One of the premises of the book Soccernomics is that coaches matter less than clubs’ total wage bills. There is said to be a talent myth around the mystique of this individual who does not even kick a ball on the field. If the importance of the coach is sometimes overstated, then no one told Zdenek Zeman. The 69-year-old Czech manager returned to the dugout this week to take charge of doomed Pescara, whose boss Massimo Oddo was ushered out of the club earlier in the week.
Zeman is beloved at Pescara, whom he coached into Serie A with a free-scoring side in 2011-12.