The Manager: Inside the Minds of Football's Leaders Read Free Page A

challenges. The most obvious one is that I’m not with the players on the training field every day. I see them less often, and I have a wider selection pool
[it’s not about affordability]. My other big challenge, though, is the different demands on my time. I have time between matches, of course – the question is how best to use it. I like
to give of myself and of my coaching experience to the federation and the country. I believe I should be involved in helping all interest groups through coaching schemes and programmes designed to
produce coaches for the future.’
    Whatever is going on – selection, injury, high achievement, low achievement, rumour – chairman, players, media and fans turn to him to make sense of it all. And not only is the
manager key to the business success of the club – but as Hodgson points out, his influence can extend a long way beyond the current team: ‘The manager’s philosophy, if
sufficiently clear and powerful, will filter down not only to his team, but also to other teams at all levels within his club’s structure – and it might actually impregnate the whole
club for a long, long period. We’ve seen lots of examples in the past of iconic football managers whose philosophy has actually led to the club adopting a certain style of football and
projecting a particular image that the club itself is very proud of. This is true of iconic leaders everywhere, of course – great military leaders, great business leaders or political leaders
whose character and philosophy can have a lasting effect on one or more nations.’ Managers who started out as football coaches now find themselves at the very heart of a complex business. The
coach has become a leader.
    Gérard Houllier reinforces the point: ‘There was a time when clubs thought that winning on the pitch was enough. Now times have changed and you need to win off the pitch as well
– by which I mean commercially. If the commercial aspect works, the club generates good revenues, and from that flow better facilities, better staff, better players and then again better
revenues for the club. Then it’s important that the technical part is there too – and this is also based upon very good human relationships. I think that a good club is a club that
looks after its players, looks after its people, looks after its employees, its staff and everything. Its human atmosphere is to me the foundation for success. And it is the manager who is at the
centre of that.’ The familiar lesson of putting people first translates directly to organisations in just about every sector and industry; the leader who can focus on his people even in the
whirlwind of wider stakeholder relationships is set up for success.
    The Man in the Chair
    ‘The single most important thing for a manager is the relationship with the owner of the football club.’ So says Tony Pulis, former manager of Stoke City. Is this
simply a case of ‘The man who pays the piper calls the tune’? Or is it that the owner has the potential to disrupt the smooth running of the club? Either way, if the manager can win the
trust of the owner, then he will be given the space and resources to pursue his philosophy. If not, then the owner is likely to intervene. It is, after all, his club. If the authority of the
manager is tested, then it is his relationship with the chairman/owner that will most likely present the greatest challenge.
    The rise of the powerful owner
    The acquisition of Chelsea in 2003 by Roman Abramovich triggered across a decade a series of high-profile football club takeovers. The emergence of Manchester City as a new
footballing power in Europe has been driven by the Abu Dhabi United Group led by Sheikh Mansour. Similar investments by high-net-worth individuals have taken place at Paris St Germain, Malaga and
elsewhere. Other clubs in the Premier League, while not in the hands of a single individual, are owned by large organisations led by salient