Head Boy Hudson Graduates from School of Hard Knocks

Like a glistening trophy in some far away land; for the Football Association, it is a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ when it comes to British managers abroad.

Anthony Hudson, the London-born son of Chelsea legend Alan, will know this better than most. For, as he takes his place as an English Head Coach to the Bahrain national football team this week, following in the footsteps of former Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur player and distinguished one-time England caretaker-manager, Peter Taylor, he is sure to look back on his journey with a mixture of pride and sadness at the obstacles he was forced to overcome in order to reach his current station.

A product of the so-called ‘Academy of Football’ at West Ham United, Hudson will no doubt be thrilled to have graduated from Olympic and Under-23 coach to the Gulf Kingdom’s senior sporting post. However, he may feel that a man such as himself, referred to by Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp only two years ago as resembling "a young Jose Mourinho", should not be made to feel that such a round-about route is required on the quest to gain elite employment in his native land.

There was certainly no danger of the 32-year-old being invited to answer the call at his father’s former club Chelsea this summer - where the Blues have been on the managerial merry-go-round so long they have seen it grind to a halt and are now paying to go again - particularly in light of the fact Redknapp deemed his appointment a “gamble” for then-National Conference side Newport County, whom he contacted early in 2011 to recommend Hudson, who had just turned 30 and had worked under him that season at White Hart Lane, for the vacant manager’s job.

The Newport project did not go according to plan for the young tactician but, while this and his lack of top-level experience in this country has led a lot of English teams down the garden path, his “knowledge” and “zest”, highlighted by Redknapp, have opened the game’s gates for him on another continent and presented him with an opportunity he appears set to grasp with both hands.

What the future holds, both for himself and for countless other coaches plying their trade on foreign soil, on the other hand, is less certain. Gary White, Hudson’s equivalent on the Pacific island of Guam, is rated one of the top 16 in his profession worldwide but recently revealed the level of disdain with which our coaches are held abroad as being cause for his Dutch and German counterparts to be “laughing at us” for a sustained lack of success.

As a result, he is urging English governing bodies to take a chance on one of our up-and-coming talents, as Chelsea and then Tottenham Hotspur have done for Andre Villas Boas; White’s successor with the British Virgin Islands under whom, he claims, the islanders did not enjoy anywhere near the same success as they had during his own reign in the Caribbean.

“I feel I am an English natural football ­resource which is in danger of becoming ­extinct”, White warned.

“I hate how we are seen in international football circles right now and my fellow ­graduates and I from the ­recent FA Elite License ­programme are determined to rewrite this negative perception.

“We are modern, creative, young, ­passionate and buoyant.”

Whereas, in the past, travelling overseas was seen as a stepping-stone to retirement - with the likes of Peter Reid, Bryan Robson and, latterly, Scottish strategist Bobby Williamson setting sail to far-flung corners of the globe to share their wisdom, with mixed success – it now often represents the first step on the ladder, particularly for those who have not enjoyed illustrious playing careers.

Former Fulham striker Bobby Houghton made a name for himself by taking Malmo to the 1979 European Cup final but has found work hard to come by since taking India to their very first Asian Cup, at which they struggled. Similarly, ex-Millwall coach Stephen Constantine, who is of Greek-Cypriot heritage but was born in London, was Houghton’s predecessor in India and is a member of FIFA's elite coaches’ panel but has seen fit to return to Cyprus to continue his education.

Taylor, himself, was dismissed by Bahrain last year, notwithstanding his overseeing the most successful period in the nation’s football history, and now works as chief of the relatively under-subscribed, non-UEFA-affiliated England Under-20 set-up.

But the problem is not limited merely to management; Hudson’s Dad, Alan, was once revered as a stylish, swashbuckling playmaker at Stamford Bridge during the halcyon days where he and his team-mates were Kings of the Kings Road and strutted their stuff before some of the great names of British entertainment, exhibiting their inimitable approach, so in touch with the Swinging 60’s, amidst which their skills were showcased.

These days, though, the cult hero is confined to a "£9-a-week prison", awaiting Council intervention while hampered by the effects of being hit by a car 16 years ago; an event which left him comatose for almost three months.

The former pin-up’s sorry tale evoked comparisons with the plight of Arsenal’s Kenny sansom, capped 86 times by his country yet discovered just last week sleeping rough on a park bench, following gambling and alcohol-related issues that led to the disintegration of his once-happy home-life.

These stories, as well as the much-publicised serialisation of the troubles that have persistently dogged another of the sport’s past superstars, Paul Gascoigne, since the denouement of his playing days, pose the question of how far the FA’s responsibilities ought to reach in aiding those who have served or, indeed, seek to serve their institution.

It is logical to think that if our regulatory organisations show no intention of bearing the burden presented by its extended family - or even giving it the time of day - then it would be unreasonable to expect others not to follow suit. Moreover, with money exerting an ever-increasing influence on the nation’s favourite pastime, it would seem just as plausible that socially conscious establishments, such as the FA, Premier League and other infrastructure should want to prioritise with its own interests in mind, as well as those of its participants across the board, which would enable them to act within a controlled sphere of non-political public interest.

For ambitious, career-driven individuals like Hudson, however, this is of little or no comfort as they strive to succeed in a realm ridden with self-doubt and hindered by those envious glances reluctantly taken at the rest of the world, which currently lies oceans ahead of us and is slowly disappearing over the horizon.