Coaches feed UEFA with ideas

Tenth anniversary
The UEFA Elite Coaches Forum celebrated its tenth anniversary at the House of European football with discussions on, among other things, tactical and technical trends, the evolution of the European club competitions, the leadership role of the modern coach, how coaches cope with the demands of the high-pressure game today, and their relationship with match officials.

Guest list
The guest list was: Dick Advocaat (FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Javier Aguirre (Club Atlético de Madrid), Paulo Bento (Sporting Clube de Portugal), Laurent Blanc (FC Girondins de Bordeaux), Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United FC), Jesualdo Ferreira (FC Porto), Valeri Gazzaev (PFC CSKA Moskva), Erik Gerets (Olympique de Marseille), Christian Gross (FC Basel 1893), Manuel Jiménez (Sevilla FC), Marius Lăcătuş (FC Steaua Bucureşti), Panagiotis Lemonis (ex-Olympiacos CFP), José Mourinho (FC Internazionale Milano), Manuel Pellegrini (Villarreal CF), Claude Puel (Olympique Lyonnais), Claudio Ranieri (Juventus), Thomas Schaaf (Werder Bremen), Luiz Felipe Scolari (Chelsea FC), Mirko Slomka (ex-FC Schalke 04), Luciano Spalletti (AS Roma), Gordon Strachan (Celtic FC) and Arsène Wenger (Arsenal FC). French Football Federation technical director Gérard Houllier and former Portuguese international and UEFA Pro licence holder Paulo Souza were also present.

Trends and developments
"The forum started back in 1999 – the reason it was launched was to bring together people who are in the front line of European football and get them to talk about issues which affected the top competitions," said UEFA Technical Director Andy Roxburgh. "Gradually, over the years, it's developed and now we not only talk about the things around the game, like substitutes or yellow cards, but we now talk about football – it's an opportunity to exchange thoughts on trends and developments.

Fantastic turnout
"It's a short but very intense gathering. Twenty-three top coaches were here, a fantastic turnout from our point of view," Roxburgh added. "Some coaches made enormous efforts to be here with us. It underlines that they like coming together. UEFA respects them and listens to what they say, and there are many things that UEFA has taken on board [over the years]. The President and the committees will look into the various proposals made here."

No rivalry
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said: "The good thing about this meeting is that there is no rivalry. The rivalry starts when you play against another team, and then the result is important. Here, we try to come to one result – to make the game better. We talk about how we can have an impact on improving the game."

Football and finance
Football and financial issues was one of the items discussed, in particular the ownership and control of a club and the position of the head coach. "From UEFA's perspective, we have a club licensing regime whereby all clubs are required to meet certain standards, including financial standards, in order to compete in European competitions," said UEFA General Secretary David Taylor.

Common work
"With the clubs, leagues and players, through the work of our Professional Football Strategy Council, we're going to be doing more investigations into whether, and in what way, it's desirable that European football should try to regulate these situations a little bit more than what happens at present," Mr Taylor added. "We must work with all those involved at the top end of professional football to see if there's a consensus and how we move these issues on in European football."

Popular sport
"Football is the most popular sport in the world," said Wenger. "It attracts money, that is quite positive. It is down to the football world to regulate that influx of money [in a good way] – it must not make the game worse, but better."

Coaches and match officials
The coaches also considered the relationship between coaches and match officials during a game – an area which regularly makes the headlines. "We are working hard to nurture a mutual respect between coaches and referees," said Roxburgh. "Both sides are trying to work out a better policy. The coaches realise that referees have a very difficult job, and we also have to make sure that the coach can do his job, while not offending match officials. A lot of work is going on to improve this situation."