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M the anager Summer 2009

MThe magazine of the Leagueanager Managers Association Issue 2 £5.00 Small steps

leader of the pack P lus: wolves’ mick peter taylor mccarthy stephen constantine tells it like it is

it’s all in the training: hugh robertson mp graham thorpe – switching sides team talks: turning words into action david platt on life after management the art of successful Mentoring c o m m e n t e d i t o r

How did your team do? Did they rise to the challenge and prove their mettle or struggle against tough competition and low morale? Depending on their level of ability, fitness and motivation, your people can be your most valuable asset or your biggest cost. Few managers have the luxury of a blank cheque with which to re-stock the organisation with fresh blood and new ideas. Recognising the talent within and getting the very best from existing resources is, therefore, an essential skill. Those starting next season at the helm of a new ship will have to identify and exploit their strongest assets quickly if they are to get results in those crucial early months. These days, new managers are afforded precious little time to prove themselves, despite often having to work with a legacy of club politics, finances and players. Those In this edition, we ask how the right words, said in the right way, can make people up their game. Does starting next the carrot or the stick work best in spurring on a losing team? According to business leader John Timpson, season at the instigating change is less about the words and more helm of a new the groundwork you have already laid: “However inspirational the speech, if people don’t respect you ship will need to and believe in your message, it won’t work.” identify and Mick McCarthy agrees that getting team buy-in requires mutual respect, and that this has its exploit their foundations in honesty. Speaking exclusively with strongest The Manager, he says, “[The players] are welcome to ask me a question, but they must be prepared for the assets quickly answer. I’m brutally honest and say it like it is.” Getting dedication and performance from a group of individuals takes a particularly skilled leader, especially in the face of adversity. And, according to MP and ex-military man Hugh Robertson, simply shouting at people when conditions are tough gets you nowhere. In our interview, he echoes the need for trust, but adds that it also comes down to preparation: “In the army, we used to say ‘train hard, fight easy’, and I believe that’s a great lesson for life.” This summer will mean hard training and tough decisions for many clubs and businesses. But get it right and the pay-off could be well worth the effort. I for one look forward to finding out.

Alice Hoey Editor

Published for the LMA by Caspian Publishing Ltd. Opinions expressed by contributors are their own. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. Publishing enquiries: 020 7368 7177 Fax: 020 7368 7178 www.caspianpublishing.co.uk Editor: Alice Hoey Group editor: Keith Ryan Account manager: Tina Franz Creative director: Nick Dixon Art editor: David Twardawa/Clare Meredith Production manager: Karen Gardner Advertisement manager: Matthew Blore Business development director: Frances Hughes Commercial director: Andy Rice Founder and communications director: Matthew Rock Founder and editorial director: Stuart Rock Picture credits: Action Images/Getty Images/Alamy/Rex Features/istockphoto The League Managers Association The Camkin Suite, 1 Pegasus House, Tachbrook Park, Warwick CV34 6LW Tel: 01926 831 556 Email: [email protected] www. leaguemanagers.com For annual subscription (£20 for four issues): 020 7368 7200 Fax: 020 7368 7201 or subscribe online at www.themanagermagazine.com summer issue the line-up

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04 kicking off 30 big boots and manager David Platt turned his News and views from the past In football and business, family ties hand to business. quarter-season. can be strong and productive. We look at the highs and lows of 46 one careful owner 08 mick mccarthy following in the family footsteps. The manager-owner dynamic can The Wolves boss speaks exclusively make or break a club, says about his open, honest and direct 34 timeline to Professor Stuart Timperley. approach to leadership, and why greatness But how do you make you have to trust in your team. Profile of the longest- it work? With serving manager Dave Whelan. 12 crossing the line of all time, The transition from player to Fred Everiss. 50 culture manager isn’t always easy, writes club Sue Bridgewater. Tony Adams, 36 world’s An organisation Graham Thorpe and actress-turned apart is much more -playwright Manjinder Virk speak Working abroad than the sum of from experience. might be daunting, its parts. We ask but the effort can 34 Dave Bassett why 18 word play really pay off. Stephen corporate identity Say the right thing and you can Constantine reports back matters and where the motivate and inspire. How do John from Sudan. manager fits in? Timpson, Peter Taylor and Roberto Forzoni approach the team talk? 38 on a mission 54 don’t lose any Where do you begin when trying sleep over it! 22 watch and learn to turn around an ailing business? Stress and poor sleep can be a Everybody wins from a successful According to our experts, vicious circle. Here’s why, with mentoring relationship, so why re-igniting success starts Dr Dorian Dugmore. aren’t we all at it? with your people. 56 equal measures 26 train hard, 42 what Every aspiring manager, black or fight easy next? white, should get the support and MP Hugh Making a radical opportunities they deserve, says Robertson on the career change Kick It Out’s Piara Powar. importance of broad takes guts. experience and why 54 What happened 60 lma events sport is undervalued. 54 when ex-player Highlights from a season of events. R i c h a r d B e v a n Kickingoff can News and views FROM THE DUGOUT you do better?

