Liverpool have announced Sean O’Driscoll as their new assistant manager, taking over from Colin Pascoe after the coach was released from his contract with the club.
When his name was originally linked to the role, Twitter was its usually hilarious self. One thing I will say is that I didn’t realise there were so many Liverpool fans that had been following the former Doncaster Rovers manager so closely. The anger and disappointment that became apparent throughout the night was least not confusing to myself, because quite frankly, I don’t believe that 90% of the people moaning about his appointment actually know anything about him.
Really. There is little way to prove this, but I’m sure it’s true. And the problem with managers is that you can’t just YouTube their progress to pretend you know about them either. You’ve just got to fume and hope nobody questions you. Well I’ll put all of my cards out in front of me straight away.
I know almost nothing about Sean O’Driscoll. This isn’t something I’m embarrassed about, either. I love football, but I do other things too. Go for walks. See my mates. Sleep. You know, all the good stuff. I don’t have time to follow every aspect of football, and quite frankly, I don’t want to. I have enough trouble as it is with Liverpool. In fact, to point out how familiar with him I am, here’s a little fact.
Whilst speaking to loads of people about him today, I probably called him Brian O’Driscoll half of the time.
Yeah, that rugby guy. Nothing to do with football, him.
I know so little.
The whole crux of this article is to be a bit of an education article on Liverpool’s new assistant manager. I want to look at views of former club’s fans, his tactics and approach coupled with what he has been quoted as saying about how he looks at the game of football. Then I’ll make my own judgements on how I feel all of that fits into Liverpool’s philosophy and planning. Into Brendan Rodgers’ philosophy and planning. If at all.
I’ll be learning with you. So I could end this article calling him a meff like the rest of you. We just don’t know.
Former clubs and their fans
Sean O’Driscoll is a former football player, with his clubs being Fulham and Bournemouth, clocking up over 600 appearances between the only two club sides he played for. Upon retiring from football, the midfielder joined the coaching staff of Bournemouth, where he held this role until being promoted to manager of the club in 2000.
During those six years, O’Driscoll was manager during one of the most successful periods of the club’s history, and he got them promoted to (but also relegated from) Division Two, or League One as it is now called.
A BBC Sport article at the time of his exit from the club in 2006 read:
‘In his role as [Bournemouth] manager he presided over some of the most successful times the club has experienced.
‘O’Driscoll’s positive approach [was] rubbing off wonderfully as crowds flocked to Dean Court to see an exciting young team emerging.’
Although he had a tough time during 2002, the then owner of Bournemouth said, “I want to emphasise that in every other way, Sean is doing an outstanding job for this club. He is an excellent coach, extremely dedicated and hard-working.”
This was whilst being given six games to turn round the club’s fortunes, or face the sack.
This doesn’t sound too good does it? I must admit, I myself shuddered at that idea. But guess what?
That season Sean O’Driscoll got the club promoted to Division Two. Not bad, considering things weren’t going too well.
The next two seasons after gaining promotion were very respectable, guiding the team to eighth and ninth-place finishes respectively. This caught the eye of his next club, Doncaster Rovers.
Firstly, however, I just want to use one line, about the 2000-01 season, that probably sums him up as a manager best:
‘[He] narrowly missed out on the play-offs when Reading equalized with just two minutes left to deny the Cherries a chance of a shot at Division One – a superb achievement for a manager who has never had any money to buy a player.’
Yet, as I said, 2006 came around and Doncaster Rovers came knocking. And that’s where he went next. For this part, I will leave most of the analysis to a good friend of mine, Lee Marsh. A season ticket holder with Doncaster Rovers and the only person I know who could effectively add to this article more than I could. Which doesn’t take much.
Take it away, Lee:
“My views/wide spread Doncaster views on O’Driscoll:
– Absolute devotion to playing total football, which he achieved on a budget with less skilled/intellectual players, with the players Liverpool have its a dream for him!
– All rovers fans felt he was made for a Premier League coaching role, he undoubtedly has the ability to work at a top club but doesn’t have the media savvy charm that is needed for worldwide media… or even regional media for that fact. YouTube has an interview when he was at Bristol City which proves as much.
– He built a team/ quad of technically sound 5ft 5 players, all capable of playing flowing passing moving with interchanging positions, at times we really did possession teams to death, downside to 5ft 5 players is that we got bullied a lot and once teams worked out how to stop us playing nice football (by bullying us) we took some heavy beatings!
-His absolute devotion to total football meant that we never had any other game plan, no long ball, no big man to get the ball in too quickly, and as i remember we hardly ever scored last minute goals from a constant onslaught, when losing we would always still insist on passing/mainly knocking it across the back four.
– As a Doncaster fan I have no danger in saying and I know nearly all rovers fans would agree, he is our best manager of modern times if not of all time, he took us to the Millennium stadium and Wembley and got us playing top quality football at Championship level without the money probably needed to achieve what he was achieving. If I am ever lucky to see a Doncaster team play that brand of football again I will be lucky. Numerous managers have since been in charge and like Nottingham Forest fans with Brian Clough our discussion boards always hark back to the O’Driscoll era and how far away the team/manager are from the good old days!
– He is deserving of this opportunity, no doubt, and the fact he can work at a top level and in the shadows will suit him, however he will only improve Rodgers’ strengths and football ideologies, what he won’t do is come in and alter Rodgers’ weaknesses as Liverpool see it, we were never clean sheet masters and always strived to score the perfect goal every time, which I kind of suspect are gripes that you might have of Rodgers.”
