Jacques Scerri

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THE COACH AS A MANAGER THE IMPORTANCE AND APPLICATION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT BY COACHES IN MALTESE FOOTBALL CLUBS

JACQUES SCERRI

Dissertation submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the UEFA PRO Diploma 2015-2017 in the Malta Football Association Technical Centre

Tutor: Mr Stephen Grima

To Nadia, my wife, My parents, and my to angels Miguel and Julia for their constant support & words of encouragement

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The preparation of this dissertation study would not have been possible were it not for a number of special persons who provided me with the support and encouragement throughout the duration of this exercise that helped me conclude the project.

In particular, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my tutor and mentor Mr Stephen Grima, who always believed in me and who along the past years was the person responsible for all my coaching education and through his unwavering support and guidance helped me become the coach I am today.

My gratitude goes to all the Coaches who assisted me to carry out qualitative research by filling in questionnaires and meeting for one to one interviews.

I would also like to express my thanks to my course colleagues, some of whom were rivals on the pitch but throughout the past two tough years together, we established a great rapport based on respect and friendship.

But most importantly, I would like to thank my parents, my wife and my two kids Miguel and Julia, who gave me all the support I badly needed and who did not mind taking on the weight I was not carrying during the past two years.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the proliferation, utilisation and application or otherwise of managerial acumen by coaches in Malta and its impact on the performance of these coaches. This study will seek to determine the usefulness of applying managerial principles in the day to day operations of the coach to ensure the smooth running of his coaching roles as well as in the wider spectrum, for the maltese football clubs in general thus ensuring a more holistic view of coaching. In this context coaches act not merely as trainers, but also as managers within football clubs and seek to safeguard the medium to long-term interests of the club.

Football is no longer regarded as merely a recreational activity and past-time simply for fun or a kickabout. Football has become a global business and it has evolved and adopted many business characteristics associated with business industries. The continuing growth of the football industry and its importance to numerous sponsors and institutions and the ramifications of results on the club’s revenue stream, has increased the pressure and demands on the modern football coach to achieve results and reach the club’s objectives in adherence with the philosophy of the football club with whom they are engaged.

The football coach thus operates in a particulary highly complex, unique and dynamic environment but also not to dissimilar from the complexities associated in any managerial operations in today’s discerning business environment. Maximisation of the utilsation of resources at his disposal can make or break the modern football coach particularly the maximisation of his most valued resource i.e. the players as he has to reach the targets and objectives with and through these players. The good football coach must master the managerial ethos to Plan, Lead, Organize and Control within football clubs.

CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 THE COACH AS A FOOTBALL MANAGER ...... 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION ...... 2 1.2 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY AND PERFORMANCE ...... 2 1.3 MANAGEMENT THEORY ...... 3 1.4 MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS ...... 4 1.4.1 Planning...... 4 1.4.2 Organising ...... 4 1.4.3 Leading ...... 4 1.4.4 Controlling...... 4 1.5 DECISION MAKING: THE ESSENCE OF THE MANAGER’S JOB ...... 6 1.5.1 The Decision Making Process ...... 6 1.5.2 Decisions in the Management Functions ...... 7 1.5.3 Types of Problems and Decisions ...... 8 1.5.4 Decision Making Conditions ...... 9 1.5.5 Decision-Making Styles ...... 10 1.6 MANAGEMENT SKILLS & ROLES ...... 10 1.6.1 Roles ...... 10 1.6.2 Skills ...... 12 1.7 REWARDS AND CHALLENGES OF BEING A MANAGER ...... 13 1.7.1 Challenges ...... 13 1.7.2 Rewards ...... 13 1.8 FOOTBALL AND MANAGEMENT ...... 14 1.9 THE CHALLENGES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT ...... 19 1.9.1 The challenges a football coach/manager faces ...... 19 1.9.2 The characteristics of the football coach’s world as managers...... 21 1.10 THE ROLE OF THE FOOTBALL COACH/MANAGER ...... 25 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW – THE FUNCTIONAL AREAS IN FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT...... 30

