Rainer shine

FORGET Britney and Kylie. Videos of Rainer Bonhof playing for Borussia Monchengladbach, Valencia and West Germany are currently the hottest recordings circul-ating among Scotland's best young international footballers.

The players in Bonhof's unbeaten Scotland under-21 side were still years away from being a twinkle in their parents' eyes when the classy midfielder won his World Cup winners' medal in the 2-1 defeat of Holland at Munich's Olympic Stadium in 1974.

Understandably, few are aware of just how distinguished a player their coach was but, through videos, they are starting to rectify that. Bonhof made his debut for the full West German side in 1972 at the age of 19, and won 53 caps and numerous other honours before injury ended his career in 1983.

Now 50, Bonhof still cuts an athletic figure, even if the dash is sometimes smogged by the cigarettes he enjoys. His English is much superior to that of his old friend, teammate and coaching colleague Vogts, which allows him to get a point over quietly and articulately. The image is that of an urbane, relaxed and laid-back man, probably better suited to the pace of international football than the day-to- day pressures of club management.

That has certainly been the pattern of his coaching career. He was assistant to Vogts with the German national team from 1990 to 1998, but thereafter a brief spell managing his old club, Borussia Monchengladbach was not a success. Latterly he had better results with Sporting Club in Kuwait.

When his old 1974 mucker Vogts was being hung, drawn and quartered by the more hysterical elements of the Scottish media earlier this autumn, Bonhof was in the shadows plotting the development of a new generation of internationalists. Appointed to the under-21 position in August, he has been in charge of four friendlies and one European Championship qualifier. Two have been drawn and three won, including the important competitive match in Iceland.

Just as important as the results has been the volume of matches. By the time of next month's friendly against Belgium, he will have overseen six games in just over three months. Yet, had Scotland lost the senior game to Iceland and Vogts' most severe critics had their way, the manager and his P45 might already have been dispatched home, accompanied, presumably, by Bonhof.

"I feared for him," admitted the under-21 coach. "He was in a very, very bad situation, but he was not guilty for being in that position. The match against France was arranged before he took over, and it was also his remit to make the average of the Scotland team a bit younger. He handled the situation, in my opinion, excellently, and now we are on the road back."

Despite the wins against Iceland and Canada, that is a rose- tinted view. Particularly as Bonhof appears to be under the impression that Vogts also had the Far East tour thrust upon him when the opposite is the case. Nevertheless both men now have manoeuvring space to silence their detractors, and not least those back home in Germany. Vogts, despite winning the 1996 European Championships, has not been forgiven in some quarters for the 1994 and 1998 World Cup failures.

Bonhof agrees this is so, but pointed out: "To be the coach after Beckenbauer was not easy. Franz was open with everybody, whereas Berti had a divide between his public and his private life. We won Euro 96 and were second in Denmark four years earlier, but although we played well in the World Cups in the United States and France we weren't successful. Berti still has the biggest record of 102 matches and only 11 loses in eight years."

While Vogts' start of five defeats and a draw in his opening six internationals fuelled a growing feeling that he was a coach in decline, Bonhof has been quietly moulding the under-21 side into a winning unit. But while Vogts has had to face some highly accomplished sides, the under-21s have had a much more gentle introduction with games against Denmark, Israel, Northern Ireland, Iceland and Ghana.

There is also a feeling that Bonhof may have inherited a squad of players with considerably more potential than those available to his predecessor, Alex Smith. The belated attention paid to youth development by Scotland's clubs is starting to produce pleasing results; most coaches would be happy to work with raw material such as Stuart Duff, Ian Murray, James McFadden, Shaun Maloney, and, from England, Michael Stewart and Darren Fletcher.

Although satisfied with the quality, Bonhof was not prepared for the negative mindset of the players he inherited.

"We can't be happy when everybody is taking to the field and thinking 'don't lose'," he explains. "The mentality has to be a winning one. Sometimes the opponents will be better than us and they'll beat us, but we should go out trying to win everything. The players have to believe in themselves."

Asked where this negativity had come from, Bonhof shrugs. "I don't know. I couldn't find out." But then he points to the group table for the under-21 European Championship in 1998-2000, which shows Scotland in fourth place behind Belgium, the Czech Republic and, wait for it, Lithuania. "Results will become tighter because standards are rising everywhere. To handle this you need the mentality to be a winner."

I ask if the plan is for all the Scotland age-group teams, right down eventually to the under-16s, to play the same system and style as the senior side. In which case, is it to be 4-4-2, 3-5-2, or even 4-3-3?

"I favour a system which I have the players for," Bonhof replies. That also perhaps explains Vogts' last-minute departure from a 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 in the first competitive international against the Faroe Islands. "The key for Berti and I," continues Bonhof, "is that the players feel more comfortable in a 4-4-2 system because they have grown up with it, but we also have to teach them other systems.

"Up until now the under-21s have been relatively successful with 3- 5-2, but we will change it if necessary. The players are intelligent enough and are at the age when they like to learn something at every training session." Whatever mistakes Vogts has made in his first six months as Scotland coach, he has exposed many more players to international football, and an extension of this will follow this winter with B games organised against Germany, the Czech Republic and Turkey.

"Berti and I will be sharing this squad," says Bonhof. "This is the 'future team', a mix of the under-21 and the full squad. We have to give the players fresh experience at several levels."

Just how the clubs, who have already denied Bonhof the chance to take the under-21s away during the winter break, will react to yet more international games is a moot point. But Bonhof, whose honours also include four Bundesliga titles, a Uefa Cup and a Cup Winners' Cup, counters: "The clubs, in my opinion, should also be interested in their players gaining this experience.

"There was a small period in Germany when they had problems between the clubs and the national side. Then, after a bad performance in Euro 2000, the mentality changed. The clubs now know exactly how important it is for German football for the national team to be doing well."

Whether Bonhof can introduce a similar attitude of enlightenment in Scotland is open to question, but in his three months here he has already made the under-21s a more positive and enjoyable side to watch.

National under-21 coach Rainer Bonhoff lookslaid back in the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden Park.

Photograph: Stewart Attwood

Copyright 2002
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