The Philippine Azkals have a new head coach in Terry Butcher, a former Rangers captain in the Scottish Premiership who also represented England in three World Cups.

Butcher, who will be succeeding Thomas Dooley, was tasked to prepare the national football team for major tournaments in the next seven months.

“I'm quite optimistic to how the players would respond to the Terry's leadership,” team manager Dan Palami told ANC’s Hardball on Monday.

However, he admitted that it will be hard at first given the schedules of the Azkals players, most of whom have club commitments.

This is why, he said, they have to establish the connection between Butcher and the Azkals even before they begin their training camp in September in Bahrain.

“It is difficult for national team coaches to get the team together because there are only a few FIFA international dates where clubs are obliged to release to the national team their players,” Palami noted.

Football: Terry Butcher tapped as new Azkals head coach

“(But) he will be talking to them before the camp to show want he wants from the players, what he think the players should be doing and as well as get inputs from them… He feels it's important to listen to them.”

“Their relationship has to be established even before the camp.”

Dooley led the Azkals to their first appearance in the Asian Cup finals last March as well as an all-time high in the FIFA world rankings at 115th. But his contract was reportedly not renewed, leaving the top managerial job vacant. 

Palami said there was a long list of applicants wanting to coach the Azkals.

“At one point, we have about 25 applicants. Now we have Terry Butcher,” he said. “He will bring something new to the team.”

The team’s goalkeeping coach, Steve Marcella, is very much familiar with Butcher.

“I've been working with Terry Butcher for 10 years, so I've done a lot of things with Terry. I know how he works,” he said.

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“He treats everybody the same… he's a joy to work with every morning, never a dull moment. He'll bring that out from the players themselves.”

Marcella said Butcher, who is doing analysis work at BBC Radio 5 for the World Cup, is so excited to work with the national team that he couldn’t stop talking about it over the radio. 

“I spoke to him last night, he can't wait to be here. I think he's mentioned that already so many times in the radio's he's working. I think the work Philippines comes out every 10 minutes on his radio,” said Marcella.

“He has humor, wherever he goes. It doesn't matter if he's on TV, radio or the pitch or the changing room, you'll know he's here.”

Butcher will be calling the shots for the Azkals starting with the AFF Suzuki Cup in November. This will be followed by the Southeast Asian Championships, before the Asian Cup in January.

(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.)

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