Managing A Football Team

[Ke1t]

I'm not saying that playing games like football manager or FIFA is in any way preparation or akin to managing a football team in real life... so before anyone comes up with that strawman let me just kick it down and say, "knock it off with the strawmen, already, f**ktard."

 

Only I listen to football managers on the telly, and a LOT of them sound as though they don't have two live brain cells to rub together. They really seem, to be fair, dumber than sh*t.

 

John 'Yogi' Hughes is one of the... let's call him.. special cases. Listening to him talk I don't think I'd let him near sharp cutlery, let alone have him managing my football team. And yet there he was in charge of Falkirk, getting them promoted and into a cup final. The lights are on, but he doesn't quite seem to be home, and yet he was able to have a pretty successful management career in Scottish terms, at least. Is he deceptively smart, or did he get lucky, or is it just that being smart isn't a necessary tool in the football manager's arsenal, to mix my metaphors?

 

Or is football a simple game made overcomplicated... like Calderwood's.,let's call it dynamic style of management, where he has the players playing half a dozen formations during the course of the first 15 minutes? Where you don't need to have massively elaborate systems of play, where every play needs to have a specific counter and execution?

 

Does a guy, who becomes manager through what appears to be having spent a long time playing football, necessarily have an advantage over someone who never played but, for example, sat in the stands all their life watching the football?

 

Is football management a skilled job or is it the equivalent of unskilled labour, largely dependent upon blind luck. So a manager can appear brilliant at one team,, but when taken away from the fortuitously assembled squad at that club and transferred to another club, the luck they had at the previous team isn't transferred with them.... meaning they're found out for the none too fantastic football manager that they are?

 

Obviously when you get to the level of Manchester United and Real you need to know wtf you're doing, and a Yogi Hughes (who got promotion and a cup final) would likely be way, way out of his depth, but the basics,... how difficult are they?

[OddJob]

Well i'd say it's all about trust, dedication, motivation and respect but like you say Kelt i wouldn't say most managers in the world have that but hey ho.

[muttonhumper]

I'm not saying that playing games like football manager or FIFA is in any way preparation or akin to managing a football team in real life... so before anyone comes up with that strawman let me just kick it down and say, "knock it off with the strawmen, already, f**ktard."

 

Only I listen to football managers on the telly, and a LOT of them sound as though they don't have two live brain cells to rub together. They really seem, to be fair, dumber than sh*t.

 

John 'Yogi' Hughes is one of the... let's call him.. special cases. Listening to him talk I don't think I'd let him near sharp cutlery, let alone have him managing my football team. And yet there he was in charge of Falkirk, getting them promoted and into a cup final. The lights are on, but he doesn't quite seem to be home, and yet he was able to have a pretty successful management career in Scottish terms, at least. Is he deceptively smart, or did he get lucky, or is it just that being smart isn't a necessary tool in the football manager's arsenal, to mix my metaphors?

 

Or is football a simple game made overcomplicated... like Calderwood's.,let's call it dynamic style of management, where he has the players playing half a dozen formations during the course of the first 15 minutes? Where you don't need to have massively elaborate systems of play, where every play needs to have a specific counter and execution?

 

Does a guy, who becomes manager through what appears to be having spent a long time playing football, necessarily have an advantage over someone who never played but, for example, sat in the stands all their life watching the football?

 

Is football management a skilled job or is it the equivalent of unskilled labour, largely dependent upon blind luck. So a manager can appear brilliant at one team,, but when taken away from the fortuitously assembled squad at that club and transferred to another club, the luck they had at the previous team isn't transferred with them.... meaning they're found out for the none to fantastic football manager that they are?

 

Obviously when you get to the level of Manchester United and Real you need to know wtf you're doing, and a Yogi Hughes (who got promotion and a cup final) would likely be way, way out of his depth, but the basics,... how difficult are they?

 

Canna be that difficult.

 

As you suggest...if empty heeded cxnts like Hughes and Calderwood can make a moderate success out of it, merely by having had a career playing the game, and picking up a coaching badge here and there...

[muttonhumper]

Oh aye.

 

Helps if you're pure "gallous", big man.

[Jack_Glass]

Like any job there's always people that excel, folk that either live n breath the job or have a natural flair. It's impossible for every manager to be a SAF, so there's naturally going to be a lot of crap. Same thing applies to bands, some are great intelligent musicians (Pink Floyd). Some are lucky and common as muck, yet make millions (Oasis).

 

I don't think football is that complicated, but it does take that something special to see the qualities in a player, then assemble a team of 11 individuals that are successful. It's not rocket science though.

[Oklahoma 1903]

Football is a simple game.....It's players that make it hard!

[ollie1903]

Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, goal.

 

Simple

[Crossbow]

A good question and anyone who has played football simulations has probably wonderd the same thing.

 

I think that a lot of managers get lucky with a squad and that is why there are a lot of very average managers out there. By and large players know how to play the game and a reasonable sqaud will probably play a reasonable game even with a poor manager. Rarely you will get e manger who has skills in motivation and self belief like Clough who can turn an average squad into world beaters. Rarely you'll get a manager like Ferguson who can build squads over seasons and maintain the quality. There are few great managers, I think AFC have a manger who tries to do the simple things well and probably has a limited comfort zone of style. He has a flaw in that he is too loyal to players he likes. I suspect keeping a group of egos with money and limited smarts (your average football squad) requires skills in man management and that is probably more important than knowing the best tactics in the world. That as much as anything is what they get paid for imo.

[spamspamspam]

Pass 'n' move, pass 'n' move, pass 'n' move, pass 'n' move, pass 'n' move, pass 'n' move, goal.

 

Simple