Osvaldo Ardiles

Osvaldo ("Ossie") César Ardiles (born August 3, 1952 in Córdoba Province) is a football coach and former midfielder who won the 1978 World Cup as part of the Argentinian national team. His latest coaching job was as the coach of Beitar Jerusalem of the Israeli Premier League, from which he was fired October 18 2006.

A competitive and skilled midfielder, he became a cult hero in England, along with Glenn Hoddle and compatriot Ricardo Villa, as a player for Tottenham Hotspur. He notably left England for a period as a result of the outbreak of the Falklands War in 1982, thus missing most of the 1982-83 season.

As manager of Tottenham in the mid-1990s, famously he played several matches utilizing a formation that had five forwards, a formation that hadn't been used in English football since the 1950s, which "Ossie" (or "Pitón", as he is affectively known in his native country) mainly used because of Tottenham's perceived defensive weakness.^{[citation needed]}

Playing career

Ardiles began his professional career in Argentina with Instituto de Córdoba, playing also for Club Atlético Belgrano and Huracán. After the 1978 World Cup he moved to England to play for Tottenham Hotspur; he spent four seasons there, before joining Paris Saint Germain, playing one season at the French club. He then returned to Tottenham, where he stayed until 1988. He then played for Blackburn Rovers and Swindon Town F.C., before becoming a coach.

Management career

In July 1989, Osvaldo Ardiles moved into football management with Second Division Swindon Town when Lou Macari resigned to join West Ham in July 1989. He wowed fans by replacing the long ball style which had been so successful with a new "Samba style", which saw the Town playing attractive attacking football. Part of this change was the new "diamond formation" which Ardiles implemented - a 4-4-2 style with left-sided, right-sided, attacking and defensive midfielders.

Just ten months after he had joined, Ardiles led the Town to their highest ever league position - finishing fourth in the Second Division. After the Town beat Blackburn in the first leg of the Play-Off semi-final, the fans paid tribute with a tickertape reception in the second leg- recreating the atmosphere of the 1978 World Cup, in which Ardiles had starred. Swindon went on to win promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history - beating Sunderland in the Play-Off Final - only to have the promotion cruelly taken from them ten days later, when the Football League demoted them for irregular payments to players.

The following season, Ardiles was told to sell to keep the club alive - and Wembley hero Alan McLoughlin was the first big-money departure. With Swindon obviously rocked by their pre-season nightmare, their form deserted them, and opposition clubs seemed to come to terms with the Town's style of play. By the end of February, relegation threatened, and when Newcastle offered Ardiles the chance to become their new boss, he accepted. But his time on Tyneside was not a success and he lasted 12 months in the job before being sacked, with the Magpies bottom of the Second Division - though they achieved safety under his successor Kevin Keegan.

Ardiles was not out of work for long. In June 1992 he replaced Bobby Gould as manager of West Bromwich Albion, who had just missed out on the Third Division playoffs in 1991-92. At the end of the 1992-93 season, Ardiles guided Albion to victory over Port Vale in the Division Two playoff final. Shortly afterwards he walked out of the Hawthorns to return his former club Tottenham as manager, but his management spell was nowhere near as successful as his spell as a player. Tottenham finished 15th in the Premiership and despite the expensive acquisition of Jürgen Klinsmann, Ilie Dumitrescu and Gheorghe Popescu in the 1994 close season, Ardiles was sacked in October 1994 with Tottenham battling relegation. They had just been punished for financial irregularities committed during the late 1980s: with a 1-year FA Cup ban, £600,000 fine and 12 league points deducted. The punishment was later amended to a £1.5million fine and 6 points deducted but the FA Cup ban and points deduction were later quashed.

From 2003 to 2005 Ardiles coached Japanese Tokyo Verdy 1969, with whom he won the 2004 Emperor's Cup. But in July 2005 he was fired due to the poor performance of the team, who finished second bottom in the league. In mid-2006 he moved to Israel to coach Beitar Jerusalem FC, from which he was fired October 18, 2006. He has yet to return to football.

Career chronology

• 1969-73 - Instituto de Córdoba
• 1974 - Club Atlético Belgrano
• 1975-78 - Huracán
• 1978-82 - Tottenham Hotspur F.C. (England)
• 1982-83 - Paris Saint Germain (France)
• 1983-88 - Tottenham Hotspur F.C. (England)
• 1988-89 - Blackburn Rovers (England)
• 1989-91 - Swindon Town F.C.(England) (as player manager).
• 1991-92 - Newcastle United (England) as a manager.
• 1992-93 - West Bromwich (England) as manager during their promotion from the Second Division
• 1993-94 - Tottenham Hotspur F.C. as manager.
• 1995 - Guadalajara (Mexico) as a manager.
• 1996-98 - J-League team Shimizu S-Pulse as manager leading them to victory in the Nabisco Cup in 1996.
• 1999 - Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
• 2000-01 - J-League team Yokohama F. Marinos as manager, leading the team to the J-League first-stage title
• 2001 - Al-Ittihad (Saudi Arabia) as manager.
• 2002-03 - Racing Club (Argentina)
• 2003-05 - J-League team Tokyo Verdy 1969
• 2006 - Beitar Jerusalem (Israel)

Honours

• He won 63 caps for Argentina's national team, including the victorious World Cup winning squad of 1978.
• Osvaldo Ardiles won the FA Cup in 1981 and 1982 and the UEFA Cup with Tottenham Hotspur as a player.
• Promoted Swindon Town to old Division One (now Premier League) in 1990 as manager although the team were relegated for financial irregularities.
• Promoted West Bromwich Albion to Division One as manager in 1993.
• Won Nabisco Cup with Shimizu S-Pulse as manager in 1996.
• Won Tokai Cup with Shimizu S-Pulse as manager in 1996 and 1998.
• Named J. League Manager of the Year in 1998.
• Champion J-League First Stage with Yokohama F. Marinos in 2000 as manager.
• Emperor's Cup Winner 2004/2005 with Tokyo Verdy 1969 as manager.

Coaching career

Facts

• Ardiles wore the shirt number 1 shirt in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. In 2006 FIFA established the number 1 must be used by a Goalkeeper. Argentina numbered their players alphabetically in the both 1978 and 1982, with the notable exception of Diego Maradona ^{[1] [2]}
• Married, with two sons Pablo and Federico
• His cousin, First Lieutenant José Ardiles, died during the Falklands War when his Argentine Air Force IAI Dagger fighter was downed by British forces. 1st. Lt. Ardiles was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain
• He appeared in the film Escape to Victory with Pelé, Bobby Moore and Michael Caine
• Still has a house in Broxbourne close to Tottenham's ground, as well as Marbella.

References