure, atmosphere and the consequences. Everything that some outsider won't understand. You cannot expect a german coach to understand the pressure of a derby game between two English clubs. He won't feel the heat. And knowing what's at stake is a priority. But that legendary player wouldn't be the coach that will be someone after completing the studies of a coach.
Coaching a football team isn't always about teaching the players how to play. Especially in the big clubs. The big clubs have the best players in the world. Those players don't need to be taught how to play the game obviously. In that case the manager's job is to install a mentality of winning. There are the top end parts of a machine, the coach has to work them in a sequence. This is where man management comes into play. Man management is more psychological than sportive. It requires study and experience. About how to deal with people, how to make them feel important, or treat them as they should be. A manager who has completed the studies of coaching, would know how to do that. While a player who got vouched because of his playing career, and has not learned how to coach, struggles. Often leading to losing the dressing room and getting sacked. It's easy to play under a system, but not easy to implement it on your own. This requires extra work. Something which a player would not have considered learning, because he'd be under the impression of "I know it all".
Many such coaches have been dismissed because of their poor knowledge in tactics. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo are such examples. Also these coaches would tend to expect a similar character as himself, from his players. Which is very hardly possible, because with every passing generation, the mentality changes. This is one of the disadvantages of having an illustrious playing career. But it is also possible to use that playing career as an example to younger players and inspire them to do so. Zinedine Zidane is a prime example.
A long playing career actually takes away a lot of years from a person. Learning to coach after that. And finally implementing his way to the top is very time consuming. So the footballers who want to coach, often want to skip the learning and use their own experience. Which backfires most of the time. If they take their time, they can very well become one of the chosen few who have mastered the craft of football from the inside, and from the outside.