COACHING THE COACHES

With Alan Shearer the talk of the toon as today's visit from Chelsea marks his first game in charge of Newcastle, Guus Hiddink has been discussing famous players making the transition to manager.

The former England international centre-forward goes into the job having completed his Uefa A and B coaching qualifications. However Shearer is without the Uefa Pro Licence expected of someone plying his trade at the top level for an extended period.

Hiddink, who made the switch from midfielder to gaffer back in the early 1980s, was involved in similar cases to Shearer's when working as Dutch national manager. He values training for coaches but also a flexible approach.

'When I was working with the Dutch federation, with some directors we created a course for former players,' he recollects.

'Holland as in England has many star players. We were talking about it and thinking that if they were very interested in staying in the football business, it would be a waste not to use their experience as players.

'Saying that, you must also add many tools to be a manager and that is why we organised as a federation a course for ex-international players.

'They have to have had their international career,' he continues, 'playing European Championships and World Cups, and then we created a course which is not as long as the normal course.

'It is not four-to-five years. We made it happen in one-and-half years.'

Former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit was one to take advantage of the fast track partly laid down by the man who has become his successor at Stamford Bridge.

Other Dutch legends like Ronald Koeman, Johann Neeskens, Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Krol and current Holland manager Marco van Basten did too.

'First players react that it is not necessary,' reports Hiddink. 'They say I know everything about football, but when they start these courses, after two months they start saying it is very interesting to know a lot more about managing a team, and then they are getting very equipped.

'This is the situation for Alan Shearer now. For the moment his team is having problems. I don't know how it is organised in England when there are exceptional situations so the federation give permission for a certain time, and then you have to get your diploma. But I think they will have their demands in the near future.'

One of the major benefits of qualifying as a coach, according to Hiddink, is gaining knowledge on how to make each training session work towards a desired goal - and not just in a scoring sense either. These goals can be technical, tactical or physical.

'That is the part where new managers have to broaden their knowledge and they get interested.'

He also goes along with the commonly held view that a great player doesn't necessarily develop into a good manager.

'You can use a great playing career on top of what you gather in knowledge. I hope I am still learning even at my older age.

'Now doing the course in Holland are Phillip Cocu and Frank de Boer, who are very smart players and people. When you are a top, top player you are not always guaranteed of being a top manager. Sometimes those who have not reached the top, top level can imagine a little bit what the difficulties are not being top.'