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What Kind of A Football Manager Does England Need?
A lot of people in the media, in pubs and internet forums across the country have been asking this week: "who should be the next England manager?".
I'm not an expert on the potential candidates for the job, but I am interested in leadership and performance and have my own thoughts - not so much on who should get the job but what should they be like?
But first let's get one issue out of the way, and that is the state of the game in England. As a Scot, as far as I'm concerned it's a red herring. I'm sorry, but take a few of the stars out of the England team and you'll still have 10 players who would walk into the Scotland team - with goalkeeper being the likely exception. So while I agree that English football as a whole, from grass roots to Soho Square, needs some close scrutiny, the fact is that the head coach of the National team is employed to get the most out of the current crop of players.
My view is that the climate that surrounds the England team is pretty horrrendous. There is an incredible weight of expecation and a media that seem to be intent on building people up to knock them down. It is ahrd to say as an outsider what the influence of the FA hierarchy is on the team, but bear one thing in mind: Some very good managers have come and gone, and failed to get the most out of a group of talented players. Something isn't right. Look at Eriksson. He arrived with an excellent record. Did well - but not so well when it really mattered - and was hounded out of the job. Now he's doing a great job again with Manchester City.
Anyway, I digress. But the pressure is great. Despite what people say they players do care. So the first characteristic for me is a manager with unshakeable self-confidence. The kind of confidence required to take all of the pressure of the job, and not just cope with it but love it. The confidence to act as a buffer - to take everything that comes with the job and shield the players from it.
I say shield the players from it, because the job is not to develop the players. It is to get them together for long enough to prepare for each international game and not to make them better plauers. It is the job of the clubs to make their players fitter, more techically and tactically competent, and mentally tougher.
In that respect, Jose Mourinho may be the man for the job, but for the next reason maybe not.
The next characteristic I would look for is humility. The England manager cannot come with a big ego. There just won't be enough room for him in the dressing room! But more seriously, all he can afford to care about is his team. He is going to get stick. He is going to be examined in the press. He can't afford to care about how he looks, whether he is loved. If he cares about his players, they'll play for him. I get the feeling poor Jose wants to be loved.
More importantly, I think, is the need for a bit of a maverick. Not too much though. Venables couldn't keep the job first time around because he was involved in legal battles. Hoddle because he used a faith healer. England, in my opionion, needs someone that is prepared to be different - prepared to question, challenge, be different (and let his players do the same). I don't mean that they should be eccentric, merely prepared to be their own man.
The new manager also needs to create a climate in which the players can enjoy playing football. That's partly going to come from the first three characteristics. Having the confidence to give them space and protection from the pressure, from caring about his players, and from giving his players a bit of freedom. But he also needs to inject a bit of fun in things. The language that McLaren used in talking to the media was all about "winning football games". What about the joy of the game? England needs someone that can handle the pressure enough to let his players experience the joy of playing the game.
Who is that man? Well. Lots of people have talked about the success of Klinsmann and Van Basten - but England doesn't have an equivalent. Not even Shearer. Niether do they have in their ranks someone that can bring vast club and International experience and success to the role - like Capello can.
Ultimately, I don't think there is an ideal choice out there that is English. But I also think that a top-class coach like Capello might find it difficult to manage a group of players that lack (apparently) the tactical nous that he will have been used to working with.
So, if I were to venture an opinion, I'd say that a good short-term appointment would be Harry Redknapp. Mainly because he's a maverick, and made his name as a wheeler-dealer, but has matured into a very successful manager. I don't think he takes any nonsense (from above in particular), yet he clearly has good relationships with his players and is highly respected in the English game.
But we know that he won't get the job, don't we? In fact, why not take an easier route. Let's find a way to reverse the ageing process and give the job to Bobby Robson.
Rob Robson, Chartered Psychologist
Head of Employee ResearchApter Development
What should we expect from England against Croatia?
In the run-in to big games I quite like to try and work out (because I’m sad like that), from the messages that are coming from the coach and key players, is what the motivational climate in the camp is, and therefore how the team might play.The vibes that I’m getting from England and McLaren in particular are about determination and professionalism – about “getting the job done” and meeting expectations. This suggests that the focus is very much on the result and its consequences, but also on staying in control.
So what? Well, even though the manager has called for an up-tempo approach to the game, we might not expect too much creativity or flair to be on show. It’s going to be about discipline and sticking with the plan, and it could be a pretty nervy affair. So, I would expect it to be tight – maybe only one goal in it.
