Can you manage? The art of choosing the right man

By Albatross
April 26 2006

With high-profile managerial positions due to be filled in the next few weeks, the job of choosing a manager seems to be grabbing plenty of attention.

There is, it seems, a black art to choosing managers whether it's at Pools, Newcastle or England. Everyone wants their say, names are proposed, rumours surround possible candidates, interest is confirmed and denied, claims are made about people being spotted. Bets are placed, odds change depending on the latest victory or defeat, and then - in the case of Pools at least - someone comes in on the blindside and is announced as the new manager, quite possibly having checked into the Staincliffe Hotel along with the multitude of other potential managers apparently spotted around the town.

The England job has been a field day for the press, with otherwise humdrum end of season games now able to be championed as showdowns for a job that will almost certainly see the press ridiculing the winner at some point, quite possibly by comparing them to a root vegetable. Taking a cynical view, the media would probably like someone who has the personal life of Paul Gasciogne, the managerial skills of Mike Bassett, and the turn of phrase of Ian Holloway to allow them to fill front and back pages at the same time. Someone like Martin O'Neill - private, devoted to his wife enough to give up his job to spend time with her during her illness, a great motivator and builder of teams that are more than the sum of their parts and an intelligent thinker on the game and comfortable with being on camera, would give them much less to write about. Arguably, the press interest and intrusion might be enough to put some candidates off if they want to keep their private life intact.

Of course, fans wanting a particular manager is a long way from them getting the job; in the case of O'Neill for example, while a school of thought at Newcastle might say he's the ideal candidate the unspoken question of whether he actually wants the job (or indeed any job) has yet to receive a convincing answer. Similarly, some of the rumours at Pools - the wilder ones mentioning Kevin Keegan and (as player/boss!) Alan Shearer - seem to be rooted more in wishful thinking than serious suggestion.

Meanwhile the wisdom of appointing the fan's choice can also be called into question. Arguably the only time IOR have chosen the candidate that the fans wanted and expected has been with Martin Scott; hardly anyone had mentioned Chris Turner before he arrived, Mike Newell's name was only mentioned hours before his appointment and Neale Cooper was also far from being the name on everybody's lips prior to his arrival at the club. While some feel that we should be looking for an experienced man, IOR seem keener to try and find someone with potential rather than the almost-inevitable situation of appointing a man whose track record will in all likelihood include the experience of being sacked.

One thing that does occur to me is how much things have changed - especially at the higher levels. Players that wanted to get into management tended to find themselves starting off coaching, or at least dropping down a level or two to find a job before working their way upwards. Now, it seems that there's more of a tendency to look for a big job sooner, with the implication being that a high-profile player will find the transition to management a smooth one. Over the last few years we've seen (with differing levels of success) players such as Dalglish, Souness, Gullit, Mark Hughes, John Barnes, and David Platt move quickly into a high-profile job as soon as or even before their playing career is over.

There may be some clues as to their possible success though; when reading Leo McKinstry's biography of the Charlton brothers, one thing that occurred was that although Bobby was undoubtedly the more gifted player this actually hampered him in management; it came so naturally, so easily to him on the pitch that he rarely had to think strategically. Jack, a more limited player, worked hard to develop what he had and from an early stage began thinking about tactics and strategy. In hindsight it's no surprise that it was Jack that was more successful in management. Great players can make great managers - but the bias is to those that think about what they're doing.

For the meantime though I think that Pools are doing the right thing by not announcing anything at least until the issue of relegation is settled; and if, when the permanent boss is anounced it's someone we hadn't even guessed at I won't be at all surprised.