2.1 PLANNING ...... 31 2.1.1 Importance of Long-Term Planning ...... 34 2.1.2 Communicating the Vision ...... 40 2.1.3 Planning and Recruiting the Team ...... 42 2.1.4 Planning and Organising the team behind the team ...... 45 2.1.5 Laying the foundations ...... 51 2.1.6 Preparing for the Game - Training ...... 52 2.2 LEADING AND MOTIVATING ...... 58 2.3 CONTROL ...... 71 2.3.1 Peak Performance ...... 75 CHAPTER 3 ANALYSIS OF THE LOCAL SCENE THE FOOTBALL COACH AS A MANAGER...... 78

3.1 MANAGEMENT ...... 81 3.2 PLANNING ...... 82 3.2.1 Comparative Analysis - Planning ...... 88 3.3 ORGANISING ...... 90 3.3.1 Comparative Analysis - Organising...... 91 3.4 LEADERSHIP ...... 93 3.4.1Overall Analysis - Leadership ...... 105 3.5 CONTROLLING ...... 107 3.5.1 Overall Analysis - Controlling ...... 113 CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 116 APPENDIX 1 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ...... 122

APPENDIX 2 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR BRANKO NISEVIC ...... 124 APPENDIX 3 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR DARREN ABDILLA ...... 137 APPENDIX 4 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR MARK MILLER ...... 141 APPENDIX 5 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR OLIVER SPITERI...... 160 APPENDIX 6 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR WINSTON MUSCAT ...... 171 APPENDIX 7 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR JOHN BUTTIGIEG ...... 176 APPENDIX 8 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR PAUL ZAMMIT ...... 189 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 205

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1 QUESTIONS ASKED WHEN TAKING DECISIONS IN THE MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

TABLE 2 SWOT ANALYSIS – TARXIEN RAINBOWS F.C.

TABLE 3 LIST OF COACHES INTERVIEWED AND THEIR INITIALS

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1 INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF DECISION MAKING AND THE FIVE MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

FIGURE 2 OVERLAPPING ROLES OF MANAGERS

FIGURE 3 THE COMPLEX NETWORK OF RELATIONSHIPS THAT MANAGERS AND CEO’S MUST HANDLE

FIGURE 4 THE VALUES OF BORURSSIA DORTMUND REPRESENTED AS A LIMBIC MAP

FIGURE 5 THE VALUES OF JURGEN KLOPP REPRESENTED AS A LIMBIC MAP

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CHAPTER 1

MANAGEMENT - THE COACH AS A FOOTBALL MANAGER

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CHAPTER 1 MANAGEMENT - THE COACH AS A FOOTBALL MANAGER

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The 21st century has brought with it a new workplace, one in which everyone must adapt to a rapidly changing society with constantly shifting demands and opportunities. The economy has become global and is driven by innovations and technology, and organizations have to transform themselves to serve new customer expectations. Today’s economy presents challenging opportunities as well as dramatic uncertainty. The new economy has become knowledge-based and is performance-driven. The themes in the present context are ‘respect’, participation, empowerment, teamwork and self-management. In the light of the above challenges a new kind of leader is needed to guide business through turbulence. Managers in organizations do this task.

A manager is someone who coordinates and oversees the work of other people so that organizational goals can be accomplished. It is not about personal achievement but helping others do their job. Managers are persons who are formally appointed to positions of authority in organisations and enable others to do their work and are accountable to a higher authority for work results.

1.2 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY AND PERFORMANCE

Management, organization, culture and organizational philosophy are inextricably linked; they are especially linked to organizational effectiveness. Much has been written about an organization’s culture and the need for managers not only to understand the values in that culture, but to move that culture in the direction of values that further the organization’s mission and vision. The value system of an organization can also be called its organizational philosophy—the ethical context in which goods and services are rendered.

Managers are judged by their organizations’ performance. The way managers set standards, coordinate and integrate workgroups, make decisions, and design the organization affect performance. In addition, it is patently clear from research and

2 anecdotal evidence that high-performing organizations have a values system that furthers the organization’s goals. These values are expressed in explicit and implicit ways by managers and are expected to be present in the work of all staff members. Managers must model appropriate behaviour.

1.3 MANAGEMENT THEORY

Follet defines management as, ‘The art of getting things done through people”.