A glowing tribute to O’Driscoll, yet some warning that Liverpool aren’t getting in a coach to improve their weaknesses, but emphasise their strengths. This is something I can fully get behind. I don’t want a club that is boring. I don’t want brilliant defence if we aren’t realistically going to get that. I want us to be mental and I want excitement. And one thing that Sean O’Driscoll did in him time at Doncaster Rovers was excite the fans. Don’t take my word for it, listen to my mate Lee.
Other notable dates on in his Doncaster diary are winning the Johnson’s Paint Trophy and promotion to the Championship, beating Leeds in the play-off final.
Not bad for someone whom most were calling an unsuccessful manager.
Other teams managed include Crawley Town and Nottingham Forest, of which he left both after short periods of time.
Tactical approach and philosophy
When dealing with O’Driscoll’s philosophy, it is easy to find what his key ideas are and how he sees the game being played.
O’Driscoll is a believer in the ‘proper’ way of playing football, as Lee said, having both eyes on the end goal of total football. This runs parallel with the way that we know Rodgers wants to play. With this being the case, we can make an educated guess that this appointment was made with Rodgers’ full backing, which is something I think we should all be happy about. The alignment of ideas and philosophies is something the club should look to do.
In my opinion, this is the strongest Rodgers’ club position has ever been. Which also means that he will probably be made accountable. Which is another good thing for the fans but also the club. I want the best man in charge of the team, and if it isn’t Rodgers (I think it is, by the way) then that needs to be identified. Always.
Anyway, back to O’Driscoll. Whilst investigating our second-in-command, the one buzz phrase that popped up was about how he turned Doncaster Rovers into the ‘Arsenal of the North’.
I understand that you could say if they were that good then they would have been in the Premier League under his stewardship. That is fair, and you can say that. However, whilst analysing his ability to be our assistant manager, I’m not accepting that. Because he doesn’t get a team promoted playing attractive football doesn’t make him a bad coach. The fact that he can get a Championship team playing good football, consistently, makes him a good one. In my opinion.
On his philosophy and the attitude of tactic ‘snobs’, O’Driscoll said to the Daily Mail:
“When people say, “They’re a well-organised team”, what exactly does that mean? Is 4-4-2 rigid? We’ve just had an England team lambasted for that. People think 4-4-2 is tactics; it’s nothing to do with tactics, it’s a structure. Within the structure you can do whatever you want. It could be the most fluid system in the world. The problem with England was that their 4-4-2 was rigid. They needed to be fluid. But when you’re playing against Spain, do you need a fluid 4-4-2? Do you f***. You need to be rigid because they’re better than us.
“All I can do is send out a team with certain values and the players operate within that. They can agree or disagree but if they disagree it needs to be logical. They can’t just disagree because someone in the stands or on the telly said something. But there’s no thought, people do things because they’ve always been done.”
Clearly a manager who plays with an idea in his head and an ability to show players how to produce better results, O’Driscoll obviously feels that just because you set out in one way, doesn’t mean you need to play with a rigidness that restricts players to just one position.
Remind you of anyone? (No, Rodgers, not me)
Teaching the game: a conclusion
Analysing the former Doncaster Rovers boss’ managerial career is all well and good, but that doesn’t as such show us how he will adapt to a role behind the scenes.
As Lee said above, Rovers’ fans are of the opinion that he will be well suited to a role on Liverpool’s backroom staff. This is because of his values being in sync with Rodgers’ values, but also because he didn’t seem to cope well with the media/extra-curricular parts of the job. Being at a club like Liverpool in this capacity means that although the focus is bigger, he won’t need to speak to the media as much as he has previously, and will be able to focus on teaching players how to play better footie. I like that idea.
His former position at England Under-19s is a really good indicator for us right now. Although a gang of gobs**tes, the FA are looking for ways to teach our future players how to play in a new, technical style of play to match that on the continent. Their appointment of O’Driscoll must show his credentials in this respect, surely.
Another glowing reference came from one of his former players, Steven Fletcher, who said:
“If there was a period in my 20 years at Bournemouth where I could say ‘that’s the time where I become a true professional and looked at things differently’, it would be under Sean O’Driscoll. He has had spells as youth-team manager, physio, he was reserve-team manager, assistant manager and then worked his way up to the first team in 2000-2001.
“Every player I speak to praises his methods, his work ethic and his ethos.
“He is a quiet man. Sean is not the type of manager who is on TV and in the public eye. He was a massive, massive influence and I am sure he has been on so many players who have played under him.
“His nickname here was Mr Happy. He comes across quite serious but that’s just the way he is. I know the other side of Sean.
“I still phone up now when I want advice. I was assistant manager here for 10 months last season and phoned him up regularly for advice for football and non-football matters. I hold him in that high a regard.”
Clearly a glowing reference from a former team mate and player. So how can this affect Liverpool?
Well his clear possession-based approach will help him settle quickly at Liverpool, and from the quote above he seems a likeable, approachable man, someone who can fit into our close-nit bunch of players.
What is yet to be seen is how he can manage a relationship with Rodgers, but I feel this isn’t something to be too concerned about just yet.
My conclusion is that O’Driscoll is a great man to help the club in a first team capacity. Although he may not be everyone’s first choice, he was Brendan’s, and that needs to be respected.
I like what I hear about the former Doncaster Rovers manager, and I love his approach of pass-and-move football. This will hopefully have a galvanising effect of the team over the coming months and years, but until then…
Chill out, he’s just an assistant.
