by Mark Sheehan

Created on: November 25, 2008   Last Updated: December 02, 2008

On Sunday, November 23, 2008, Markus Babbel was named as manager of German Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart following the sacking of the Armin Veh. It is an appointment that came as something of a shock since Babbel had only retired as a player in 2007 and has only a season as assistant manager at the club to boast as management experience.

At 36 years of age, Babbel is among the youngest managers at the upper echelon of European (and indeed world) football. However, having garnered playing experience at the highest level at Bayern Munich, Hamburg, Liverpool and Stuttgart, as well as on the international stage with Germany, with whom he won a European Championship in 1996, there is no one who will argue against the his pedigree as a player.

So why would the 2007-2008 Bundesliga Champions hire a person of such inexperience as their new manager? It is true that it is gamble on the part of the Stuttgart Board of Directors, but there is nothing strange in the appointment of a former player as manager, nor in the idea that they can bring success.

Chris Coleman, the former Welsh international and Fulham player, was appointed as manager of the Cottagers in October 2003, at the tender age of just 32 years old. He remains the youngest Premier League manager in history. Just like Babbel, he had only retired as a player the previous year, though the car crash in 2001 that had effectively forced his retirement had kept him off the field for a year before that again.

Coleman had just joined the club's coaching staff in 2002, but following the departure of Jean Tigana, the Mali-born former French international and Lyon and Monaco manager, was named as manager. What followed was the most successful period in Fulham's recent history. Coleman, who had captained the club to promotion from Division Two to Division One in 1999 before the fateful car crash denied him his place in the team that won promotion into the Premiership in 2001, guided the London club to their highest Premiership position at the end of his first full season in charge in 2004 (9th).

Gordon Strachan is another example of a successful former player appointment, though strictly speaking he was a player appointment. The Scot signed for Coventry City having already earned a reputation as one of the most exciting midfielders in British football after lengthy stints at Manchester United and Leeds United, winning the last ever First Division title with the latter in 1992. He was already older than Babbel and Coleman when

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