Posted July 14, 200915 yr Felipe Scolari (2008-2009) Written by Loz and last updated July 2008 Luiz Felipe Scolari, otherwise known as ‘Big Phil’ although not to his face, at least not anymore – he no longer likes the name and he packs a fair punch so no sense in taking the risk. Can’t say I see too much wrong with the name myself, if the ladies called me ‘Big Phil’ then I would probably be getting it embroidered on my jacket! However Scolari is a modest man and refuses to indulge in details of his private affairs and thus Felipe Scolari it is. He must have known his career would end up in England, only this would explain the dropping of the name ‘Luiz’ which, to be frank sounds like a bit of a bird’s name and would run the risk of being nicknamed ‘Little Luiz’ which would do him no favours at all in the showers. Enough of such tittle tattle (that was Liam saying that, he is convinced Scolari is named ‘Phil’ after Phil Silvers who was neither big or popular with the ladies, unlike Liam’s brother). Scolari was born on November 9th, 1948 in Brazil (Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul to be exact – a town where men tame wild horses for giggles) and like the majority of top quality managers was pretty much on a par with Titus Bramble when it came to playing ability (oh and he was a petrol pump attendant before he was a footballer, in fact it was whilst doing this job that he met his wife). His love of football was encouraged by his father Benjamin who was considered one of the finest centre halves to ever come from Rio Grande do Sul however that love was not enough to propel Scolari beyond mediocre! Like his father he was a centre half and kick started his career as a 17 year old playing for Aimore junior side. He went on to play for Brazilian clubs Caxias, Juventude, Novo Hamburgo and CSA. The only silverware in his playing career being the Alagoano State Championship (which is a league that operates within the Brazilian state of Alagoas) that he won whilst playing for CSA. One of his early coaches, Carlos Froner said “The skilful players would shout 'here comes the truck' every time he went for the ball†He was 34 when he hung up his playing boots and moved straight into management with CSA with whom he won the Alagoano State Championship in his first season. Between 1982 and 1987 he leapt from club to club in a fashion Mickey Thomas would have been proud of. The managerial seats he made hot were the ones at Juventude (on two occasions), Brasil de Pelotas, Saudia Arabia’s Al-Shabab and then back to Brazil with Gremio with whom he won the 1987 Gaucho state championship (another league within a Brazilian state, this time the state of Rio Grande do Sul). There was no stopping Scolari now, he contacted Norris McWhirter at the Guinness Book or Records and set his sights on breaking the world record for most football clubs managed. He was like Souness without the good looking wife! He swapped the Samba lifestyle at Gremio to move to Kuwait where he managed league side Al Qadisiya Kuwait for two seasons before taking on the role of the Kuwait national team manager who he led to the Gulf Cup. Saddam Hussein’s invasion saw him return to Brazil and lead Criciuma to victory in the Copa do Brazil (this was formerly a cup played for by all 64 clubs in Brazil but since 2001 it has been ‘downgraded’ by the fact that any clubs playing in the Copa Libertadores (played for by the top clubs in South America and Mexico) no longer take part in it. In 1993 he once again took over at Gremio and in three seasons they established themselves as a force in Brazilian domestic football, both from the perspective of silverware and also the fact that they enjoyed nothing more than getting involved in fights during matches. Scolari was pilloried by sections of the local media for this aggressive approach and I dare say his moustache may have bristled on occasion. A point of interest for Chelsea fans is that the team’s success (and there was plenty of it) was built around hard graft rather than flair – it was not a team that could boast any really outstanding individual players but rather a collection of players willing to work all day and put their heads where you wish Jamie Carragher would put his. Scolari now headed for Japan and managed J-League outfit Jubilo Iwata but he clearly didn’t take to spending his life playing video games (that Chakrabarti girl from Liberty is going to sue me) and left after only 11 games. The reputation he had established whilst at Gremio was enough to persuade Palmeiras, one of the most famous names in Brazilian football, to appoint him as their new manager and he didn’t let them down. In three years under Scolari they won the Copa do Brasil, Mercosur Cup (only existed between 1998 and 2001 and was competed for by the top clubs from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile) and their first ever Copa Libertadores. He was named the South American Coach of the Year in 1999. In the Summer of 2001 Brazil was in crisis and I’m not talking about that Scotsman Alan with his wine problem. I’m referring to the country of Brazil. Mortality rates were sky high, police brutality was hitting the headlines and homicide was becoming a hobby however all of this paled into insignificance when considered alongside the fact that Brazil were in real danger of not qualifying for the 2002 World Cup! Scolari was brought in with strict orders to put things back on track. However he got off to a bad start by going down 