Management is infact the process undertaken by one or more individuals to coordinate the activities of others to achieve results not achievable by one individual acting alone. 1 Management has four main elements. It is a process that: (i) comprises of interrelated social and technical functions and activities (ii) accomplishes organizational objectives (iii) achieves these objectives through use of people and other resources efficiently (“doing things right”) and effectively (“doing the right things”) (iv) does so in a formal organizational setting.

In concert with managers at various levels, senior management establishes organizational objectives, and all who work in the organization strives to achieve them. Management’s work includes providing an organizational context in which direct and support work can be performed effectively, and preparing an organization to deal with threats and opportunities in external environment.

Managers at all levels shape organisational values and culture by their decisions and through leading by example (modelling), even though senior managers usually have the clearest and most direct effect. The organization’s overall performance is the best evidence of the managers’ efforts. Regardless of hierarchical level, managers throughout an organisation engage in the same basic, generic functions, even though decisions made at senior levels have the most dramatic effect on the organization (Rakich, Longest, & Darr, 2000).

1 Fundamentals of Management 10th ed. (1998) by James H. Donnelly, Jr., James L. Gibson, John M. Ivancevich - Page 3 3

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1.4 MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

According to the functions approach managers perform certain activities to efficiently and effectively coordinate the work of others. They can be classified as:

1.4.1 Planning Defining goals, establishing strategies for achieving those goals, and developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities. Planning is usually identified as the first step of managing. It may occur de novo such as the planning for a new program or facility. In addition, planning may be necessary after the outcomes of the previous initiatives are found inadequate. Managers at all levels plan - although the focus, context, and terms are different.

1.4.2 Organizing Establishing a structure of tasks to be performed to achieve the goals, specifying the appropriate ways and means to perform each task. Organizing develops intentional patterns of relationships among staff and other resources in the organization to reach these objectives. The result is an organizational design. There is a hierarchy in this design, beginning with individual positions and moving through work groups into larger units and, perhaps, eventually into an entire organization. The design of this hierarchy includes assigning authority and responsibility. Departmentation results from organizational design processes and integration are key to successful design.

1.4.3 Leading Influencing others to engage in work behaviours to achieve the results desired. Leading and directing occurs when managers initiate action. Effectively directing depends on being able to lead, motivate, and communicate with the staff for which one is accountable. The various demands of effectively leading others necessitate a variety of leadership styles, some of which will be discussed later. The ability to motivate others is linked to having a shared vision.

1.4.4 Controlling Monitoring, comparing, and correcting work performance. At root, managers control by comparing actual with desired output and making adjustments. Controlling is 4

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directly linked to planning, because the latter has set out the objectives that the organization is expected to have, and controlling determines if this has occurred. Control monitors input and output, but it also monitors processes, or how work is done. Controlling has four basic steps: setting standards, measuring performance, comparing actual with expected results, and acting to correct deviations.

The above managerial functions are integrated into the daily activities of managers and should be viewed as an on-going process. It is ardently clear from a basic understanding of the above management functions that decision making is key to all of them. Without decision making, the management functions could not be undertaken.

Fig.1 Interrelationships of decision making and the five management functions

PLANNING ORGANIZING Deciding in advance Developing intentional what is to be done patterns of relationships among people and other

resources

DECISION MAKING Choosing between or among

alternatives

LEADING CONTROLLING

Directing and Initiating Regulating activities in Work in the organization accordance with plans

Source: Adapted from Rakich, Jonathan S., Beaufort B. Longest, Jr., and Kurt Darr. Managing Organizations and Systems, 4th ed. Pg.11

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1.5 DECISION MAKING: THE ESSENCE OF THE MANAGER’S JOB

Everyone in an organization makes decisions, but decision making is particularly important in a manager’s job. Decision making is such an important part of all four managerial functions that decision making is said to be synonymous with managing.

