English managers themselves in need of ‘ kick up the arse’ that Adams suggests

What’s the strangest thing about Tony Adams being the new manager of La Liga strugglers Granada CF? Was it using his first press conference in the job to tell the players he was going to give them a “kick up the arse” ( or whatever it was translated to them as)? Maybe it was the rather lively three- piece suit he wore for the photo announcing his arrival? Or is it the fact that his managerial experience amounts to little more than 16 games with Portsmouth in the Premier League and 18 months or so in charge of Azerbaijani outfit Gabala FC?

While all of those things are certainly causes for concern – the suit in particular – the oddest thing is that Adams is an Englishman. English managers don’t get given jobs in England, let alone overseas.

The current crop of Premier League managers contains five Englishmen but only Sean Dyche and Eddie Howe started the season with their clubs. Sam Allardyce, Craig Shakespeare and Steve Agnew are new hires this calendar year and all of them have come in to clubs that are flirting with relegation in the manner of someone newly divorced that has not flirted for a long time and is coming on far too strong.

Allardyce has always maintained that if his name was pronounced with a more continental European inflection, then he would be more respected. Maybe, but perhaps it’s not what you know, but who you know? The aforementioned Adams certainly benefited from his relationship with Jiang Lizhang as it was the Chongqing Lifan owner that essentially seconded the Englishman to his new role in southern Spain. Being kinder, Adams has proved himself willing to take a risk and go somewhere new, while most Englishmen travel about as well as this season’s Burnley side.

There are exceptions. The nomadic Gary White was most recently in charge of China League One side Shanghai Shenxin after spells in the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas and as Guam national team manager. Ian Burchnall is following in Roy Hodgson’s footsteps at Viking in Norway, Shadab Iftikhar is at Bayangol in Mongolia and Graham Potter at Ostersunds FK in Sweden, among others.

Then there’s Keith Armstrong in his second spell at Haka in Finland, a coun- try where he first went as a player well over 30 years – he’s been there so long that he has been naturalized as a Finn. This was a man who gained notoriety when he was sacked for appearing as a pundit on Finnish coverage of the Premier League when his own team were playing a league game.

That faux pas didn’t do Armstrong any harm when it came to getting a new job, so maybe Adams is on to something with that suit.