Enter the As always in football’s summer season, the headlines are dominated by news of transfers, dragon club sales, discussion about debt and finance, and Ex-Millwall chairman and now Rymans chief executive hopes and expectations for the coming season. Theo Paphitis spoke recently about the challenges of In the run up to this edition going to press, we saw the doing business in the football industry. “You need an record-breaking transfer of Ronaldo from Manchester United asbestos suit, because at some point or other you will to Real Madrid. This has sparked a debate about the growing get burned,” he said. “It’s an incredible industry,” he emphasis on money in football – is it a case of “how much?” added, “but the money it generates isn’t enough to over “how good?”, with some asking whether it is sustainable? sustain it, so it needs benefactors. Any business that is 23% I believe the past season is proof that talent still has a major reliant on benefactors is a difficult one.” Now probably rise in wage costs role to play in success. And a manager’s ability to get the most best known for his role in TV show Dragon’s Den, in the Barclays PL from his team and the resources available to him is vital to Paphitis spent eight years as chairman of Millwall, taking achieving that. it out of administration into the Championship and an Take , who steered Everton close to the top FA Cup final. “The biggest challenge when you’re trying four, into Europe and to the FA Cup final. He also collected to turn around a business is getting everyone to believe £187m the LMA Manager of the Year award, sponsored by Barclays, in and follow you,” he said. “If you can achieve that then investment by top 92 for a record third time. Further down the league, pre-season you’ll make it a success.” Paphitis is a director of the UK clubs in facilities favourites for relegation Hull City and Stoke City – both smaller Football League and an FA counsellor. clubs with limited funding – defied the odds and maintained their positions in the game’s richest league. The performance of Phil Brown and , respectively, must not be 16% underestimated in those achievements. Burnley’s Tips from the compound annual Looking ahead to next season, the Barclays growth rate between welcomes ’s Burnley back to the top flight for the BOGOF top flight 1992 and 2008 vs 5.4% first time since 1976. Nobody knows whether they’ll manage to For many companies, slashing budgets and It’s not every day you get to quiz a for the UK economy stay up, but relegation is certainly not a given. restructuring won’t be enough to see them leading football manager about the In his ground-breaking bestseller, Moneyball, Michael Lewis through the summer of discontent. As The Coca-Cola explored the success of one of baseball’s smallest teams, the customers are increasingly open to offers, highs and lows of the job. At the Oakland As, and its general manager, Billy Beane. The sport companies need to raise the bar to ensure inaugural LMA Business Club event, Championship may have been different, but the message is transferable: there their client base stays loyal and spending. in association with Real Business, is the 3rd-best attended are always different ways to do things, to challenge convention While its local top-tier rivals can league in the world and get more from a team than the sum of its parts. Beane Fulham’s fielded reduce their ticket prices, for Burnley, was one of baseball’s brightest young talents as a player, but it which gets a larger proportion of its revenue questions from host John Inverdale was in management that he really made a name for himself. He from attendance, smarter thinking was in order. and a captivated audience of some 70 created the vision, built the strategy and shaped a team, with At the start of the 2008/09 season, the £3.1bn staggering results. invited business leaders. The theme club pledged that everyone buying a season net debt of Barclays PL Pushing to find new, better ways to manage is a challenge ticket would get their money back the next of the evening, “winning clubs, up from £2.7bn we all face daily, and never more so than in times of adversity. season should they make it into the Barclays against the odds” was last season On 24 September, the LMA will host its inaugural management Premier League. timely, Fulham having conference (www.touchlinetoboardroom.com) at the Emirates. While it meant that the club would lose In the company of the likes of David Moyes, and out on around £2m, chairman Barry Kilby triumphed 2-0 over British Airways’ Martin Broughton, we will unite the worlds of was confident that, in the context of a £60m Manchester United shortly 26% business and sport, and explore and debate what makes great promotion payout, it would be worth it. The before, and struck a chord growth in revenue managers tick. I look forward to seeing you there. unique incentive proved to be a fantastic way for top 20 clubs to boost attendance and share the club’s with businesses facing the Highlights from Deloitte’s Annual success with its supporters. challenges of a recession. Review of Football Finance 2007/08 Richard Bevan the League Managers Association

