France '98: An Axe Of Hodd

THEY say that once upon a time coaches hardly mattered. Who remembers for example - so the question went - the man in charge of perhaps the best team of all time, the Brazilians of 1970? (It was Mario Zagallo.) But today, when the gap between national teams is so narrow, good coaching can make that crucial difference. Thus if the modern World Cup remains a showcase of the greatest players, so it is also now a stage for the best organisers, both on the training ground and in the team hotel. In fact, pastoral care seems to matter almost as much as tactical and technical nuances these days. "World Cups are won off the field as well as on it," is how the England coach Glenn Hoddle puts it.

So far the signs for Hoddle have been good. For all the side-shows of Gazza's guzzling, selection inconsistencies and the use of a faith healer, the drama of a goalless draw in Rome against Italy last autumn has earned Hoddle much indulgence. The finals will tell us more. Is England's youngest ever coach - just 38 when he took the job two years ago - a precociously successful leader of men or a tiro out of his depth? Hoddle believes this will be the best-prepared international team to leave England for a major tournament and his methods, both in terms of preparation and playing, have evolved from experience: as a player at the Mexico finals in 1986; as an observer of Arsene Wenger at Monaco; then as a coach himself at Swindon and Chelsea.

As an often ill-used England player - 53 caps seems at least 25 too few - Hoddle mostly felt that the team was tactically restricted by a 4-4- 2 formation that played in straight lines without unexpected or subtle movement. He himself became a sweeper at Swindon and Chelsea, a position he sees as pivotal in the modern game. With less space on the pitch for the old-fashioned midfield general, Hoddle feels, the sweeper can be the starting point for attacks. His England team are probably still in a state of transition to the way he would like to play when he finds the right man as pivot. Jamie Redknapp was tried there in an Under-21 game and it is a midfield player that Hoddle sees as most likely to evolve into the role.

The coach's job, though, is to make the best of the available talent and Hoddle has 3-5-2 as his best formation for the present crop. It is an adaptable pattern, and his England often take on the look of the old English 4-4-2 when defending. Going forward, he wants the team to avoid the old straight up-and-down routine. What remains to be seen in France is whether Hoddle has maintained the progress that was made under his predecessor Terry Venables. Venables' wide players were wingers while Hoddle prefers the wing-backs who are less effective as attacking players.

So far, Hoddle's teams have looked efficient away from home, unconvincing at Wembley. It will be interesting to see whether such a creative talent as Steve McManaman, in some ways the inventive epitome of England's encouraging Euro 96 campaign, can be integrated amid the David Battys and Paul Inces. For it all to be effective, Hoddle is determined that players should be brought to a peak of physical conditioning, in a manner he saw Wenger achieve 10 years ago at Monaco and repeat this season with Arsenal.

The England of Mexico 86, Hoddle feels, were not properly acclimatised for the heat and altitude. They trained too hard beforehand and did not eat and drink efficiently. It is why, he felt, they ran out of steam at the quarter-final stage when the talent was there, if fuelled and guided properly, to go further. And so England will take with them to France a battery of staff to implement the Hoddle programme, from chef to masseur to faith healer. Before they left, the players had dental check-ups and even appointments with a chiropodist.

Physical warm-ups and warm-downs at the end of sessions - to music chosen by Hoddle - are now more scientifically organised, as are the players' diets. All were blood-tested two months ago and iron levels determined in order to devise individual programmes of tablets, including minerals and iron and vitamins. "Every player has been tested and his diet worked out, not so much in what they will eat but in their dietary supplements," says Hoddle. "Some need extra vitamins, some have iron deficiencies." There are, too, other dietary supplements that Hoddle is keen to keep secret. They are, naturally, legal. Each player, he says, will have been drug-tested before the finals.

It is the use of Eileen Drewery that has caused most controversy but Hoddle, who has been visiting the faith healer for 20 years, counters: "The players will have massage, two full-time doctors - and Eileen. People out there should be thinking that sounds pretty professional and covers every angle. That's what it might need for us to win the World Cup. There are 101 things you can do off the pitch and the players are very excited about some of the things we're doing. I believe we have got the talent but you have also got to have all the other things that perhaps some of the other countries have been ahead of us with. There needed to be a bridge between the two and we are getting there.

"It's time to see what we can achieve with the same methods," Hoddle adds. "It's all about putting the best jockey hopefully on a good horse. Our methods can make a 15 to 20 per cent difference and maybe more in terms of fitness. That period of intense preparation can determine how well you do. I am a great believer in small details. If you get every single small detail right, then the big ones will take care of themselves."

It all sounds similar to the thoroughness with which Germany, say, have approached the modern international game. It is, though, merely a basis rather than the be-all and end-all. The factors which will determine the success of England's campaign are more to do with Hoddle's man-management, his coaching and selection skills.

While younger players have grown up in awe of Hoddle the player, some of the older ones have also played in teams with him and thus see him differently. The skill is in relating to both. There is a coolness to Hoddle that can make him seem aloof; no bad thing perhaps. The same was said of Sir Alf Ramsey, but now his World Cup winners of 1966 speak fondly of him. Winning is the key; defeat can lead to the coolness being resented.

At first, his old playing talent may have earned Hoddle some respect but after that it has been more to do with how well he marshals his troops on the training ground, and whether they believe in what he and his back- up coaching staff of John Gorman, Glenn Roeder and Ray Clemence are trying to achieve.

The curious thing about World Cup campaigns is that they can be short and sharp - all over in three matches - or long and drawn-out, and what seems like meticulous planning will either be wonderful or wasted. Events in France will decide what the world thinks of the Hoddle method.