-
As not many managers from the UK head over to the continent wasn't sure if the press over there was as dismissive if you blunder through the language as you acclimatise yourself to managing over there.
Remember Sid Lowe writing about Coleman in Spain, as being viewed as a lovable, if lonely figure out there, who was still able to get something out of his squad. Not sure how Moyes was perceived, and despite his mangling of the dutch accent McClaren isn't as vilified as Ranieri and other foreign managers who don't fit the title winning mould do over here...If you've won a couple of titles, you're given the benefit of the doubt and then when it goes tits up, the media boots go in twice as hard...
cornelius_blackfoot-
I'd pretty much say that Moyes and Coleman (who i really don't rate at all) are prime examples that learning the lingo is a requirement in Spain.
The Dutch on the other hand couldn't care less. There's so many players and coaches over the years from all over the globe that these days the language on the pitch is somewhere close to pidgin English.
jaw
Cruijff, van Gaal and Beenhakker all got torn to bits by the press in Spain back in the day. Problem with the Spanish sports press is that there is no impartiality. You're either a pro Madrid rag or a pro Barça rag.
In general they do it with a sense of humour but there's plenty of xenophobia in Spain.