1.5.1 The Decision Making Process A decision is a choice made from two or more alternatives. The core of a manager’s job is their ability to take the right decisions in a timely manner. Managers spend most of their time making decisions in order to solve problems. The results of problem solving are often complex, unstructured, and non-routine, thus making it difficult and time consuming. At times, the problem lies beyond the manager’s direct control. Except for the condition of improvement, the process of problem solving is exactly the same regardless of problem type, scope, time involved, intensity of analysis, or the conditions that initiate it. The decision making and problem solving process includes: i. Problem Identification, or recognizing the presence of a problem (discrepancy between an existing state and a desired state of affairs) and stating the problem. This includes gathering and evaluating information. In order to identify a problem, a manager should be able to differentiate the problem from its symptom; he should be under pressure to take action and must have the authority and resources to take action. ii. Identifying decision criteria which are criteria that define what is relevant in a decision and allocating weights to the criteria as these may not have equal importance so it is important to give accurate priority to each of the items in the decision. iii. Developing tentative alternative solutions and selecting those viable to be considered to solve the problem in depth. iv. Evaluating and Analysing alternatives. Each of the alternatives are critically analysed by evaluating it against the criteria established. v. Selecting the best alternative from among those identified and assessed choosing the one with the highest weight score. vi. Implementing the solution: The selected alternative is implemented by effectively communicating the decision to the individuals who would be affected by it and their commitment to the decision is acquired.

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vii. Evaluating decision effectiveness: The last step in the decision-making process is to assess the results of the decision in order to determine whether or not the problem has been resolved.

1.5.2. Decisions in the Management Functions: Table 1: Questions asked when taking decicions in the management functions

Managers can make decisions on the basis of rationality, bounded rationality or intuition. i.a. Rational decision making assumes that the manager is making decisions in the best interests of the organization, not in his/her own interests. i.b. The assumptions of rationality can be met if the manager is faced with a simple problem in which:  goals are clear and alternatives limited,  time pressures are minimal and the cost of finding and evaluating alternatives is low,  the organizational culture supports innovation and risk taking, and  outcomes are concrete and measurable.

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ii. Bounded rationality. In spite of these limits to perfect rationality, managers are expected to “appear” rational as they make decisions. Because the perfectly rational model of decision making isn’t realistic, managers tend to operate under assumptions of bounded rationality, which is decision-making behavior that is rational, but limited (bounded) by an individual’s ability to process information.  Under bounded rationality, managers make satisficing decisions, in which they accept solutions that are “good enough.”  Managers’ decision making may be strongly influenced by the organization’s culture, internal politics, power considerations, and by a phenomenon called escalation of commitment—an increased commitment to a previous decision despite evidence that it may have been wrong. iii. Intuitive decision making. Managers also regularly use their intuition. Intuitive decision making is a subconscious process of making decisions on the basis of experience and accumulated judgment.  Making decisions on the basis of gut feeling does not necessarily happen independently of rational analysis; the two complement each other.  Although intuitive decision making will not replace the rational decision- making process, it does play an important role in managerial decision making.

1.5.3 Types of Problems and Decisions Managers encounter different types of problems and use different types of decisions to resolve them. i. Structured problems are straightforward, familiar, and easily defined. In dealing with structured problems, a manager may use a programmed decision, which is a repetitive decision that can be handled by a routine approach. Managers rely on three types of programmed decisions:  A procedure is a series of interrelated sequential steps that can be used to respond to a structured problem.  A rule is an explicit statement that tells managers what they can or cannot do.  A policy is a guideline for making decisions.

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ii. Unstructured problems are problems that are new or unusual and for which information is ambiguous or incomplete. These problems are best handled by a non-programmed decision that is a unique decision that requires a custom- made solution. iii. Differences between programmed versus non-programmed decisions.  At higher levels in the organizational hierarchy, managers deal more often with difficult, unstructured problems and make non-programmed decisions in attempting to resolve these problems and challenges.  Lower-level managers handle routine decisions themselves, using programmed decisions. They let upper-level managers handle unusual or difficult decisions.

1.5.4 Decision-Making Conditions Certainty is a situation in which a manager can make accurate decisions because all outcomes are known. Few managerial decisions are made under the condition of certainty.

More common is the situation of risk, in which the decision maker is able to estimate the likelihood of certain outcomes.

Uncertainty is a situation in which the decision maker is not certain and cannot even make reasonable probability estimates concerning outcomes of alternatives. i. The choice of alternative is influenced by the limited amount of information available to the decision maker. ii. It is also influenced by the psychological orientation of the decision maker.  An optimistic manager will follow a maximax choice, maximizing the maximum possible payoff.  A pessimistic manager will pursue a maximin choice, maximizing the minimum possible payoff.  The manager who desires to minimize the maximum regret will opt for a minimax choice.

