Basic HTML Version
the
manager
WINTER 2011
- Management is their life… and a
way of life (there’s no talk from them
of a ‘career/life balance’)
- Learning and preparing to do the job
is a must
- Learning on the job is critical
- Staying in the race long enough
to make winning something a
possibility makes ‘survival’ an
achievement in itself
Lawrie McMenemy, the former
manager of Southampton and
Sunderland, compared management
to riding on a carousel: “Whatever it
takes, you have to hang on. Fall off,
especially at the beginning of your
career, and the odds are you won’t get
the chance to ride again.”
When looking to appoint a
manager, club administrators would
increase their odds of employing a
true leader if they looked more keenly
for the tell-tale signs, which are quite
easily discerned. Great leaders have
a vision of where they want their
team to go and how they intend to
get there, they have strong values and
beliefs which underpin their working
lives and everything they do. They
create their own unique culture within
their club, they know who they are
and what they stand for. Like good
players, great leaders know and play
to their strengths.
But can leadership skills be
learned? Leaders answer this question
themselves. If they are excellent at
teaching and changing others, then
clearly they themselves have been
taught and have learned. All of the
great leaders I have spoken to on this
subject (including Sir Alex Ferguson,
Fabio Capello, Arsene Wenger, Roy
Hodgson and David Moyes) confirm
that an obsessive commitment to the
game is critical and equally, all are
unanimous that learning must be a
never-ending journey.
I am totally convinced that the key
ingredient to achieving success on this
long journey is leadership. Leadership
brings about successful permanent
change; leaders change how people
think, what they think and how they
act. Leaders also know how to develop
and maintain relationships and know
that success is not dependent on
how good they are, but on how good
they can make their team. Leaders
unlock hearts and minds; those who
played for the great Sir Bobby Robson
don’t talk about him as being a ‘great
technician’ or a ‘great organiser’ they
simply say that when you played for
Bob you felt you were doing it ‘for
him’. Quite simply you did not want
to let him down.
In summary, expert leadership
consists of a deep understanding of
the following areas:
1. Creating a culture of excellence
2. Personal strengths and weaknesses
3. Values and beliefs
4. The ability to establish realistic
objectives
5. Understanding how to achieve
those objectives
6. The ability to communicate
effectively
To gain that understanding, all
managers – and all prospective leaders
– need time. And until our football
clubs start to give their managers this
time, we may never find the next
generation of great leaders.
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THE SACK RACE 2010/11
The LMA’s statistics for managerial
dismissals during the 2010/11 season
(compiled by Dr Susan Bridgewater at
Warwick Business School) reveal that
53 managers left their jobs during that
period. Those managers who were
dismissed (a total of 38) had enjoyed
an average tenure of just 1.45 years.
Although this figure is poor, it does
represent a slight increase on the
previous season’s all-time low of
1.4 years.
The most frequent time for a first-time
manager to be dismissed was in the
period between six months and one
year of their appointment.
•
25 of the managers dismissed this
season served less than the average
tenure, while 19 had been given less
than one year in charge
•
Of those, nine managers had enjoyed
less than six months in the job
•
Nine first-time managers were
dismissed in 2010/11
•
Research shows that 49 per cent of all
first-time football managers are never
appointed to a second management job