The Development of the Management Function in Professional Association Football in England
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Student No: 14210010 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MANAGEMENT FUNCTION IN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND Timothy M. Healy Dublin City University Business School Supervised by Dr. John Connolly Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. June, 2020 Declaration I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Doctor of Philosophy, is entirely my own work, that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: Candidate ID No. 14210010 Date: 26th June 2020. i Abstract This thesis is a study of the development of the management function in professional association football in England from the earliest days of codified and organised football to the present day. I have deployed the theoretical lens of figurational sociology, as formulated and described by Norbert Elias and his followers, notably Eric Dunning. This requires identification and analysis of the interdependencies and power relationships between the emergent function of football management and others forming the broader football figuration. As the game became a professional sport, the manager figure did not exist. Administrators eventually had their title changed from secretary to secretary-manager. In time this became simply ‘manager.’ The primary interdependencies were those of the manager with owners/directors and also with players. I divided the total timeframe for the function into five easily identifiable periods from the 1860s to the present time. My work, from a methodological perspective, was historical/documentary. My sources included existing socio- historical manuscripts, biographies, and autobiographies of former players, managers and directors as well as newspaper accounts and football magazines. I also carried out twelve interviews with former players and managers from the English professional game. The findings illustrate how the function developed from one with low level power chances to one in which there was substantial autonomy during a period when managers’ powers had increased relative to those with whom they shared interdependencies. More recent, wholly unplanned changes within the game led to changes in the management function, with more specific but more limited responsibilities and a loss of functions which had appeared embedded, principally control over transfer activity. In addition, I also illustrate and explain how the broader British habitus which was linked to Britain’s position in the figuration of nations, shaped and affected the management function in professional football. ii Acknowledgements I will never be able to thank sufficiently Dr. John Connolly for providing the map to guide this mature student on a journey through previously unknown territory. His support and encouragement will not be forgotten. My sincere thanks also to Professor Barbara Flood who has been most supportive throughout this process. Professor Teresa Hogan was a guiding influence in the early days of this work when I was unsure of myself and the path on which I had embarked. Her calm and much valued advice helped me settle in to a project which has ultimately been very rewarding. My daughters, Barbara and Clare, are to be thanked for their technical support and my son Patrick for his regular recommendations on potential data which he would come across. And not least, by any means, my wife Clare is due thanks and much more for providing me the time and space to indulge myself in this project, seeking to complete a worthwhile PhD document. Without exception, those I interviewed from the world of football, were open and extremely generous with their time. In this regard, I must single out John Giles who provided me with significant advice and access to former colleagues and friends of his own. Liam Brady, too, was extremely generous and perceptive in knowing what I was seeking to discover, and in opening doors which, without his help, I would never have got through. Finally, on a sad note, I interviewed Norman Hunter at his home in Leeds where he and his wife, made me as welcome as a long-lost friend. He was a gentleman, modest and open and as decent a man as one could hope to meet. Whoever said, one should not meet one’s heroes, hadn’t met Norman Hunter. RIP. iii Table of Contents Declaration ....................................................................................................................... i Abstract ........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ iv List of Tables, Figures, and Images ................................................................................. viii Chapter One - Introduction ........................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Theoretical Approach…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7 1.3 Structure of the PhD ................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter Two – The Development of the Management Function in Professional Association Football in England: Literature Review ............................................................................ 14 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 14 2.2 Football Management in the Literature .................................................................................... 14 2.3 Figurational Studies and Football Management ....................................................................... 24 2.4 Figurational Studies in Other Sports…………………………………………………………………………………….. 29 2.5 The Development of Professional Football: Explanations and Debates .................................... 36 2.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 44 Chapter Three – Theoretical Approach and Methodology ................................................ 45 iv 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 45 3.2 Figurational Theory, Power, Process and Interdependencies……………………………………………..45 3.3 The Figurational Method………………………………………………………………………………………… ……….47 3.4 The Civilising Process ................................................................................................................. 51 3.5 Parliamentarisation, Sportisation & Habitus .............................................................................. 54 3.6 The Social Significance of Sport ................................................................................................. 56 3.7 Data, Sources and methodology…………………………………………………………………………………………..59 3.8 Secondary Sources ..................................................................................................................... 60 3.9 Biographies and Autobiographies .............................................................................................. 61 3.10 Newspapers, Magazines & Online Sources .............................................................................. 62 3.11 Interviews ................................................................................................................................ 64 3.12 Data Analysis............................................................................................................................ 68 3.13 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 70 Chapter Four – Data Analysis .......................................................................................... 71 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 71 4.2 The Development of Professional Clubs and Centralisation Processes ..................................... 72 4.2.1 The Organisation of Clubs and Functional Specialisation ...................................................... 77 4.2.2 The Secretary-Manager ......................................................................................................... 79 4.2.3 Players ................................................................................................................................... 81 4.2.4 Media .................................................................................................................................... 85 v 4.2.5 Trainers & Coaching ........................................................................................................... 90 4.3 Between the wars 1919 – 1939 .............................................................................................