385: Southampton Badge, Merlin’s F.A. Premier League 2000, Millennium Edition Sticker Collection

Today Richard Allinson brings us a look at a left field sporting crossover which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he wrote it during this year’s Six Nations. There is a lot that both footballing codes could learn from each other but I will hand over to Rich before I turn into one of those blokes in the pub talking about “thugs’ games played by gentlemen”.

When Jonny Wilkinson knocked over a drop-goal with 26 seconds left on the clock to seal England’s 20-17 victory over Australia in the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup Final, I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted that only two years later his manager Clive Woodward would be entering the world of professional football. 

Rumours about a change of sport started only twelve months after Wilkinson made me spill a pint of Guinness all over myself and, as Woodward was a friend of Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe, the south coast seemed the likeliest destination for this unlikeliest of moves. And so it was that in July 2005, Sir Clive was to join Saints as Performance Director with Harry Redknapp continuing in his role as first team manager. 

It wasn’t long before stories started circulating of a difficult relationship between Woodward and Redknapp, and a press conference was hastily arranged to dispel the rumours at which Redknapp outlined: “I have no problem with Clive, we get on fine. We want to clear the air once and for all. There's been so much written about how we don't get on… There has not been one problem. Clive does not come in and tell me 'you should do that, you should play him', and everyone knows I wouldn't stand for that.” 

Regardless of this, it wasn’t long before ‘arry was packing his bags and heading back to Portsmouth, with George Burley arriving in his place. Looking back on it a few years later, Redknapp maintained that Woodward could have made a success of it in football had he been given longer, saying: “…he had some good ideas. Obviously, he was one of the greatest rugby coaches of all-time. He knew everything about fitness. He really had an awful lot to offer. He wanted to learn about football. If he had stayed in and worked with a good young coach with his ideas, in terms of preparation etc., I’m sure he could have done very well.”

During his time in rugby Sir Clive became known as a bit of a maverick, and he didn’t stop this approach in football. On joining Southampton, the local paper printed a cartoon of two players lifting Peter Crouch at a corner like a second row in a lineout in rugby. Rather than dismissing the idea purely as a joke, Woodward was not ruling it out completely telling The Athletic that his immediate thought was: “Can you do that? Can you actually lift someone up?” adding “Nobody has been able to answer me to this day.” Crouch himself has since passed comment on it saying in the Daily Mail: “Look, it’s a ridiculous idea. But back then, if somebody said to you that players would be lying down behind a wall as draught excluders from free-kicks, you would walk off.” Crouchy has a point in fairness. 

Ultimately Woodward’s time at Southampton wasn’t to last long, as he left the club in August 2006. Rupert Lowe also left in June of the same year, following which Woodward found himself increasingly marginalised. However, it does seem that the final split was amicable with Sir Clive saying: "I am enormously grateful for the opportunity Southampton and its supporters have given me. I have been massively impressed by the professionalism in every department at the club and the commitment of all the staff to succeed and get back into the Premiership." Similarly, incoming chairman Michael Wilde paid tribute to Woodward outlining: “Clive has made a considerable difference to the organisation of this club over the last twelve months. He has opened our eyes to new methods of training which have been introduced to positive effect."

On reflection, maybe Woodward and football in general weren’t ready for such a move at the time. His achievements in rugby, especially with his greatest moment happening less than two years prior, almost definitely put too much expectation on him. However, you cannot blame him for putting his neck on the chopping block and going for it, and I will always have respect for him giving me one of the greatest sporting moments of my life.