The European football organisation Uefa held a forum for elite club coaches yesterday (2 September 2015), after which coaching ambassador and meeting chairman Sir Alex Ferguson said the sport needs to deal with its complexities. Uefas chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina also said they need to tackle overreactions by players and club staff. The meeting of some of the top coaches in Europe was held at Uefa headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, and included discussions on the laws of the game, respect for match officials and recent trends.
In a video released afterwards by Uefa, current coaching ambassador and former Manchester United manager Ferguson said of the forum he chaired: I think the important thing is that it shows that Uefa are interested in the opinions of coaches in the Champions League and the Uefa – the Europa League. Thats one thing. But I think for the coaches, for instance when new coaches come, I think its important to lean on the experience of people like Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez, Arsene Wenger. These guys have had hundreds of games at a European level and the experience they can share with these young coaches is also an important thing. But also I also think to have a communication with each other about the complexities of our industry, because it is quite a severe and result-based industry, which we really need to deal with.
Former top referee Collina said: From time to time that there are some overreactions on the field of play from some players, from some teams tactics or behaviour and also from, from benches. So these are the three fields we want to tackle, the three aspects we want to tackle, recommending the referees to be very careful in dealing with these.
