In an attempt to improve the quality of coaching in professional football, restrictions have been brought in on who can manage Premiership football clubs. Now, only those who have completed certain coaching courses can take up these posts.

This policy was tested when Middlesbrough appointed Gareth Southgate, an experienced player but not fully qualified as a coach. Controversy raged. Would the Premier League bend the rules to make an exception for Southgate? Or would Southgate be forced out?

The League Managers’ Association wanted the Premier League to do things by the book. Having properly trained managers is necessary to take the English game on to the next level, they argued; Southgate should not yet be allowed to manage.

Southgate had his own defence: There are only so many opportunities for would-be managers to get their coaching badges. The courses are run in the summer, the closed-season for most footballers, when they don’t have league matches to play. As an England international, however, Southgate was busy with the national side at these times, so didn’t have the opportunity to take the courses. Every opportunity he has had, he has taken, but this has left him a year away from being fully qualified.

The Premier League accepted Southgate’s defence, allowing him to continue as Middlesbrough manager while he completes the coaching courses. Were they right to do so?

Southgate’s argument certainly seems to show that it isn’t his fault that he isn’t yet qualified to manage. If he wasn’t given the opportunity to take the coaching courses, then he can’t be blamed for failing to do so. What Southgate’s argument doesn’t show, however, is that he is fit to coach.

If the Premier League were committed to raising standards of coaching, and to the idea that the way to do this is to require that all coaches be properly qualified, then Southgate’s defence would be seen as irrelevant. They might decide on other grounds, such as his experience and his progress towards getting qualified, that he can be trusted with the job, but the reasons why he isn’t yet qualified would not make a difference.