1-0 to Uruguay and Brazilian lips wobbled. However he managed to steer the good ship Brasilia through troubled waters and onto the World Cup in South Korea and Japan. If you don’t know by now that they went on to win the World Cup that year then you clearly haven’t read many of the articles telling you Brazil won the World Cup in 2002 – this is the only possible reason I can think of. So for those of you that haven’t, they did – now that my friend is detailed journalism! (p.s. they beat England en route). The fact that this success is now played down by idiots in papers by making remarks like ‘anyone can win the World Cup managing Brazil’ belies the fact that at the time of the tournament there were very few people who truly believed they would be anywhere near the final. Even the Brazilian public didn’t really fancy their chances, especially when Scolari refused to bow to public pressure and dropped Romario from the squad whilst calling up far less fancied players including a certain right back called Belletti. During the 2002 World Cup Scolari adopted a 3-5-2 formation which thrust none other than Kleberson into the public eye (fooling everyone into thinking he was good) but more significantly provided a system which got the very best out of Ronaldo and Rivaldo. The most churlish critics still had a pop at Scolari claiming that it was the individual brilliance of Ronaldo and Rivaldo that had dragged Brazil to glory and that Big Phil just got lucky. After winning the World Cup what better thing to do then change countries and win the European Championships? If Sofa Manager could rewrite history this is exactly what Scolari would have achieved however Greece had other ideas and they defied all the odds to win Euro 2004 and beat Scolari’s Portuguese side in the final (p.s. Portugal beat England en route). Two years later, and still Portugal’s manager, Scolari had another crack at the 2006 World Cup in Germany but this time he was to fall at the semi final stage losing out to France (p.s. they beat England en route). It was during the build up to the 2006 World Cup that Scolari was strongly linked with the England international job, a job he eventually turned down blaming the excessive media intrusion into what he considered to be his private affairs. He was quoted as saying ‘“Last night there were 20 reporters outside my house. This is not part of my life and never will be. I will definitely not be a coach of England." (Enjoy life at the Bridge mate!). During the 2006 World Cup we got an indication of the extent to which Scolari stands by his players. Luis Figo did Holland’s Mark van Bommel the honour of awarding him a ‘Glasgow Kiss’ an action which Scolari defended by saying "Jesus said we should turn the other cheek. Unfortunately, Figo is not Jesus Christ." Next up Euro 2008 and it was during qualifying that the world witnessed Scolari have what is technically termed a ‘hairy canary’. In September 2007 Portugal drew 1-1 with Serbia and big Phil was none to chuffed with the late equaliser awarded to Serbia and came storming onto the pitch to make his anger clear. One thing led to another and before you know it Scolari is throwing a punch at Serbian defender Dragutinovic. There was minimal contact and luckily for Scolari it wasn’t one of his own players he hit as they would probably just be picking themselves off the ground now. Scolari later claimed he didn’t actually hit Dragutinovic and claimed "He was going to hit Quaresma and I defended him’ 2008 was soon upon us and Scolari took a much fancied (at least that is what the Village People say about them) Portuguese side to Euro 2008. They impressed in the group stages playing, along with Holland, probably the best football of the tournament but they fell apart in their Quarter Final tie against an organised but slightly dull German side. This time they didn’t beat England at any point in the tournament – HA take that Big Phil (p.s. England didn’t qualify). Half way through Euro 2008, prior to Portugal being knocked out, Chelsea announced that Scolari was to take over from Avram Grant as their new manager. It is fair to say that the timing of the announcement went down with the Portuguese Football Association about as well as Deco and Ronaldo go down albeit with a lot more provocation. Chelsea claimed they make it a low key announcement so as not to disrupt the Portuguese camp however that is drifting into the arena of total twaddle as they knew full well from that point on the media would be all over them like a rash. What is more likely is that Chelsea were getting worried about rumours of key players being linked with moves away and also the risk of missing out on key signings who would not want to join a club with no manager. Scolari signed a 4 year contract rumoured to be worth £5.5 million a year (doubling the salary he was on as Portugal’s manager). Chelsea have become the 19th club he has managed in a 25 year long managerial career however it should be pointed out that he has never managed a domestic European club! On one hand we have a manager who has won the World Cup but on the other he has as little more credibility as a club manager than Avram Grant did and look at the stick Grant got for that. However what he does have that Grant didn’t appear to have is an ability to forge a team mentality. And if the players don’t like it he can always scare the living sh*t out of them, this is, after all, a man who previously expressed his admiration for Augusto Pinochet!!
