Ian Holloway hadn’t finished talking about his grandchild before Tony Pulis was linked with the Crystal Palace job, making it a bit surprising the former Stoke City man hasn’t been appointed at Selhurst Park. But as is so often the case, the first hints weren’t the right ones. One week after Holloway’s resignation, “interim” remains attached to the Eagles’ managerial post.
That’s just enough time for a imaginations to start working, which may explain why new candidates for the Palace job are starting to surface. According to the latest reports, those candidates include three well-known coaches looking for Premier League returns.
But have pity for Palace supporters if Alex McLeish gets the job. The 54-year-old Scot is currently out of work after running Birmingham City and Aston Villa into the ground. The Blues remain in the Championship, McLeish having apparently purchased a one-way ticket to the second tier, while Aston Villa’s Premier League lives barely survived the former Rangers boss’s wrath. Since then, McLeish tried his dark arts at Nottingham Forest before leaving the club after 41 days.
It’s a track record of failure that extends back to 2007, when McLeish moved to arrived in the West Midlands after a short stint with the Scottish national team. To his credit, McLeish did lead Birmingham City to a League Cup in 2011 (thanks, Arsenal), but he also orchestrated some of the worst soccer in the Premier League. Pragmatic to the point of being scared, McLeish’s tactics make you hate soccer.
But don’t lose too much sleep yet, Palace fans. According to McLeish, he hasn’t been contacted about the job, even if it sounds like he’s waiting by the phone:
“There hasn’t been any contact yet but I am a free agent,” McLeish said. “Crystal Palace are in a position that’s precarious for them but there’s still a lot of points to play for. I’ve had those kind of challenges before and I’ve had some success and some failures but if you’ve got a fighting spirit and good players playing to their strengths, then why can’t Palace stay up?”
Hiring McLeish would answer that question, though South Norwood should take heart in the fact another man’s name’s being thrown around. Unlike McLeish, Chris Coleman’s Premier League track record’s a mixed one. His first full season in charge of Fulham (2003-04) saw the Cottagers finish ninth, though they were pulled into a relegation battle the following season. After a slow start in 2005-06, Colemen left Craven Cottage.
He went to Real Sociedad and generally succeed but failed with Coventry City on his return to England. In a brief spell in Greece, he also saw success, but financial issues at Larissa led the 43-year-old back home: to coach the Welsh national team. He’s approaching his two-year anniversary on the job.
Unfortunately, Coleman’s tactics aren’t that much more ambitious than McLeish’s. Wondering what he would do in McLeish’s place at Brum or Villa is the type of thought experiment that leads you to wonder why we bother with sports at all. Why, out of all the managers in the world, has Crystal Palace come up with a list of some of the most soul-crushing tacticians in Britain?
Martin O’Neill is also reportedly in the picture, but like McLeish, his last coaching experience was a failed one (not uncommon for managers looking for jobs). Like Pulis’s last years at Stoke, O’Neill’s time at Sunderland featured a lot of spending for few results. And to complete the theme, his Sunderland teams played horrible, horrible football.
Crystal Palace is already in bad enough shape without bringing in a man who will bring their fans to tears. At least find somebody who will try to play good soccer. If that leads them to the Championship, that’s find. The Eagles were always likely to go down. Don’t amplify the agony in the process.