Stephen and the Media

Football 365

MEET A SUCCESSFUL ENGLISH COACH!

Saturday October 25 2003
By Sarah Winterburn

Who the f*** is Stephen Constantine?

That's probably what you are saying around now. And it's probably what the board at West Ham were saying
when they received a CV with that name at the head when they were looking for a manager to replace Glenn
Roeder.

The answer is that Constantine is the only English coach on FIFA's Panel of Instructors, he is the holder
of FA, UEFA and US coaching licenses and has been awarded the equivalent of the OBE. In Nepal, that is.

He is also the manager of India and has led that nation to their first silverware in over 40 years. And
he is English.

And yet CVs sent by the likes of failed manager Bryan Robson are far more likely to attract the attentions
of English football clubs than one from a well-qualified, successful coach like Constantine.

Because being a famous name on the pitch is too often used as the criteria for employing coaches and
managers in England, whereas the likes of Gerard Houllier and Arsene Wenger were allowed to develop in
France despite achieving pretty much nothing as players.

"Yes, you see abroad they take into account what the qualifications are and not so much where you played," says Constantine, who failed to make it as a professional player after being a trainee at Millwall and Chelsea.

"In England, there seems to be a general belief that what happens outside the country is not worth
anything. Perhaps that kind of narrow-sighted approach is part of the reason we haven't won anything since
1966."

He says 'we' and means England. But Constantine is far more concerned at the moment with the game in India. And in particularly at the moment with the Afro-Asian Games and the fact that India have just beaten Rwanda and Malaysia.

That may not mean much to you (or indeed to anyone running English football clubs who continue to ignore
his applications) but it certainly means something to Indian football fans who had been starved of success
before Constantine led them to the LG Cup last year.

"The appetite for the game is massive here, despite the fact that cricket clearly rules," he says. "You
should see some of the fan mail I get. It may not be as much as David Beckham but it comes from all over
the world - 99% of it is really good. I can't believe they're addressed to me sometimes."

Constantine is certainly a popular man in India, just as he was in Nepal (where he led the country to the
Asian Cup finals for the first time), in Cyprus (where his club record was unrivalled) and before that in the
United States.

But not so in England - where his only job was as coach to Bournemouth's Under-16s (successful, of course). He has now stopped the ritualistic application for League jobs in England.

"Well I wont say never - but what I mean is that I am not desperate to get the job at some club who has
nothing going for it and maybe I dont need to apply for eveything," he says.

"I certainly have no regrets about going down this path instead - it has been a great experience and who
knows where we will end up next? I would like to coach in Europe at some point again but you don't always
have choices and you go where you are wanted and needed."

And as long as English football clubs look to successful players rather than successful coaches, it seems that their loss may well be Vanuatu's (or Vietnam's or Qatar's) gain.

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