Although Glenn Hoddle’s name was linked on Sunday to the vacant South African soccer coaching post, the former England manager’s formal application is yet to arrive in South Africa.
”We have got a long list of people who could be approached and Glenn Hoddle is one of them,” said Molefi Oliphant, president of the South African Football Association (Safa).
First he has to see if Hoddle is interested.
South African Sunday newspapers made much of the controversial side of Hoddle’s career: ”A bright, energetic manager with real talent. And a man who believes in reincarnation, faith-healing and a 3-5-2 formation. Have fun!” said a Sunday Times report.
Hoddle, sacked by Tottenham Hotspur after a poor start to the current season, is ”still highly regarded despite his fall from grace in recent years”, said the Sunday Independent.
Also on the list — and perhaps topping it — is Roger Lemerre, the only man to win two continental championships (Europe and Africa) as coach and the World Cup as an assistant. He is one of 29 people whose applications the association has received, but nothing yet from Hoddle.
The Frenchman’s contract with Tunisia — whom he led to their maiden African Nations Cup title last month — ended last week. He was assistant to Aime Jacquet as France won the 1998 World Cup, and went on to guide France to European Championship glory two years later.
Hoddle, who last week withdrew from negotiations to return to Southampton after fans expressed outrage at that possibility, said on the BBC website: ”I would love to get back into the game. I have had four or five offers, including one from Nigeria, but they have not been right.”
The South African coaching position was left vacant when Safa fired Shakes Mashaba on the eve of the African Nations Cup in Tunisia.
Other big-name coaches who have sent their resumes are former France, Cameroon and Morocco coach Henri Michel and ex-Cameroon Nations Cup-winning mentor Pierre Lechantre. Englishmen Stuart Baxter, previously an England Under-19 coach, Roy Hodgson — who coached Switzerland — and former FA technical director Howard Wilkinson have also been linked to the South African job.
Oliphant has also suggested former Italian striker and Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli was being targeted.
However, South Africa’s history with foreign coaches is chequered.
Phillipe Troussier of France was unable to see out his term before going on to success at the helm of Japan, and Portugal’s Carlos Quieroz also left early, only to be snapped up first by Manchester United, and then Real Madrid — two of the best clubs in the world.
Safa CEO Albert Mokoena, South Africa’s 2010 World Cup Bid chief executive Danny Jordaan, Safa technical director Marcos Falopa and Terry Paine were on Saturday appointed to a committee to name a coach by May 1.
Oliphant said the new man would be handed a two-year deal to take him through to the 2006 tournament in Germany. — Sapa-AP