Soundoff: Best Player/Manager In History (Uberman).

By: chris | November 4th, 2009

beckenbauer_cruyff Earlier in the week we mentioned Johan Cruijff’s return to the sidelines for the Catalonia national team. In the process, a certain sentence spilled across the page which could possibly ignite a spirited debate. And by spirited debate I mean chairs flying, emergency contacts being contacted and babies inadvertently being made. That small statement regarding Mr. Cruijff:

arguably the greatest ever player/coach combination in football history

In all honesty, the hardest part may be defining the title. Football mind? Can’t, as it doesn’t include those in the directorial boxes. Pitchman? That doesn’t work as he’d be confused for hocking the ShamWow! and possibly wind up in jail.

So we’ll stay with player/coach until something else manifests itself in midair. (Uberman has just flown through the window. Almost superhero-esque. Perfection.)

It gets interesting in how you weight things. A simple “trophey haul” could suffice, yet a playing career is disproportionate to most coaching careers and thus trophy hauls could be less for a better player than coach. I’m also of the opinion basing player reputation on trophies should result in automatic removal from the gene pool – players are one of many, going well beyond the playing squad.

Now, should playing career weigh more than coaching career? After all, without the players on the pitch a coach is merely a conductor without an orchestra. Possibly.

Which makes it tough. Fortunately two names shoot to the top of the list, and Diego Maradona ain’t even in the galaxy:

Johan Cruijff & Franz Beckenbauer.

On the playing pitch, they were visionaries: Beckenbauer introduced the world to the libero, while Cruijff’s genius allowed Rinus Michaels to gift the world one of the greatest tactical revolutions in the game’s history. Both won loads, both are legends, both did so on and off the pitch.

Becks 1.0, however, won two World Cups – one as a player and one as a coach. That one as a player even went through a Dutch squad featuring a certain Hendrik Johannes Cruijff. But again: players are one of many. Even the most brilliant job requires teammates affording the freedom to achieve that brilliance.

Beckenbauer won plenty of titles as a coach, Cruijff did too, even creating Barca’s Dream Team. To be honest, I gather they wash as coaches, even with Beckenbauer’s WC title (Cruijff never got the chance), and Cruijff, for me, is only surpassed by one man on the pitch (that’s correct – one), so he gets my nod.

But of course those aren’t the only two, and neither, though great coaches, would be near the greatest ever (for me, greatest ever would require a degree of Hiddink-esque alchemy). So would the Pele of coaches – to be named by your wonderful, brilliant selves – with a good to very good playing career trump the likes of Cruijff and Beckenbauer?

Who gets nominated as the greatest pitch influence of all-time? Who is…Uberman?