Foundation course: Time to coach the coaches

Good man and true he may be, but Dave Watson's appointment as caretaker manager of Everton does illustrate how ill-prepared even some of the biggest English clubs are when it comes to the crucial business of running the team.

At Nottingham Forest, Stuart Pearce had the desired effect of galvanising the squad for a few matches before he realised how consuming the job was. Everton are no doubt hoping for the same immediate upturn before finding an appropriately significant figure in the summer.

It is not that such amateurish short-term thinking would only happen in England ,but that it rarely ever does in the role-model, similarly moneyed, leagues, of Serie A and Bundesdliga. There, assistants are groomed through coaching qualifications and work experience on loan at smaller clubs, ready to assume control. Here, the mentality remains that the manager often wants more of a mate, and one not so good that he is potential replacement.

No doubt Howard Wilkinson is chipping away already at this culture in his role as the FA's technical director but Everton's situation does highlight the need, again, for a less haphazard coaching structure in this country.