Former England international goalkeeper, Ian Walker played for Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers. In 2012 he moved to China to become goalkeeper coach of Shanghai Shenhua, before crossing the city divide to join Shanghai SIPG in 2014. In Walks the Walk he talks football and China. Follow him on Twitter: @IanWalks1
By now everyone will have read the rumors that a certain Sven-Göran Eriksson in on his way to my club Shanghai East Asia next season. While I can’t confirm anything – I simply don’t know what truth there is to it all – I believe it would be a good move. I actually played under Sven during my England days.
I’d been in the squad on and off under various managers, including Mr. Eriksson. At one point in the summer of 2003, England actually had a friendly against Serbia and Montenegro at the home ground of my club at the time, Leicester City (The Walkers Stadium – named after the crisps, rather than in honor of me…) But Sven never put me on – I was left as an unused substitute. I was a bit pissed off about that!
Then about a year later he did use me against Iceland; I came on for about half an hour at the end of a warm-up match for Euro 2004 in Portugal. So he gave me what turned out to be my final cap for my country, something for which I was very grateful, because I think it had been about seven years since the last one.
The England players respected him a lot; if you look back and see what people like David Beckham say about Sven, they all liked playing for him. He is a fairly laid-back kind of guy, very calm and relaxed. Everyone seemed to get on with him. When we met up again in China for our first game against Guangzhou R&F after his arrival there – he has been their manager for nearly two years now – he came over with a big smile and said hello. It was good to see him. He is a nice guy.
Will Mr. Eriksson give a thumbs up to the big move?
I know what to expect from him, but it might take some of the Chinese guys at the club some time to adapt, because they are used to doing things a certain way. The president, Xu Genbao, has basically been running the entire show for 15 years, bringing an academy side up through the divisions to the Chinese Super League. And he has set the club up, developing a wealth of young talent, coming fifth this year and managing to push for an Asian Champions League spot right until the end.
But I think the time is right for a more experienced coach to take the club to the next level. And Sven has got experience in spades. Not only around the world – he obviously knows Chinese football now too, and will have developed a good idea about how certain teams play and the players within the league.
He has done a very impressive job at R&F – it looks like they are going to finish in the top three and qualify for the ACL – so it will have to be a good offer from Shanghai to persuade him to walk away from that.
With regards the takeover of the club, we’re not really sure who is behind it, but I’m sure that will be revealed in good time. All I’ve heard is that there is a substantial amount of money coming in, and whoever it is sees us as the Shanghai club to get into the ACL.
That is all about prestige I believe; it is the big competition. Guangzhou Evegrande have been in there – they won it last year. Beijing Guo’an qualify regularly. I think the Shanghai powers that be really want a team from the city in there representing.
As for whether this will lead to an influx of big names, a la Anelka and Drogba at Shanghai Shenhua a couple of seasons ago, I’m not sure. If it is Sven in charge, he’ll want to bring in his own players. And in terms of foreign players, it will be interesting to see who stays, who goes.
There was talk of Sven bringing Frank Lampard to R&F over the summer, but he ended up at New York. And if you look at what he has actually done at R&F, they have used their scout Mads Davidsen to go and do research and have brought in players who aren’t particularly big names.
The likes of 23-year-old Moroccan international striker Abderrazak Hamdallah, who has ended up scoring 20 goals; a solid young South Korean center-back Jang Hyun-Soo, also just 23; and a 20-year-old Nigerian guy who nobody really knew about named Aaron Samuel Olanare, who once again has come in and done a good job for them.
So not necessarily well-known names, but Eriksson and Davidsen had done their research, knew they were good players and – interestingly – they are all young. Sven develops teams very well and, as I say, we have a lot of young domestic talent at Shanghai East Asia, so hopefully he will do the same here, working with them rather than replacing them.
I hope the plans are long term; to build a sustainable football club that can move forward, with a lot of good young players coming through. A five- or ten-year project, not just a one year push for the ACL.
One thing is for sure – if Sven does come to Shanghai, there will be a lot of changes, and the pressure will be on. He’ll do whatever he needs to secure the club a place in the Asian Champions League the following year.
For more Ian Walker columns, click here.
0 User Comments