Wembley win is only the start for impressive Laudrup

25Feb 2013

England - Capital One Cup

Ralph Ellis is counting his winnings after tipping Swansea for the Capital One Cup back in December. He thinks there's more money to be made from Michael Laudrup's impressive introduction into Premier League management before the end of this season.

Harry Redknapp is normally named as the man with the best knack of saying the right thing to the right player at the right time. He may be about to lose that title to Michael Laudrup.

The Great Dane's stock couldn't be higher after guiding Swansea so effortlessly at Wembley yesterday to their first major trophy - and with perfect timing in their Centenary season. But it wasn't just the win that was so impressive, it was the way that Laudrup went about achieving it.

He took the tough decision, leaving out long serving club captain Garry Monk because he figured Ki would be a better choice at centre back. He took the blame for the unseemly squabble between Nathan Dyer and Jonathan de Guzman over who took the penalty for the fourth goal.

He also revealed a classic touch of humour in how he'd settled two-goal Dyer's nerves before the big day."He was missing chances in training," said Laudrup. "So I just told him, when it came to the final to make sure he boot his left boot on his left foot and his right on his right." What a classic piece of motivation. A bit of humour, raise a smile, but still get over the message that to be a big player you have to turn up on a big day.

But then if anybody should know about that it was Laudrup, and I'm not being wise after the event here. Back on December 3rd I suggested Swansea were the stand-out bet to win the Capital One Cup at what was then a handsome price of 8.2. And I've seen nothing since to change my belief that Laudrup can be as great a manager as he was a player, and that's some standard to aim for.

I was at Swansea's media day last Thurday. Over the years I've been to a lot of pre-Cup final press occasions and I can't remember a calmer one. The carefully laid plans had been disrupted because the drug testers had called for random checks after training, but the whole thing moved with absolute serenity. Much like the birds from which the club take their nickname, the feet may well have been paddling furiously underneath the water, but all that was on show was a gentle and graceful glide.

The players were all happy to stay late, sit and talk. Laudrup himself was relaxed and when you asked him a question he looked you in the eye with the answer. We were discussing the theory that top players don't become top bosses, and he talked of how he leans on his own experience. "There are great managers who have never played at the highest level, but the experience you have as a player, if you use it well, is unique," he said. "I could read a hundred books and still not know the things I learned from playing at Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid."

Just to rub that point home he named the top three influences on his management style: Sepp Piontek, the German who managed Denmark through the 1980s, Giovanni Trapattoni, and Johan Cruyff. As we agreed nobody disproves the great players don't make great managers theory better than the Dutchman, who won two titles in Holland, four in Spain, and every major European trophy as a club boss.

Laudrup is already being touted as a potential successor to Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid, and bigger clubs in the Premier League will bang on Swansea's door too. Meanwhile he could prove his potential even further between now and the end of the season. There's value about the Swans. They are only two points behind Liverpool who are 1.9 for a top six finish, yet Swansea are anywhere between 20.0 and 34.0. And while the Reds are 1.81 favourites to be winner without the top six, Swansea's price ranges from 19.5 to 150.

I don't expect to see Laudrup ever giving interviews on deadline day through the wound down window of his Range Rover. But when it comes to talking sense he's in a class of his own.