THE BALANCE OF POWER IN FOOTBALL: Managers
Press conferences ahead of the weekend games occasionally conjure up a quote that goes beyond the predictable that we have become accustomed to hearing in an age dominated by the tight reins of PR.
A revealing insight into the beautiful game that has been turned on its head since the advent of the Premier League and Champions League.
The battle for honours and the resulting riches that accompany them has intensified to such an extent that some of us who remember the time before can scarcely believe the game we see now.
When Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino opened up last week ahead of the north London derby, he gave those of us who would like to see a better balance a sliver of hope.
The Argentine said: “When you sign a contract as a player, you need to understand that you don’t sign to play, you sign to train. Then you wait for the decision of the manager to pick the players. This is football.“
Something that sounds so simple on reflection has been largely forgotten as player power has eroded the ability of managers to do what they have traditionally done.
With Jose Mourinho struggling to replicate the iron will over his charges that saw him collect trophies for fun at Chelsea and Sir Alex Ferguson sitting in the stands now, the older breed of bosses is diminishing.
Arsene Wenger stands as a lone pillar of managerial defiance, despite factions of his club’s support having tired of his purchasing reluctance many moons ago.
When did managers fall down the pecking order? How did it happen? Was it pressure from above, players losing respect, fans losing patience or a mix of all three?
There used to be a time when players would never dare reveal what went on in the dressing room or speak out in public against their managers.
A fear factor remained that was fuelled by a manager’s high standing in the eyes of the owners, players and fans along with the simple fact, like Pochettino says, that players were bought to train and not guaranteed a place in the team.
Money is part of the problem, of course. Wenger is a rare example currently of a manager being consistently retained throughout a trophy drought. He survived the gap until the recent back-to-back FA Cup wins thanks to his initial glorious trophy laden legacy.
Further down the leagues, the days of Dario Gradi’s long tenure at Crewe are also becoming a thing of the past to the dismay of many in the game.
Clubs that do not have a particularly large fan base, but wealthy or overly ambitious owners, are chopping and changing bosses at every turn thereby flying in the face of realistic expectations.
The Championship now represents an annual scene of managerial carnage in the desperation to join the gilded track where the Premier League money train resides.
Gary Bowyer’s sacking at Blackburn yesterday, after Kit Symons received his P45 on Sunday, now means eight Championship dugout departures - a truly astounding figure when you take in the fact that we are only 16 games into that season.
With Brendan Rodgers, Dick Advocaat and Tim Sherwood already out in the top flight and a further eight casualties in League One and Two combined, it does not read well.
Of course, many of these managers should never have been given the keys to the castle in the first place - ill equipped to deal with the modern player, tactics or the myriad responsibilities now heaped upon them.
Any boss that can string a few wins together is elevated way above their station in a club’s haste to attain promotion or silverware. It does nobody any good as the fallout when the wins start drying up is never pretty on all sides.
Eddie Howe is an anomaly in this respect as the young manager has dragged Bournemouth from the brink of extinction to the promised land in a relatively short space of time.
However, Howe is now being linked with the England job something that even he sees as farcical after accruing just two Premier League wins so far in his career.
The press, naturally, also has a big say in how the game is run these days but good managers can still keep them at arm’s length if they really want to.
Ferguson went so far as not to talk to some journalists at all, a singular act of bravado that many slammed at the time as pettiness or foolishness but maybe fitting in a time now where some factions of the traffic hungry media treat managers so heinously.
Like players, top managers are hard to come by nevertheless the one thing we can all agree on is that they need time to truly stamp their personality on a club.
There is the odd firefighter who has the unique knack of rescuing clubs quickly from relegation doom or a steady pair of hands who is trusted to achieve mid-table results with limited resources.
The majority of clubs, though, have ambitions beyond this and require managers who can deliver trophies, money and promotion in a time frame dictated by bank interest rates together with bragging rights in the boardroom, on the terraces and, now more than ever, social media.
Pochettino is as good an example as any presently of an obviously talented manager who has been allowed the time to mould a club in his image.
Successful at both Espanyol and Southampton, the former Argentine international has now shaped a Spurs squad that represents his ideal mix of local youth, backbone and flair.
He took one season to see which players could fit into his system, one summer to jettison those that didn’t and a pre season to start putting it all together.
Tottenham may not challenge for the title this season, but anyone who saw how hungry and assured his side were from front to back at the Emirates on Sunday could see that he is definitely on the right path.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, skilled managers Roberto Martinez, Slaven Bilic, Garry Monk and Alex Neil also need time to harness their distinct gifts.
Former Real Madrid assistant Paul Clement similarly needs the Championship space to grow at Derby, while another Bernabeu old boy Aitor Karanka keeps Middlesbrough purring and Karl Robinson maintains MK Dons on their upward curve.
Further down the leagues, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is building an impressive CV at Burton Albion while several other young bosses are also thriving out of the spotlight.
One club who sum up the lunacy of the modern game when it comes to the treatment of managers is Brentford, a team I have had the pleasure of seeing regularly in recent years.
Mark Warburton worked wonders at Griffin Park on a tight budget to steer them two wins away from a fairytale promotion to the Premier League last season.
He created an enterprising team who fought tooth and nail for each other, despite being a potentially explosive mix of local talent, veteran journeymen, loan stars and foreign imports.
Nonetheless owner Matthew Benham’s obsession with a fashionable American Moneyball stats approach and Warburton’s resistance saw them part ways in the summer.
His replacement Marinus Dijkhuizen lasted just nine games before Benham panicked. Nine games!
Thankfully his next appointment Lee Carsley had seen Warburton’s approach work previously as the development squad boss and he has duly won October’s Championship Manager of the Month after racking up four wins out of five.
Warburton himself simply went north of the border to Rangers, where he is gaining plaudits by the second for his team’s entertaining and winning style.
With the way football has changed, it seems unlikely that we will see the likes of Clough, Paisley, Shankly, Busby, Ramsey and Nicholson again, however it would be great to see managers given the time and respect many of them truly deserve.
Next week I will look at how players have changed in the modern game before I tackle the role of owners and finally the most important group of all - the fans.