The whole reason this has been brought about is due to the comments of Eyal Berkovic which hit the big wide world today. When asked about why he left Portsmouth and his opinion on Velimir Zajec, the rather blunt Berkovic replied;
"Do you want the real reason why I left? I could no longer bear the sight of him."
Now admittedly, we have to take what he says with a pinch of salt. First of all there's the fact he's no doubt bitter at spending over a year at a club and never really playing that often. There's the fact that he's just had a £20,000+ per week contract torn up, leaving him without oodles of disposable income. And then there's the next line of his interview, which kind of ruins it all;
"To drive from London to Portsmouth each day and not to play was just too much for me. I am not 100% fit but still keep in shape"
Hmm, ok then Eyal. You left because you don't like the the manager, then say you left because you weren't playing, but then admit you weren't fully fit anyway. Playing Berkovic is difficult enough as it is as he never defends, so less than 100% would be a nightmare.
But ignoring this specific case, it does give rise to the question - how good is Velimir as a man-manager? We can debate his tactics, his substitutions and his player spotting ability, but his ability to deal with players is something we can only guess about, feeding off scraps the odd player might say. Shaka Hislop spoke out after the game at Chelsea by saying that straight after the final whistle Zajec was in a taxi without a word to the players; admittedly he did have a plane to Greece to catch, but still interesting that the manager doesn't even speak to his players. Ironic that it should happen at Stamford Bridge too; Mourinho a manager who has formed a close bond with many of his squad.
Indeed, Joe Jordan is widely recognised as "the mouth" at the club. He does all the media guff, leads a lot of the training sessions and gives pre-match team talks. He and Velimir work together to pick the team and tactics, but all the talk is Jordan. Zajec has said that he sees his job merely as picking and coaching the players and making them the stars, rather than trying to force himself onto them. Whilst I think this is a wise philosophy, perhaps the problem is coming for the players out of sheer confusion. Velimir is the manager, yet Joe does all the talking. And the difference between a quiet man like Zajec and a loud mouth like Redknapp must be some culture shock for some of the team.
The squad, as a whole, don't seem to have a problem with Zajec. There's not really much about him not to like - we thought he was just secretive with us, but apparently it's the players too. Forming an opinion on a man so closed is difficult. What concerns me is the odd voice of complaint that seem to be becoming more frequent; Berkovic now, Curtis before claiming he was left in the dark over whether he was wanted or not (sent out on loan and then travelled to Spurs with the squad, then sent out on loan again), Shaka unhappy at being kept in the dark over a new contract - all examples of seemingly bad player/manager relations. Although, of course, a cynic could point out that it only seems to be the players out of favour or with uncertain futures who feel the need to speak out. Same as with Redknapp before, in fact.
Personally, I think it's just going to take Velimir time to adjust. He's admitted he prefers peace and quiet and a studious approach, and now he's been flung into the top position in a job he didn't want and having to learn things as he goes along. His challenge to the Yak to pick up his form was cleverly released through the papers; perhaps he's slowly getting to terms with this player relations business, but having said that unfortunately we can only speculate about what goes on behind closed doors.