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YankeeCanary

Is A Football Manager REALLY a Manager?

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Occasionally, while watching interviews with various football managers, I find myself listening to them and wondering, if I were a football player in today''s world, would I be inspired by their words of wisdom, motivated to perform or execute their objectives, or consoled when being counselled by them if going through tough times.

I know it''s easy to pick on the obvious ones, Graham Souness, Mick McCarthy, Nigel Worthington, for example. As I''ve listened to these men in interviews I find it hard to believe that any one of them would be chosen to be a manager outside of football, in a regular business environment. I''m not entirely sure they are capable of motivating themselves, let alone others. The words coming out of their mouths are clearly not at the high end of the intellectual scale but, even more than that, they just lack charisma and fail to generate any excitement about what we ( they ) should do next. 

Okay, it''s football and not a regular business environment. But it''s still dealing with people and leaders need to be able to do the things I''ve mentioned. What do others think? Are there managers who stand out in a positive way in this regard? Paul Jewell comes across reasonably well I think. People like Wizard, beelsie and myself know that, in the old days, ( apologies in advance to you youngsters ) it was not as necessary for a manager to have talents to motivate through the mind because players were more likely to self-discipline, but also responding to discipline. Today, the disciplinary approach just does not seem to work as well.

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Excellent post Yankee. Most of these guys would most definitely not be managers in the real world. However, for a classic motivator there is no better at the moment than Stuart Pearce at Man City, he is like a breath of fresh air. A team in the Championship definitely needs a leader like him, its probably the toughest league of the lot, trying to balance pretty football and hard work. The recent post match rhetoric from the likes of Worthy and McCarthy saddens me, they are decent blokes most definitely but its not enough these days. If you are successful, then sure you can be laid back, a la Mourinho and Benitez. On discipline, lets face it the vast majority of players these days are over paid, over protected, underworked and spoilt. Remember Clough or our own Ron Saunders? These guys today would''nt know what hit them! I could not believe my eyes when i watched the team, especially Francis, against Fulham last year, their attitude was a disgrace. We need a tough manager to get us out of this league and keep us in the Premiership. Having said all that I actually have a lot of time for Worthy, I met him out in Malaysia and he seemed a decent man and determined to do the best for NCFC, but he needs to show more passion and transmit that to the players and the supporters. Explanation for some bizarre tactics would help. But there may yet be time for him to turn this season round, a change of manager now would be destabilising anyway and for that reason I believe the board will keep Worthy till the end of the season at least. Lets face it, there are not too many alternatives, only a handful of managers can call themselves a success. If he is to be here at least until then, people should get off his back and give all their support (especially Sunday). Raise the roof of the Barclay...like the old days!!

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[quote user="YankeeCanary"]

As I''ve listened to these men in interviews I find it hard to believe that any one of them would be chosen to be a manager outside of football, in a regular business environment. I''m not entirely sure they are capable of motivating themselves, let alone others. The words coming out of their mouths are clearly not at the high end of the intellectual scale but, even more than that, they just lack charisma and fail to generate any excitement about what we ( they ) should do next.

[/quote]Well Alex Ferguson isn''t exactly a stunning wordsmith, but I wouldn''t argue with his record.Turning your argument on its head, how well do you think some manager from the business world would fare spouting buzz-words and phoney motivational crap at a load of athletes?Not very well I''d hazard a guess.Horses for courses.

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Thanks for the response ManchesterCanary and forgive my ( our ) manners....welcome to the message board. I totally agree with your view on Stuart Pearce, a breath of fresh air.

Herb, rather than turning the point on its head, don''t you think it would be positive for the game, in all respects, if managers had a bit more charisma, passion and the smarts to at least inject a little variety in how they express their views. 

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Reindeer, your reply to some reasonable well thought out posts, is lacking in some way, perhaps YC might be able to condense the answer.

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Come on Rudolph - is there really any need for that?   YC has made an interesting post re the qualities of a "manager" and debates the apparent abilities of some of the more well know managers - yes he does include our Glorious Leader, but for obvious reasons.

So who would make the grade if they moved over from business?   I think that one of the most interesting cases to watch will be Sir Clive @ Southampton...not business I know but a completely different world to the Premiership/Championship.

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At the end of the day, "manager" doesn''t really mean quite the same thing in this context. However, in my experience, someone like Souness is typical of a business manager - always looking out for number one, always "right", unwilling to compromise, and just a bit of an all round cock-muncher. It''s rare that you''d get someone like Pearce in a business management environment, however effective he might be.... too much of a "team-player" to get a leg-up.

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Ark I believe that it is right to say that a manager of a foot ball team has a totally different job, in the sense that he is not a product seller or a production manager, where the producer of the goods is( the foot baller) who is trying to beat the opposition with guile and skill etc. In business a manager is selling a product that a customer wants to buy as long as it is up to standard.  It is already a sold unit that has as its marker it''s quality.  The Football manager is a person that has to see that his team are ready and fit for the routine of beating an opposition over a 90minute session of physical application.  Although it has commercial

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So, some of you didn''t like my tone, fair enough, but I thought the question was pointless.

We all know Football management has changed and a Club is now choc full of various Managers.

Infact, in so many job''s everyone is now a spurious ''manager.''

I like the cartoon which appeared during the Manager revolution with some neandertal saying ''Six munce ago I cudn''t even spel manager now I are one.''

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