I guess you could say that’s what most people would predict but still, that’s what I’m picking up from a psychological point of view.
Of course, on the day, the climate could be different, and I think the thing that could do most to change it could be an early goal. No matter who gets it, things could go in all sorts of directions from there!
Rob Robson
Sport and Business Psychologist, WarwickshireScotland and Glorious Failure: Is It Our Comfort Zone?
After watching Scotland just miss out again last night, I was reflecting on our National character and how it shows itself in our National game of football (soccer).It would be churlish of me to dampen spirits by suggesting that the current National side have not restored a great deal of pride after an outstanding campaign. Of course they have. Among other things I'm extremely proud of what we've achieved in the last couple of years. To those that don't follow football (soccer), or care much about Scotland let's just look at what that is:
1) We've just played 12 games in a group that included both finalists from the last World Cup - France and Italy - as well as the Ukraine, who were quarter finalists, and only lost out in our final game.
2) We beat France at home and away in the process.
3) We've improved our World ranking from something like 70th to 13th and put ourselves into a position where we should be seeded for the next qualifying campaign.
So, it's been great. Or has it?
We seem to have this great affinity with glorious failure in Scotland. As long as we go out fighting that's OK - we can hold our heads up high. But let's look at the reality. We went to Georgia in our second last game and played dreadfully - when a win would have put is in a great position in our last game. We choked. Then, we needed to beat Italy - World Champions - in our final game. We gifted them a goal after only a minute, and then we started to play.
My argument is this: that Scotland need to be the underdogs and don't play well under pressure. I'd go even further than that, in fact, and argue that 'glorious failure' is our 'Comfort Zone'. Yesterday, we created a scenario that made it unlikely that we would win - and then gave it a right good go. We can go to France and win because no-one expects us to.
In the qualifiers for 2002 (I think it was), we had to play off against Holland. No expectation. We beat them 1-0 at home. Then we started to think that we might have a chance. What was the result in the return leg? 6-0. A hammering.
Before that is was England. They beat us 2-0 at home, so we went to Wembley with no realistic chance of progressing. We won 1-0. Not enough to get us through, but another 'glorious failure'.
It goes back further. Losing to Costa Rica in '90, only to almost hold out for a draw with Brazil. Drawing with Iran in '78 and losing to Peru, before beating eventual finalists Holland 3-1 (not enough to go through though).
Our history is littered with these tales. It seems to be written into our psyche that it's OK to lose, as long as. we go out fighting. It is a safe and comfortable place, away from the big boys and the real pressure. As long as it's OK, it holds us back.
So what do we do next? How do we break out of it?
Well, the good news is that this team must have grown in confidence enormously (though not enough to go out to Georgia and come back with three points). There's also clear dissatisfaction among the players to have missed out on another major tournament.
"We think we deserve to be at a major championships and we'll prove it in the forthcoming World Cup campaign" Scotland striker James McFadden
But the only way is to learn to deal with expectation and pressure. We've got to be able to say. "Yes, we're the favourites here, and we're comfortable with that." To do that we have to set ourselves up for a potential fall and not be stifled by the fear of failure (or of success?). We have to say to ourselves that we are going to join the elite - set ourselves challenging goals - and be able to put them to one side and play in the moment. We have to invite expectations and not let them be our shackles. The best way to do that is to keep putting ourselves in the right positions - the Italians are not mentally tough by accident ut through experience.
I think we have players who are capable of thinking like that. Players like McFadden who is, in our own language, "gallous" or in others', "audacious". He's prepared to have a go, try something different - he's got balls. That's what makes him special to us. He's also prepared to publicly state the intention to prove himself in the next campaign. He's not the only one that could step up, but he's typical of what we need.
It is also crucial that everyone associated with the National team do not get wrapped up in their emotional response to this campaign, whether it is pride or something less positive like anger or resentment that they feel. Indeed, they must ensure that the lessons that need to be learned are objectively assessed, learned, then actions put into place to ensure that they are not repeated - whether that be why Italy were allowed to score so easily yesterday, or how they went to Georgia and pretty much created nothing in the game.
We've all got our part to play too. Let's stop being content with 'glorious failure'. We can be proud of our team's performance, but let's not be too comfortable with our failure to qualify. Let's be dissatisfied just enough to eventually get rid of it from our sporting vocabulary once and for all.
Rob Robson