 The Manager The Manager  Fighting Box clever “One more round” wrote James J Corbett, World Heavyweight boxing talk Champion from 1892 to 1897. His poem of the same name now sits in the Roy Keane is getting tough with his Ipswich office of QPR performance managerJohn Harbin, for whom those three Town side as they prepare to battle for words have provided a constant source of inspiration and motivation. promotion next season. The manager “I’ve used the saying for the past 20 years,” says Harbin, a former plans to send players on a gruelling pre- rugby league coach who has also worked at Oldham Athletic, Crystal season training course with the Parachute Palace and Coventry City. “It means that no matter what your situation Regiment, where they will be put through – be it in sport or life – there’s always one more round to fight.” their paces, military style. At the Merville Barracks training centre in Colchester, a potential venue for the pre- season training, courses are designed to EXTRA TIME promote team cohesion, develop leadership Tony Pulis (left) ran this year’s London skills and improve physical fitness. The centre Marathon on behalf of the Donna Louise is currently used in the recruitment of young Children’s Hospice. Management, staff and soldiers. Keane will be hoping its motto, players at Stoke City have been supporting “Ready for anything” proves to be justified. the charity for several seasons. Alan Curbishley recently unveiled a £2.5 million sports facility in the London Borough of Bexley. It is hoped that the new outdoor sports changing Calling time SPOTLIGHT pavilion and education and leisure facility at Hall After 14 years in charge, , who recently turned 60, returned to Oldham , Place will give a considerable boost to sport in the Graham Turner leaves his post Athletic as in March. During his 1 000 local community. previous 12-year spell at Boundary Park, Royle guided Having each managed 1,000 Watford FC’s (right) as manager of Hereford United the club to the Premier League, two FA Cup semi-finals has been delivering some motivational at the end of this season. Turner, and a Littlewoods Cup final. games, Steve Coppell and words to aspiring footballers. Royle moved to Manchester City in February 1998, Graham Turner have entered the Speaking to students on the football who will remain chairman and and in his first full season in charge the club achieved excellence programme at West director of football at the club, promotion. A year later, they went up into the Premier LMA’s elite Hall of Fame, the Herts College, he emphasised the is currently the second longest- League. Having taken charge of Ipswich Town in 1,000 Club. Coppell took on his opportunities that coaching can serving manager in England November 2002, Royle led the club to the play-offs in offer as a career, should they not 2004 and 2005. first managerial role aged 28, make the grade on the field. behind Sir , CBE. becoming the youngest to ever As part of the LMA’s Community He has managed clubs in each Fund, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp recently manage in the Football League. attended the first leg of the Special Olympics of the top five tiers of English On the money During his career, he achieved Great Britain (SOGB) Unified Football Roadshow football, resulting in 30 years In its first year, the cancer charity alongside striker . of managerial experience. founded by Sir has three promotions and one FA The event was hosted by the Tottenham raised more than double its goal Cup final and has twice been Hotspur Foundation at the club’s training ground. of £500,000. According to a Press The LMA Community Fund works in partnership Association report, the Sir Bobby named LMA Manager of the with several charity and community partners, Robson Foundation achieved the initial Year. Graham Turner received including the Special Olympics. target in the first seven weeks, topping This summer, Les Reed will be hoping to steer £1.2 million within a year. the LMA Service Award, the GB team to victory in one of the world’s largest The charity was set up to sponsored by Coca-Cola, sporting events by participation – the Maccabiah provide early cancer detection and Games. Although primarily for Jewish athletes, treatments, and to trial new drugs at the Northern Centre recently. His achievements have Arab Israelis can participate in the games, which for Cancer Care in the Freeman Hospital. included two promotions and like the Olympics are held every four years and “As long as the commitment and belief is there, I’ll are sanctioned by the International Olympic continue to help for as long as I can,” said Sir Bobby. three league titles. Committee and World Federation of Sports.

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