How many all-time great footballers become successful managers, especially for team’s they’ve played for? Alan Shearer is the best player to ever wear the Blackburn jersey, delivering a historic title in 1995 and an incredible four year run. He shouldn’t tarnish that memory by taking over the manager position from Steve Kean.
Why? Because Shearer hasn’t been actually pulling up his sleeves and working hard at becoming a top manager over the last few years. Aside from a failed attempt at saving Newcastle from relegation (which didn’t go to well, with Shearer winning only one match out of the final 8), he’s been annoying many viewers on Match of the Day. His observations haven’t been very promising regarding a managerial career.
Maybe he is the next best thing in manager fashion, but he probably isn’t. Anyway, putting yourself in a very uncomfortable situation, with one of the worst ownership groups imaginable at the moment, with Steve Kean forced out of the club despite a decent start to the season (he should have been fired after the relegation), isn’t a great way to pick up where you left the position.
Johan Cruyff succeeded where he was a legend; Kenny Dalglish had a great run in the 1980’s with Liverpool, not so much when he returned. Franz Beckenbauer won a world cup with West Germany, but a national team is a different matter. All of the recent successes in English football have been foreign, none of them great players.
There’s something about tearing down someone that’s quite appealing to football fans, especially when a manager can do no right in their eyes from a certain stage. There’s always that point in time, after a certain amount of losses and disappointments, that you’ve given up and given in to despair. An emotional connection to a place doesn’t make someone a great manager. A good fit early on for motivation and inspiration? Maybe. Alan Shearer, if he really wants to be a manager, should start somewhere else. Fan will cheer for him in Ewood Park when he arrives, but it’s most likely he won’t be leaving as a very popular figure.