I remember once, when I was about 8, and my team Arsenal had suffered a rather bad defeat to Aston Villa. Living in the Midlands, the guy opposite was a staunch Villa fan, and, scared he was going to say something to me, I spent the next six months looking out for him and hiding every time I went out in the front garden.
But, no more. I’ve (sort of) grown up. Defeats are part of football, and, just like my chunky legs and flat nose, I now embrace them. I don’t hide anymore.
So I thought it was now an opportune moment to return….
After the catastrophic 6-0 defeat to Spain last night there has been, as expected, lots of chat about Jogi and his continuing position in the hot seat of German football. From some of the pieces being published and comments read, one gets an impression of a defiant Bundestrainer handcuffing himself to a table leg at the DFB, swallowing the key, and with a hapless bemused board surrounding him unable to do anything about it.
But, joking aside, let’s look at what I believe is the true situation.
Firstly the oft-mentioned contract. As far as I am aware Jogi’s contract with the DFB has and has always had written into it a release clause. This was placed there before the 2014 World Cup to remove the constant renewal questions, but also give the DFB the right to terminate the contract should the Brazil campaign be a failure. It is simply not true that the DFB cannot remove him (or cannot afford to remove him) in the event of failure.
Going further, there is and will never be any need to ‘sack’ him. A polite and respectful word to him from his superiors, I am sure would result in his resignation.
So why then, it seems everyone is asking, is Jogi still in the job? Perhaps it could be either because the DFB still want him or (maybe and) secondly there is a lack of suitable candidates who are willing to take over.
It is easy to formulate a list of the top coaches in Germany who the eager football fan could picture in charge, but I’ll turn to the crux of the matter here – the crucial phrase is “willing to take over”.
Looking back over my past blog posts, a constant source of anger to me has not been results or matches where things have gone wrong, but the way Joachim Löw has been treated in the German media and the constant impositions on his privacy that he, and his family, have had to endure over the years.
These have included, but are not limited to:
– headlines and photographs about ‘family emergencies’ when he visited his sick mother (elderly people get sick, no-one’s business)
– long lens privacy-invading photographs (Princess Margaret in Mustique style) of his wife on holiday having a swim in the sea (no-one’s business)
– deliberately misleadingly cropped tabloid photographs of him and an 18-year-old, excluding the rest of the large group of friends he was with, with the inference she is a ‘mystery woman’.
I could go on, but you get the (paparazzi-taken) picture. Not one of these incidents, or the many others, had any bearing on his ability to do his job as a football coach. They were sensationalist intrusion into his personal life, his ‘private’ space, and that of his friends and family. Pure and simple.
After all, top club coaches don’t seem to be treated this way. They are paid considerably more, so let’s end the argument that a high salary makes this behaviour acceptable. It seems to be only the Bundestrainer who, by taking up the post, somehow becomes such public property and fodder for the tabloids and gossip magazines.
So, do you think it is beyond the realms of fantasy that this behaviour has not gone unnoticed by any potential successor? Do you not think the partner and family of any upcoming coach have thought to themselves – thanks but no thanks, if this what we have to put up with? Put up with, even when, numerous times, you have politely asked the press to respect your privacy, and even when you bring such success to Germany?
Prestigious though the job may be, there’s a whole lot of baggage that goes with it, and, however badly it has gone wrong recently, Joachim Löw deserves considerable credit for the dignified way he has handled himself throughout it all.
And wouldn’t it be the most delicious of ironies if this appalling treatment is the very thing that ensures Germany loses out on potential outstanding candidates in the future, and results in the ghastly German media and ridiculous self-entitled supporters finally getting exactly what they deserve.