Until the Venkys placed Roy Keane top of their list to guide Blackburn to mid-table mediocrity this week the irascible Irishman was all set to take charge of Turkish side Kasimpasa. Kasim-who you might justifiably ask. The Istanbul-based club have just been promoted to the Turkish Super League and are benefiting from considerable investment but for Keane it would still represent a strange left-turn in a managerial career that usually consists of buying Carlos Edwards and turning a Championship side with potential into relegation fodder.
Should the Venkys see sense – and there is a first time for everything – and appoint Shearer or Solskjaer instead for the Ewood Park ejector seat then Keane is likely to agree terms with the club that play at the 15,000 Recep Tayyip Erdogan Stadium and become the latest in a long line of gaffers who have headed for a far-flung dug-out at a strange destination. Here’s some of our favourites beginning with perhaps the most shocking and famous of them all….
Don Revie – UAE
We’ve had some genuine jaw-to-the-floor moments from our England bosses in our lifetime from Taylor’s documentary, to Hoddle’s claim that the disabled were reincarnated sinners, to Keegan quitting in a post-match interview. Nothing comes close however to Revie in 1977 announcing through a handsomely paid exclusive in the Daily Mail that he was jumping ship to the Middle East to take charge of the United Arab Emirates. If this were not shocking enough Revie had, at this point, failed to actually notify the F.A of his decision. The controversy this provoked meant the ex-Leeds mastermind was forever demonised in this country particularly when detailed were later released of his lucrative £340,000 contract. The FA meanwhile suspended Revie from football for 10 years on a charge of bringing the game into disrepute.
Tony Adams – Gabala
It was inevitable that following Adams’ character makeover from drunken donkey to Renaissance Man he would take the plunge into management. Two unsuccessful stints later (at Wycombe and Portsmouth) and talk of him being the eventual successor to his life-mentor Wenger soon looked ridiculous and Adams sought employment in Azerbaijan with a club so unknown even the locals are probably unaware of its existence. With typical optimistic gusto Adams saw the move as a rare opportunity to build a club up from scratch. He departed months later for family reasons.
Johnson tries to remember the Latvian for ‘sick as a parrot’.
Gary Johnson – Latvia
There are few stranger career trajectories than the one experienced by the present Yeovil Town boss back in 1999. After quitting Kettering Town following their decision to reduce his position to part-time Johnson was approached by the Latvian football authorities who requested his help. After a short period of scouting he was then offered the national job at a time when Latvia actually had some decent players. Indeed it was on Johnson’s personal recommendation that Southampton took a punt on Marian Pahars while he also name-checked Igors Stepanovs to Arsene Wenger something for which I’m sure the Frenchmen is eternally grateful for.
Malcolm Allison – Willington
The charismatic Allison was an innovative coach who was lightyears ahead of the game, a 60s Mourinho who Brian Clough once referred to as ‘the Errol Flynn of football, far too good looking for his own good”. With his fedora, cigars, quick-wit and moniker of ‘Big Mal’ he bestrode the game and did so entirely on his own terms so it’s perfectly logical that after being sacked as Middlesbrough boss in 1984 Allison packed up his gym-kit and headed down the road to Willington, an amateur outfit who played in the Wearside League.
For anyone else such a move would be considered odd to say the least. For Big Mal football was football.
Andre Villas-Boas – British Virgin Islands
We’ve all got to start somewhere but for most of us our first rung on the career ladder usually entails making the tea in some crummy office. Typically the stylish AVB did things with a bit more panache somehow securing the running of the British Virgin Islands team at the age of just 21. A respected position of power on a idyllic Caribbean paradise when most of us are still w**king to Hollyoaks, it’s little wonder the man is so arrogant.
Stephen Constantine – Nepal
Londoner Constantine’s CV reads like the ultimate Lonely Planet guide. After several seasons at the reins of APEP (a second division Cypriot side) the FIFA instructor then took charge of four consecutive national teams – Nepal, India, Malawi and Sudan, the first of which was presumably a Himalayan task.
Ruud Gullit – Terek Grozny
Gullit’s two year spell at the Bridge remains the longest he avoided the sack in all of his five clubs as coach – not so much sexy football then as a series of one-night stands. The ex-dread was unceremoniously given the boot by Grozny in June of last year for enjoying a ‘party lifestyle’ which is impressive when you consider that Chechnya’s premier nightclub is probably a small cabin in the Caucasus mountains.
