My 8 point Tip to “Success” as a Manager

I have been involved in football management since 1985 and in football, at grassroots level since the tender age of 10 and in that time I have seen lots of Managers and have tried to learn from all of them in some way!

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Grassroots football is going to have been stopped for ages, so Managers need to treat the restart as a new season but also need to reflect on and learn from others (like players!)

 

Your biggest asset, as a Manager, will be your ability to play the roles of Footballer, Manager, Critic, Comic, Husband, Father, Psychologist, Hero, and Villain – in short, be yourself!!

 

So here are a few tips that hopefully some, or all, of you Managers can learn from! This is based on nearly 39 years as a Grassroots Manager and also a qualified& licenced Coach - it’s not for everyone, or perfect but hopefully gives you a good insight!!

 

1) ALL PLAYERS ARE INDIVIDUAL

My experience of players has shown that players do not respond to a “one size fits all” approach to handling them!

One of the Managers I have the it most respect for, and a good friend too, always took a “stick”, rather than a “carrot”, approach to the players.

This worked with 90% of players but one player, a very talented player, needed a “virtual cuddle” from the Manager and to be told he was the “best player ever” (even though he wasn’t) to get him to respond positively!

So:

• Focus on the needs of your players.

These are your frontline staff – they’re the ones under the pressure, they’re the ones who deliver, so you need to meet their needs whatever it takes!!

• Get as many LEADERS as you can in your teams

The Captain is just an armband wearer, who tosses a coin, but a leader is what you really need!

Team leaders should focus on the needs and well-being of team members before they worry about themselves!

• Know your players

Players can change and adapt until the end of their career!

Just because a player was a winger at school (“and played for the County”!!), doesn’t mean they are a winger all their life!

As they get older, they may get slower, but equally they may improve their tackling, so could make a wing back, or full back, or even become really tall and strong in the air, so could move central!

In short, you review the player NOW, not base things on what “used to be”!!

 

2) “BOLLOCK THEM AT THE RIGHT TIME & PRAISE WHEN THEY LEAST EXPECT IT”

Interviewer: “How do you react when someone from your playing staff comes and says, ‘boss, I think you’re doing this wrongly’”

Brian Clough: “Well, then I ask him which way he thinks it should be done. We get down to it, and talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right.”

The above quote from early in his managerial career is probably my favourite from Brian Clough’s extensive vault of soundbites.

In addition to showing off his sense of humour, his answer underlines the importance of tackling, not ignoring, dissenting voices in a team.

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Although the implication of Clough’s comment is that at the end of the fictional conversation he dictates to the player how things should be done, note that he does not say “I’d just tell him to get lost”. Instead, he recognises that he should hear the player out, have a discussion and reach a consensus.

 

My best example of this was in a game at Cheddar when we were playing Frome Town and it was blazing hot (early season!) and we were 8-0 up and I was “ranting” at my players to “make it hurt them”, and several players (who were hot and tired themselves) resented my “shouting” and told me that they were 8-0 up, so had won the game, but I tried to explain (quite aggressively) that you get very few chances to inflict a huge defeat on a team and, that its far worse losing 8-0 in the sun than winning 8-0, the team understood and got on with the game and actually scored another to make it 9-0!!

 

Exactly one year later I had left, but one of “my players” how was still playing spoke to me after the game to say “its ironic, but we just played Frome Town again, in the sun again, and this season we LOST 9-0, and the Manager came in and just said well done lads, you gave it a great effort”, the players found this hilarious and soon the manager was gone!

 

This shows that getting the message right – players are not stupid - and giving an unexpected message can be helpful, but patronising them or taking “rubbish” can lose you their credibility!

 

Another example was whilst at Glastonbury FC and our keeper fumbled a 40 yarder into his net, he knew, as did we all, that he had messed up and his first response was to apologise to every team mate, loudly (the gesture they expected!)

But after the game I got hold of him and told him to stop apologising, and he said, “what should I do then gaffer, I f***ed up!”

So, I replied, “who is the best keeper you’ve ever seen” and his reply was Peter Schmeichel.

I simply said that if that had happened to the Great Dane, he would have given a severe rollicking to the player who let him get the shot in!!

The keeper above never let another howler in again, and regained his credibility with his team mates!

 

3) PRAISE AS A TEAM, AND INDIVIDUALLY, BUT ONLY EVER CRITICISE AS A TEAM

“Players know!!”

This means players know when they’ve messed up!

So, if your team does well, praise them all, it’s a team game!

But if they fail, give them all a bollocking together, don’t pick out individuals (until you get them alone).

If a player does well, praise them there and then, but if they mess up, remember it and link the error to the whole team – they player who made the mistake WILL know (and probably not do it again!) but wont hide or “take the safe route every time”.

