The former Wigan, West Ham, Hull City and Fulham midfielder has spoken about his post-retirement plans, including his vision for football management.
Jimmy Bullard has never been one to take himself too seriously but when it comes to a potential career in coaching the former Hull City and Fulham midfielder is more than serious. In an interview with The Guardian he has made it clear the style of football he would want his team playing.
“I wouldn’t be a soft touch and my team would play totally differently to what the world is used to. It would be pure football; none of this kicking it in the channels, getting after it and turning the full-back. My team would have quality play. Pass and move. They’d play high-intensity, pressing football. Proper football. Enjoyable football. Entertaining football. It would be so mesmeric the fans would never want to leave the ground. That’s what I’d bring to the table: pure quality.”
When pressed on the issue of whether he has done his coaching badges the free-spirited Londoner was thrift in his response:
‘’No’’.
It would however be brilliant to see Jimmy in the dug-out with his floppy mop adorning his clown crown and trademark smile beaming from ear to ear. I for one am in no doubt that any team managed by Jimmy would play with a care-free high intensity football. Whether it would win games or not is irrelevant, it would be a joy to witness.
He has been touted as a potential Soccer Saturday pundit and he admits he doesn’t mind being considered something of a footballing jester, blessing the game with an easy going mentality that is so bereft in this stuffy world. Football is pretty wound up at the moment and the players in Bullard’s ilk would literally leap-frog over confrontation, acting as a means of distraction from the petty nuances that seem to concentrate and dilute our beautiful game.
He likes his fishing, playing golf and he will most likely ease into the life of retirement, no matter how hard the fact that he will never get the feeling of scoring in front of 30,000 adoring fans ever again.
As for his managerial career, I am sure he will be a top gaffer, however he might have to do so as a Sunday Dad with his young children.
Either way, retired or not, you can guarantee we have not heard the last of James Richard Bullard.
Do you think Jimmy Bullard could be a manager? Or is punditry his future?
image: © joncandy
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