Arrigo Sacchi once said, "You dont have to have been a horse to be a jockey. Chase Vaughn ." With regards to becoming a professional soccer coach, that is an expression that one will hear often. In fact, it is a mantra for aspiring coaches who never made the grade as professional players. They point to recent successes in football management - like Tottenhams André Villas-Boas - who never played the game professionally as examples of why a professional playing career is overrated when it comes to being a professional coach. But is it? Does a professional coach need to have a professional playing career first in order to be successful as a coach? Is it a prerequisite for getting hired? Is a coach who never played the game viewed by the establishment as inferior to those who did? Lets take a look at the coaches in the English Premier League for some insight. Since the league began in 1992, there have been 179 different men in charge of the 20 clubs in the league. Some were only in the job for a day as caretakers, while others - like Sir Alex Ferguson - were in charge for many years. By my count, only six of those coaches moved into coaching without first having enjoyed a substantial professional playing career. The likes of Villas-Boas, Roy Hodgson (now manager of England) and Avram Grant didnt accumulate years of experience in the game as professional players before moving into coaching. Instead, they served years as coaching apprentices before working their way up through the coaching ranks. Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers retired from the game as a player at the age of 20 due to injury before beginning his journey on the coaching pathway. But these coaches are very much the exception. When it comes to getting a job as a coach at the highest level in England, having a professional playing career behind you is almost mandatory. But does it actually make a difference? Does a professional playing career make you a better coach? Im not convinced that it does. Some of the brightest coaches in the game - people like Villas-Boas and Rodgers - demonstrate that the ability to coach the game isnt reflective of ones ability to play the game. Those coaches became students of the game at an early age and worked their way up the coaching ladder, either as assistant coaches or as academy coaches, before moving into senior management. Internationally, some of the most successful coaches in the game achieved their success without ever touching the field as professional players. Arrigo Sacchi turned AC Milan into one of the greatest club teams ever in the late 80s and early 90s, winning back-to-back European Cups. Carlos Alberto Parreira won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994; neither he nor Sacchi ever set foot on the field as professional players. Closer to home, Canadas womens national team coach, John Herdman, never played professionally. Yet he is one of the best coaches Ive come across in over two decades of professional involvement in the game. While players are immersed in a football culture day in, day out, that doesnt necessarily translate to success in coaching. Take Arsenal and England defender Tony Adams, for example. An exceptional player for both club and country, his forays into management with Wycombe Wanderers and Portsmouth FC failed to bring success; he suffered relegation to League Two with Wycombe and only managed to win four of his 22 games in charge of Portsmouth before being sacked. Adams last coaching appointment was in May 2010 with Gabala FC in the Azerbaijan Premier League, a post he subsequently left in November 2011. Arguably the worlds best-ever player, Diego Maradona, had a disastrous spell as manager of his national team. In charge of Argentinas 2010 World Cup appearance, he will be remembered for his tactical naiveté and general incompetence during his countrys 4-0 hammering at the hands of Germany. In professional football, being able to manage the personalities of your players is far more important than being able to ping a 60-yard ball across the pitch. Sir Alex Ferguson summed it up nicely in his recent autobiography, when he said, "Football management is a never-ending sequence of challenges. So much of it is a study in the frailty of human beings." While a professional playing background teaches you the technical, tactical and physical requirements of the game, does it teach you to understand the frailty of human beings? Not really. Being a player is often a selfish existence; you worry, first and foremost, about your own performance. You dont have that luxury as a manager, where you must give as much of your time (if not more) to the weakest member of your team as you do to your star player. You must be able to see the bigger picture, and must be able to tailor your teaching methods to meet the needs of each and every one of your players and staff. The ability to do this comes naturally for some - which might explain why so many clubs make the mistake of hiring a former player as their coach. They assume that years spent playing the game are equivalent to years spent teaching it. But for most coaches, being able to manage a group of professional players comes only with years and years of practice. But if you dont have a professional playing career behind you, getting an opportunity at a professional club is very difficult. Because there is definitely a perception amongst club owners and chairman that the lack of a professional playing career is somehow a black mark on a coachs resumé - as if the ability to teach the game is directly related to the ability to play the game. Perhaps the only way to dispel this belief is for more coaches like Villas-Boas, Rodgers and Herdman to achieve success in the game. Chris Peace .S.-Cuba relations means baseball prospects get off the island and into the major leagues without payoffs to smugglers and threats from kidnappers, its hard to see the downside. Joe Ethridge . Scotlands Greg Laidlaw made one of two penalty kicks and all three conversions, and Stuart Hogg added a try in the second half. "The most important thing to come out of the game is that we did not get scored against," Laidlaw said. https://www.cheapnfljerseyschina.co/tom-forrest-jersey-for-sale/ . With the Nets winning streak in jeopardy, Williams scored 23 points, 11 in the final six minutes, to lead Brooklyn to a 104-99 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.TSN.ca presents its latest weekly power rankings for the 2013-14 Barclays Premier League staff. Rankings were weighted evenly between separate lists made by TSN Radio host and soccer analyst Gareth Wheeler as well as TSN.cas soccer editors. 