The only true way to improve is to make a mistake and learn from it!

 

4) TRAIN WITH A BALL

Running, and fitness, is vital to a team and to be a good footballer BUT it’s boring (in the main!) and nobody enjoys it, although players realise the benefit!

You have to be fit enough to make a five yard run in the 90th minute rather than just race up and down for 90 minutes, but you have to get fit to do that – sorry to say there are no shortcuts!!

If you give them a ball, the average player will “run all day”, as the ball is a mental distraction, and you can get far more from a player who wants to be fit than one who doesn’t!

Running for its own sake is of no benefit – as Jose Mourinho said, “Before he plays a big snooker match, Ronnie O’Sullivan does not do 20 laps of the table!”!

If it’s good enough for snooker, its good enough in football too!

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5) “TAKE THE FLAK” FOR THEM IN PUBLIC, DEFELECT THE PRESSURE

I look at two Role models as Managers, who shared my philosophy – Brian Clough & Jose Mourinho – and tried to learn from them!

Clough was a self-proclaimed ‘big head’ and although I wouldn’t recommend calling yourself ‘number 1’ in the business, I think it’s vital that Managers & Coaches believe in their ability to do the job.

It’s important that you are confident. If you aren’t, it can seep through everything that you do, and negatively affect your players!

 

This can be especially problematic when you are talking to the team as a group.

Players are not going to feel assured about what you are telling them if you clearly aren’t either.

So, take some advice from Cloughie, and Mourinho, and believe in yourself.

 

6) KEEP IT SIMPLE AND, DON’T FORGET TO CHECK THEY (YOUR PLAYERS) UNDERSTAND!!!

Football is a player's game and players don't need to be burdened by layer upon layer of tactical complexity (which makes me giggle when I see subs come on in the Premier League - and have to study a folder!!)

A manager’s achievements shouldn’t come at the expense of entertainment or integrity.

 

I tried to develop teams that were noted for playing attractive football and also for their good sportsmanship.

(Mainly because I didn’t want my players banned and unavailable!)

 

I remained consistent, throughout my management time on my commitment to these principles, even if it cost me matches.

 

I tried to deliberately focus my players on the style of football they were expected to play and I tried not to step-back from that in times of trouble, or to suit others’ agendas – if I was going to fail it would be my way, not as a “load bearer” for someone else!

 

My players knew that I would not tolerate them showing the match officials any dissent, so, in the main, they accepted their decisions – no matter how questionable – and got on with the game.

Essentially, my teams had class, or tried to have class!

 

However, I do fully accept that as their “defender/leader/supporter” I did not always do this myself!

 

When managing/coaching (two different skills by the way!) I tried to set clear goals for my players and my teams.

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Also, I tried to leave them in no doubt that I expected them to play the game in a certain way, and for each of them to perform the role assigned to them and to be disciplined.

 

Although my occasionally “bossy” approach in enforcing adherence to these directives would make some players disagree on the pitch, setting clear expectations and targets for teams and team members is something all Managers should be concerned with.

 

7) TACTICS

This involves good decisions, work rate, off the ball movement and teamwork throughout the team, but also every successful side has had a strong spine through the centre so, as the Manager (and person responsible) make it your priority to find the very best

- Keeper

- Centre back

- Centre midfield

- Centre forward

(Many readers will know I’m a Chelsea fan, and the very best Chelsea side was based on this with a spine of Peter Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard & Didier Drogba (with some top notch players alongside them) and all four of these players were true Leaders on and off the pitch)

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Choose your team to suit your tactic (formation) or choose your formation to suit your players (team, but don’t ever compromise on this and try to keep both approaches happy – because you won’t!!)

See section 2 earlier (“know your players”), players MUST adapt to your vision, not the other way around – so, ex full backs CAN be Centre Forwards later in life and vice versa!

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Keep it simple – you win nothing without a ball, so keep the ball but remember you do have to get forward in order to score a goal, but do it safely!!

 

8) FINALLY GET YOURSELF A GOOD ASSISTANT &/OR COACH AND WORK WITH THEM, BUT REMEMBER WHO’S BOSS!

I was extremely fortunate that I had assistants and Coaches who shared the vision, (so I had to discuss things with them first!) and helped get the message across – probably showing the value of a Management/Coaching team, rather than a “Dictatorship”!!

At the top level the best example I’ve seen of this is Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United who had a series of great Assistants (none of whom achieved as much as Managers in their own right!) and before this there was Liverpool FC’s famed boot room!!

 

IN SUMMARY, I will end with a quote – it sums management up, and once again it’s from my favourite Manager!

“Players lose you games, not tactics. There’s so much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes”

Brian Clough