WORLD CUP winner. European Championship finalist. Fifteen years of managing some of the world’s top stars.
Not a CV to be, erm, sniffed at.
But Joachim Low, 61, is preparing for what could be his final match in charge of Germany on Tuesday and the offers of work are fewer than the number of sunbeds on a European poolside at 10am.
At a time when there has been a spate of managerial vacancies at clubs across Europe, serial achiever Low does not appear in the race for any of them.
In his homeland, Low was barely a consideration for Bayern Munich when they replaced Hansi Flick, 56, with 33-year-old Julian Nagelsmann — whose former club RB Leipzig also went elsewhere.
Real Madrid were a club not seduced by fresh young talent, instead opting to take Carlo Ancelotti, 62, back to the Bernabeu but again Low was never in the picture.
And while three Prem clubs have seemingly gone through a rapidly decreasing list of potential managers this summer, the name of Low has never been among them.
It appears proven international pedigree counts for nothing in the corridors of power at clubs, not least Tottenham, Everton and Crystal Palace.
In the case of Spurs, chairman Daniel Levy has come up with a whole raft of candidates, many of whom have little to no pedigree.
Meanwhile, Low would be available as a free agent to walk straight into work this summer. Few coaches have managed to consistently produce teams capable of mounting serious challenges at tournaments as Low has done with Germany.
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Over the course of eight years and five World Cups and Euro finals between 2008 and 2016, he led his sides to at least the semi-finals in a remarkable run of tactical acumen and consistency.
If England beat their old rivals in the last-16 clash at Wembley on Tuesday Low will quietly exit the international stage.
He insists he is not heading into retirement and the hunger is there to continue day-to-day work on the training ground.
Seemingly having spent the best part of two decades in the international game, cautious domestic owners do not regard Low as a viable option
He is not helped by a questionable record in club management.
Perhaps the grim viral internet videos of him with his hand down his trousers before sniffing his fingers have stopped any chairman wanting to shake said hand.
It was in his first full job at Stuttgart in 1996-97 where Low achieved his best results.
He won the German Cup during his first year and then led the side to a European Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1998 when they were beaten by Chelsea.
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Things started to go sour and he moved to Turkey to join Fenerbahce that summer, only to leave just a year later having led the club to third in the table.
It was hoped a return to Germany with Karlsruher may revive his fortunes but he was sacked six months later having won just once in 18 games.
The misery continued back in Turkey in a three-month winless spell at Adanaspor.
Those failures have long stood out on his CV, and overlook the success he then went on to enjoy in Austria when he led Tirol Innsbruck to the title.
And when he quit Austria Vienna in 2004 to become Jurgen Klinsmann’s No 2, they were top of the table.
It seems the club struggles Low had, coupled with poor Germany results in recent years, have combined to damage his credentials.
He could be scratching around after this tournament. Hopefully, by Wednesday morning . . .
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
