在寫這篇文章的時候，我的朋友山姆·阿勒代斯即將被任命為英格蘭主帥。在我看來這也該是時候了，因為他擁有前任所缺乏的老派英國人的品質。
山姆是一名兼具智慧與韌性的教練，他希望自己的隊員能加倍刻苦的訓練，同時他也十分擅長分析對手、發掘球隊的才能，這位球隊父親般的人物在做到熱心鼓勵隊員的同時也不忘指出他們的不足。任何關注他職業生涯的人都知道他是解決問題的高手，他是那個可以拯救俱樂部，使俱樂部避免降級或者升到更高一級聯賽的關鍵人物，而做到以上這兩點都需要極強的分析能力和巨大的感染力。
看看他上賽季是如何幫助桑德蘭避免降級的，他激發出了球員們的最佳狀態。他知道杰梅因·科林·迪福是一名優秀的前鋒，并且他的效率以及對足球的熱愛有很大的用武之地，最終事實證明他對這位出類拔萃但年齡稍大的前鋒的信任是站得住腳的。當你的球隊明白自己面臨著降級的威脅并有可能會丟掉飯碗的時候，作為教練你需要鼓勵、支持并從生理學的角度調整球員發揮出最佳狀態。
山姆的足球哲學就是贏得比賽。有時候比賽并不會那么賞心悅目，這會讓球迷感到失望。但在各個國家的聯賽中，贏得比賽意味著有更高的積分，而更高的積分會讓球隊在積分榜上名列前茅。作為一個英國人我幾乎確信英格蘭隊會一路高歌殺到某個杯賽的決賽階段，但最后一切憧憬都土崩瓦解。但我相信山姆會解決這個問題，他會讓我、讓整個國家對我們的足球隊感到驕傲。
山姆面臨的第一道難題是贏得9月4號對戰斯洛伐克的世界杯預選賽，我的猜想是他會把這場比賽視為“必贏之戰”，這就意味著國家隊不僅會采用有經驗的老隊員，也有可能迎來幾張新面孔。他會根據力量和體型挑選四名后衛，如果后防線里有一兩名后衛沒有在歐洲杯中出現過，我一點也不會驚訝。出戰歐洲杯的球員大都來自英超和一些頂級的英冠俱樂部，但是這樣的高質量和高人氣的人員挑選并沒有發揮出預期的效果，所以在未來的名單里看到陌生的名字時完全不用感到詫異。
山姆是一個斗士，他也喜歡斗士。他不是那種看起來很聰明或者很時髦的男人，也許這就是他從未執教過世界頂級俱樂部的原因。我們在乎他能贏得比賽嗎？答案很簡單，我們不在乎，我們希望我們的球隊能在球場上讓我們作為英國人而感到驕傲，這跟中國隊或者德國隊的期望完全一致。“山姆是否能夠完成從執教英超到執教國家隊的轉變”是我們現在該問的問題，9月4號答案就將揭曉。
看看到中國執教的外國教練也很有趣；有些教練就能完成從歐洲到拉丁美洲風格的轉變，并將一支文化多元的球隊打造成真正的團隊，而另一些教練則無所適從。或許同山姆一樣，這些教練能管理好球隊里的每個個體，從正確的文化角度與每個球員進行交流并激勵他們。也許那些不成功的教練總是想把相同的原則和方法運用在所有球員身上，而這明顯行不通。要清楚一點：教練需要了解每一個球員的強項和短板，即使有語言方面的障礙，也要和每一個球員做到溝通順暢。
俱樂部老板想要立馬得到勝利，但又不給新教練提供足夠的時間去和球員形成紐帶，去了解和學習中國足球的特點，這就使得這項挑戰變得異常復雜。如果不了解足球這項運動，不愿意付出時間去學習并為球隊找到合適的教練，那么將國外著名教練或者球星引入中國并不會為球隊帶來贏球的保障。
回到山姆的話題上來，我認為英國現在需要的是能完成任務的教練，他必須有決心有目標，還能做到不被別人的言論所影響，因為他知道這樣做是對的。祝你好運山姆，你的國家需要你！
英文原文
At the time of writing this article, we are expecting my friend Sam Allardyce to be appointed as the England Manager; its about time in my opinion because he has those ‘old school’ British qualities that his recent predecessors have been lacking.
Sam is a very intelligent but tough man who expects his players to train very hard, he is extremely good at analysing the opposition and his teams abilities, and he is a father figure who can be very supportive as well as critical. Anyone who has followed his career will know that he is ‘Mr fix it’, the man you call to save your club from relegation or to get it promoted to the division above, both of which involve great analysis and huge levels of motivation.
Just watching him help Sunderland avoid relegation last season, we saw how he used his players to the best of their abilities, he knew Jermain Defoe was a great striker and that his work rate and love of football could be put to great use, and his faith in a great (but old) striker proved to be well founded. When your team know they are risking demotion and with it the potential of losing their jobs, you need to encourage, support and physiologically manage them for the best results.
Sam’s philosophy is about winning. Sometimes the football may not be pretty which upsets the fans, but in the national leagues around the world, winning means points and points mean a stronger position in the league table. As an Englishman I have almost become accepting that my national team will perform OK until the final stages of a big competition and then things will fall apart, but I am confident that Sam can fix this issue and make me and the nation proud of our football team.
The first test for Sam will be the World Cup qualifier on September 4th against Slovakia and my guess is that he will see this as a ‘must win’ game which means the squad will be a mix of experience and perhaps a couple of new faces. His back four will be selected for their strength and physicality and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see one or two defenders in the squad that didn’t make it to the Euro’s. The squad that went to the Euro’s was packed with talent from the EPL and some top Championship clubs, but this quality and ‘fame’ didn’t ignite a fire as we saw, so don’t be surprised to see some names on the team sheet that are unfamiliar to you.
Sam is a fighter and likes fighters; he isn’t the smartest looking or most stylish man you will ever meet and this maybe why he has never coached on of the worlds top clubs. Do we care if he wins matches? The simple answer is no we don’t, we want our team to perform on the pitch and make us proud to be English, its exactly the same for the Chinese or German teams. ‘Can Sam transition from the EPL to coaching the national team’ will be the question we will be asking, and on September 4th we will find out.
It is also interesting to look at the foreign coaches who have come to China; some can transition from Europe or South America, and get a culturally diverse squad to play as a team, and others just don’t know how. Perhaps just like Sam, some of these coaches can individually man manage their squad, communicating and motivating in the correct cultural manner for every player. Maybe the least successful ones just try to apply the same rules and same approach to every man in the team, and this just doesn’t work. What is clear is that any coach needs to understand the strengths and weaknesses of every player they have and must be able to communicate with each one well, irrespective of language difficulties.
This challenge is often compounded by the high expectations of the club owners who want instant success, and will not allow a new coach enough time to bond with his players and learn the peculiarities of Chinese football. Bringing a famous coach (or player) to China isn’t a guarantee of success if you don’t understand the game and are not willing to take the time to learn it and find the right coach for your club.
So back to Sam; in my view what the country needs now is someone who gets the job done, is determined and focused, has little concern for what others say about him because he knows what must be done. Good luck Sam, your country needs you.
作者簡介：Ken Grant 鴻俊，體育業內人士、投資人和觀察家；國際主席俱樂部(IPC)及亞英體育俱樂部(AASC)董事；The English Football League中國區官方商務開發代表。在足球、高爾夫、馬球等體育領域擁有廣泛的國際關系。
聲明：文中觀點僅代表作者本人觀點，不代表懶熊體育。
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