An indispensable aspect of football: Man management
Football is the most popular sport in the world and has significantly changed throughout the past decades, however, man-management has always been an area that’s been strongly emphasised in the game. From Jose Mourinho’s “my way or get out” policy to Jurgen Klopp “pat on the back” approach, let’s look at what makes the perfect man-to-man manager.
Sustainable Motivation
What tends to make a player perform well at times and poorly is because of the motivation they have to perform. While form and self-confidence are also very important factors, how a player is motivated can definitely play a critical role in how they perform throughout their career. For example, Jose Mourinho’s way of selecting players is that they play for him through and through. He believes that he should receive unconditional loyalty, however, that has some flaws. What makes this motivation unsustainable is the fact that is an extrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivations are not durable. Football managers need to select players based on their innermost desire to play, and how they’ll contribute to the team. By having players that are intrinsically motivated, the team would be more likely to yield good results and also are less susceptible to turning their back against the manager or the players.
Approachable yet harsh
What makes managers like Sir Alex Ferguson is the fact that he was able to get a reaction out of all of his players, but yet was approachable. What makes Sir Alex Ferguson one of the best managers in the history of the game is the fact that he was able to motivate his players but also cater to their needs outside of football. As important as it is for a manager to take care of the team’s morale, what’s also incredibly important is the fact that the manager can be harsh when he needs to be. Furthermore, he was able to motivate players in a different ways, which yielded higher levels of performance from the team. Arsene Wenger is undoubtedly one of the greatest managers in Premier League history, however, more recently his trust in players have not been returned with efficient performances, as he doesn’t have a variety of methods to motivate his players . This is a case of which the manager gets plenty of respect from his players, however, when they perform badly, he fails to motivate them in a way to perform at a higher level. Being ruthless and approachable both go hand in hand and a manager must achieve the ideal balance between the two.
A coach, not a manager
A coach is more focused on developing players, whereas a manager is more focused on the output alone. Pep Guardiola is by definition a manager, but his approach is very much a coach approach. Apart from remaining focused on the success of the team, he always places considerable emphasis on the style of play and how players improve under him. He dedicates a lot of his time to making sure players know where to go and what to do, something of which is different to the approach of a manager. Jose Mourinho, on the other hand, is a textbook example of a football manager. Mourinho places more emphasis on getting results than the style of play, which can be good and bad. It can be good, because this approach means the team are more likely to win, however, the lack of emphasis on player development can potentially hinder a player’s growth. This can also be seen in the tactics of the two. Pep Guardiola has several different game plans, yet sticks to his style of play, while Mourinho has several different methods and styles of play to win the game. By being a coach, players are more likely to perform at higher levels than before, and such an approach places the emphasis of quality over quantity. It’s not about doing it, but it’s also about how you do it.
The footballing managerial world will continue to have several distinctive types of managers/coaches, but also what must be considered is why do players fall out with managers and how certain players respond to certain managers. What’s most important for the future of football is the fact that managers are able to cater their man-management styles to the player and genuinely care about the development of the player, rather than the results of the team.
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