Leeds United and West Ham United have reaped the rewards of hiring experienced managers.
Tony Pulis has told The Telegraph that he thinks veteran managers still have plenty to offer, name-checking Marcelo Bielsa and Manuel Pellegrini as proof.
Pulis, 61, has enjoyed a managerial career spanning 27 years, but finds himself out of work right now having lost his job at Middlesbrough at the end of last season.
The Welshman will be looking for a route back into management, but he may find a little more difficult now most teams are pushing for young, innovative coaches.
Ex-pro’s such as Joey Barton, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have landed managerial jobs without much coaching experience, whilst Brighton and Hove Albion sacked Chris Hughton in favour of Graham Potter this summer.
Pulis will hope that clubs remember his work with Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion rather than cast him onto the scrapheap just because he didn’t get Boro promoted last season.
Pulis has now commented on the role of veteran managers, feeling that many are pushing experience aside and forgetting how good managers are just because they’re getting up in years.
He picked out two great examples, pointing out that Leeds United and West Ham United are reaping the rewards of their 2018 appointments of Bielsa and Pellegrini.
Bielsa (64) and Pellegrini (65) have shown that they’re no ‘dinosaurs’, taking their clubs forward both on and off the pitch, and Pulis may well use the South American duo as inspiration.
“We push experience aside and forget about people far too quickly,” said Pulis. “People mark you down as a person who’s been in it too long and taken too many punches.”
“Age is just a number. For 18 months at Boro I was the first one in at training and one of the last out. I look at people like Manuel Pellegrini and Marcelo Bielsa and think they all have something to offer,” he added.
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