Should All International Managers Be Paid Minimum Wage?

You’ll probably read this on a hundred other websites, but Russia boss Guus Hiddink is plotting the downfall of his home nation today. Though the Guus can realistically claim to be a citizen of the world (the man has worked in: Holland, Turkey, Spain, South Korea, Australia and Russia) he is fundamentally Dutch.

He coached the Netherlands at Euro ‘96 (which didn’t go so well) and at World Cup ‘98 which went OK, but today takes his impressive Russian outfit into battle against the most exciting Dutch team in recent memory. Mouthwatering.

But also a little awkward. It’s days like today that make me agree with Sepp Blatter. Did I just type that? Where’s the delete button?

Blatter believes that national teams should be coached by coaches of that nationality. When Fabio Capello signed on for his well paid gig this year, the FIFA president said the English FA had “broken a principle of international football.”

And I can see where he’s coming from. It’s an old argument, but it’s hard to disagree that in an ideal world all the national coaches passport should look very similar to his players. There’s a counter-argument that hiring foreign talent helps smaller teams progress, as Hiddink’s work with South Korea and Australia proves.

But there’s a counter-counter argument that it’s unfair for a country’s resources and talent to be used against it. What if Russia beat Netherlands today on the back of a Guus Hiddink tactical masterstroke? In essence, the strength of Dutch coaching will have knocked the Dutch out of Euro 2008. Doesn’t seem fair.

Ideally – and by “ideally” I really mean “unrealistically” – every national football team should be representative of the football talent of that nation. Which obviously includes the management and coaching staff.

And very ideally, every country would have their own Slaven Bilic. Bilic has apparently been coaching Croatia for a bargain £80,000 a year. Not because that’s all Croatia can afford, but because that’s all he wanted. And Croatia haven’t done too badly with Bilic in charge. He’s been like a walking, talking, dancing, shouting (and smoking) advert for minimum wage.

So what if every FA adopted the same policy? Make the national team job a low paid affair. Something you do for pride rather than money. There’d be no Fabio Capello managing England, Berti Vogts would surely never have taken the Nigeria job (dear oh dear) and Guus Hiddink almost certainly wouldn’t be coaching a foreign team against the nation of his birth today.