The Beautiful Game – Managers/Owners

Positions. Completed last week and I have decided to talk about managers, and maybe the club owners, in the game, be it today or in the history.

God knows when the game of soccer was invented, and God also knows on when did managers become part of the game. Okay, that was a random statement.

Managers. So what is the exact job scope for managers? Is it just coaching the players for the games? Giving the instructions and tactics? Looking overall of the fitness of the whole team? Buying and selling players in improve the squad. Well, as a mater of fact, it is all of the mentioned above and a lot more that I did not mention. The exact job of the manager is to run the whole team, with the help of his assistant manager, coaches, physic and scouts be it in improving on the players’ fitness level, tactics, techniques or even scouting and signing of new players.

Being a manager of a soccer team isn’t that easy. Faced by the expectations that the board of the club sets for a particular season, by the pressure of the fans expecting the manager to deliver the goods, and also the ever-scrutinizing views and pressure of the relentless media. Like what I have said it’s far from easy. Many people think a manager is only successful when he starts winning trophies, competitions and cups. But that isn’t the very case.

Take for example, the Barclays Premier League or otherwise commonly know as EPL (English Premier League), there are 3 main cups to be won. The Championship for the top division clubs, the English League Cup for the top two division clubs in England, and the FA Cup (the world’s oldest cup competition) for teams from the conferences to the very best in the country. Which means there will only be 3 managers who will win the competitions, and that will make them successful. How about if one team wins a treble, meaning all three competitions? Will it mean that only one manager is successful for the whole of one season, while the other few hundred managers are considered a failure? No, it doesn’t mean that way.

To me, the manger is successful, if he manages to bring the team forward, meaning progression, instead of bringing them down, towards failure, towards lower divisions.

Managers can be successful for a period of time, and maybe a couple of years later, failure awaits them. This could be due to the manager himself, the players, the fans or even the club’s board, the owners, being indecisive, signing of wrong players, or not supporting the manager.

Now a days, when the results are not going the way of the club owners or fans, the probability of the manager of being sacked is quite high, as compared to the game, let’s say in the 1980s. Every aspect of the game today is placed at a high level, as compared to last time. Now would the club owners keep faith with the manager and not sack him? It actually is quite a tough question to answer.

All right, if you would allow me to use a couple of managers, who are still in the game right now, as examples.

First, the man that the club and board have stood by for 20 over years; Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United Football Club, ever since 1986. Despite being relegated to the lower division during his time in charge, the board placed their faith in him and did not sack him. He duly repaid the faith that was placed in him, by winning over 20 competitions, counting from 1989 till present, 2008. Making him the most successful manager in modern world football. This is called successful.

But how about Fabio Capello? Ex-manager of Real Madrid, the most successful club in the most prestigious competition, Champions League, now manager of the England. He led the team to a winning season, winning the La Liga, the championship in Spain, the team’s first silverware in three barren, trophy-less years. However, he got sacked. Why? Because the board did not like his style of playing and they felt that he made a couple of wrong decisions, which included the infamous decision of dropping David Beckham, when David revealed that he had signed a contract with another club and he would be leaving the club at the end of the season. Now the question is, did that make him successful, while not looking at his distinguished managerial history?

It’s a tough call isn’t it?

Comparing from the 1960s to now. The game has changed a whole lot. Politics have appeared in the managerial part of soccer. Last time, the club owners did not care on how the team played or the decisions made by the managers. As long as the team was performing to its expectations, the manager’s job would usually be safe. But right now, the club owners want to have a say in how the managers should control the team, how the team should be playing and which players to sign. An example would be the owner of Chelsea, and he insisted that the current manager at the point of time, Jose Mourinho, must sign André Shevchenko, one of the most prolific strikers in Europe, but the manager knows that he would not fit into the style and system the team plays and he became a total flop when he signed for Chelsea. So it was either the manager signs the player or he gets the sacking. Politics, something that is not in the game has some how crept it’s way into today’s game.

Owners. Other then wanting to have a say like how I have mentioned earlier on, foreigners and now buying soccer clubs, like how the own racehorses, especially in England, and are treating them as investments, instead of buying the club out of love, for supporting the club.

 

My stand of view.

Managers should be  given the respect and the freedom on how they want the team to play, and the club owners should just provide the money that the manager needs, and just finance the club.

 

 

Huang Yixi Vicson

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