1. Arsenal (Last Week- 1) The Gunners remained atop the table thanks to a clean-sheet at home over Crystal Palace. Arsenal once again pounced on lesser opposition, after their Week 8 win over Norwich sent them back to the top of TSNs rankings. Mikel Arteta scored a penalty and was then sent off on a straight-red when he was adjudged to have denied a goal-scoring opportunity. 2. Chelsea (LW- 2) Fernando Torres had himself a game at Stamford Bridge, helping Chelsea hold firm at number two both in the table (where they are level with Liverpool) and in our rankings. The Spaniard set up a pretty marker for Andre Schuerrle in the first half before a Joe Hart howler gifted him the winner in the 90th minute. 3. Liverpool (LW- 4) Luis Suarez was in top form on Saturday as his hat trick provided more than enough backing for the Reds 4-1 victory over West Brom at Anfield. The win bumped them up a spot in the rankings as the Merseysiders kept a share of second in the Premiership with the win. 4. Tottenham (LW- 5) It took a Roberto Soldado penalty, but Spurs was able to salvage three points over Hull at White Hart lane on Sunday. It was a tense 80 minutes of scoreless play before Soldados spot strike, but the victory helped keep Tottenham just a point back second and within one win of a share of first at 19 points. 5. Manchester City (LW- 3) The already ticking clock on Joe Harts subpar season spun its gears a bit faster on Sunday after his 90th-minute gaffe wound up on Fernando Torres foot and in the back of the net. The goal gave Chelsea full points and dropped City not only to seventh in the table but, more troublingly, a mere two points ahead of their struggling cross-town rivals. 6. Southampton (LW- 6) Jay Rodriguez and Rickie Lambert scored to propel the Saints to yet another win and – at the time of the victory - to third in the Premier League standings. While Spurs and Chelsea both pulled back ahead on Sunday, the St. Marys faithful will be more than pleased with a share of fifth at nearly the quarter-mark of the season. 7. Everton (LW- 7) Romelu Lukaku scored his fifth goal in five games and substitute Leon Osman added an insurance marker for Everton in their 2-0 road win at Villa Park. The victory helps them hold on to the seventh spot in the rankings and a share of fifth in the table ahead of both Manchester clubs. 8. Manchester United (LW- 8) It was another nail-biter at Old Trafford but once David Moyes decided to go all-in on his offensive firepower, the Red Devils were able to turn the tide and earn three points. Second-half goals from Wayne Rooney and Chicharito got United just its second home win of the campaign. 9. Swansea City- (LW- 12) A goalless home draw may not be a lot to show for a weeks work from Swansea, but the draw against West Ham was good enough to keep them in the top half of the table as the Swans withstood 15 attempts at goal to earn the point. 10. Hull City (LW- 13) If youre going to get hhung with a loss there are far less tolerable ways to do so than losing a one-goal game at White Hart Lane by virtue of a penalty. Butch Byrd. Hull remains in a tie for ninth in the table and has had an admirable year so far, losing only to teams ahead of them like Man City, Chelsea and Everton in addition to Spurs. 11. Aston Villa (LW- 11) Villas 2-0 loss against Everton may have prevented them from keeping pace with the top half of the table but the team is still being buoyed by early season upsets over Arsenal and Man City. 12. West Bromwich Albion (LW- 9) West Brom got absolutely torched by Luis Suarez and Liverpool last weekend, but the team still had a productive October earning points from each of their remaining October games including an improbable win over Manchester United. 13. Newcastle United (LW- 10) It had to be someone, didnt it? Newcastle became the first team to fall to Sunderland in the 2013-14 season, losing a 2-1 road match thanks to Fabio Borinis late derby decider. 14. Fulham (LW- 14) Fulham saw its two-game winning streak snapped with a loss to Southampton at St. Marys. Putting just two shots towards the net and absolutely none on target is not exactly a way to win at Englands top level, so its of little surprise to see Fulhams run come to an end. 15. West Ham United (LW- 15) The Hammers were able to leave Swansea with a point, by virtue of the scoreless draw against the surprising Swans. The November schedule will be a bit kinder to West Ham with three of their four matches coming at Upton Park. 16. Cardiff City (LW- 18) Cardiff did well to get a point in Week 9 despite getting outshot 31-6 in their visit to Norwich. The Welshmen were unable to extricate themselves from the log-jam thats developed between 12th and 18th in the table (a two-point difference) but road points are always a nice bonus for a newly-promoted squad. 17. Stoke City (LW- 16) They thought they were destined to become the latest cellar-dwelling world beaters as Stoke looked on, 15 minutes from victory at Old Trafford. Then David Moyes pulled out all the stops, adding Javier Hernandez and Adnan Januzaj to a side that already featured the likes of Rooney, Shinji Kagawa and RVP. The goals came fast and the points vanished faster. 18. Norwich City (LW- 17) Former Canary David Marshall made a point of frustrating his former team, making 10 saves and holding Norwich to a scoreless draw at home. Could they have gotten more than a third of their 31 attempts actually on the target, perhaps one might have snuck by, but they didnt and a goalless affair is what they got. 19. Sunderland (LW- 20) Go crazy, Sunderland fans! Youre finally on the board! Borini came off the bench to end the two months of misery at the Stadium of Light and vault them out of the Premiership basement. 20. Crystal Palace (LW- 19) The run of futility upped itself to six in Week 9 for Crystal Palace, who were blanked at home by the table-topping Gunners. The good news for the Eagles could be that they dont see a premiership giant like Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs until mid-December, but that could merely be good news for the mid-table teams that have Palace to look forward to. ' ' '