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1.5.5 Decision-Making Styles Managers have different styles in making decisions and solving problems. One perspective proposes that people differ along two dimensions in the way they approach decision making. i. One dimension is an individual’s way of thinking—rational or intuitive. The other is the individual’s tolerance for ambiguity—low or high. ii. Diagramming these two dimensions lead to a matrix showing four different decision-making styles.  The directive style is characterized by low tolerance for ambiguity and a rational way of thinking.  The analytic style is one characterized by a high tolerance for ambiguity and a rational way of thinking.  The conceptual style is characterized by a high tolerance for ambiguity and an intuitive way of thinking.  The behavioral style is characterized by a low tolerance for ambiguity and an intuitive way of thinking.

In reality, most managers have both a dominant style and alternate styles, with some managers relying almost exclusively on their dominant style and others being more flexible, depending on the particular situation.

1.6 MANAGEMENT SKILLS & ROLES

1.6.1 Roles In the late 1960’s Mintzberg observed and studied the activities of top managers over an extended period of time. Mintzberg concluded that, because their workdays are filled with interruptions, constant changes in plans, and specific demands, managers do not have time to be careful planners, organisational experts, cautious leaders, or strict controllers. He categorized the managers’ hectic days in ten specific yet related roles.

These are illustrated hereunder and can be separated into three different groupings: Interpersonal roles, informational roles and decisional roles.

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Fig.2 Overlapping Roles of Managers

i. Interpersonal Roles These roles focus on interpersonal relationships. The three roles of figurehead, leader and liaison result from formal authority. ii. Informational Roles This set of roles establishes the manager as the central focus for receiving and sending non-routine information. Through the three interpersonal roles, the manager builds a network of contacts and aids the manager in gathering and receiving information in the monitor role and transmitting that information in the disseminator role and spokesperson role. iii. Decisional Roles Although developing interpersonal relationships and gathering information are important, these two activities are not ends in themselves. They serve as the basic inputs to the process of decision making. In fact, some people believe that the decisional roles - entrepreneur, disturbance, handler, resource allocator, and negotiator - are a manager’s most important duties.

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1.6.2 Skills Management need certain skills to perform the challenging duties and activities associated with being a manager. Katz found through his research in the early 1970s that managers need three essential skills: i. Technical Skills Are the abilities of managers to use the methods, processes, and techniques of managing (such as preparing, planning a new process or reorganizing a workgroup). These are job-specific knowledge and techniques needed to proficiently perform specific tasks. ii. Human/Interpersonal skills A manager’s ability to work with, understand, mentor, lead and motivate others, both individually and in groups. iii. Conceptual skills A manager’s mental ability to coordinate all of the organisation’s interests and activities. iv. Political skills A manager’s ability to build a power base and establish the ‘right’ connections.

These skills reflect a broad cross-section of the important managerial activities that are elements of the four management functions. Significant changes in the internal and external environments have a measurable impact on management.

Organizations need managers. An organization is a deliberate arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose. Organizations share three common characteristics:  Each has a distinct purpose  Each is composed of people  Each develops some deliberate structure so members can do their work.

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Although these three characteristics are important in defining what an organization is, the concept of an organization is changing. The characteristic of new organizations of today include: subordinate work teams, open communication systems, strategic alliances. Organizations are becoming more open, flexible and responsive to changes. Organizations are changing because the world around them has changed and is continuing to change. These societal, economic, global and technological changes have created an environment in which successful organizations must embrace new ways of getting their work done.

The importance of management in today’s dynamic global environment can be elucidated by analysing the Universality of management, the reality of work, and the rewards and challenges of being a manager.

The Universality of Management: Management is needed in all types and sizes of organizations, at all organizational levels, and in all organizational work areas throughout the world.

The Reality of Work: All employees of an organization either manage or are managed.

1.7 REWARDS AND CHALLENGES OF BEING A MANAGER

1.7.1 Challenges i. Managers may have difficulty in effectively blending the knowledge, skills, ambitions, and experiences of a diverse group of employees. ii. A manager’s success typically is dependent on others’ work performance and on external factors such as luck, referee decisions, etc..

1.7.2 Rewards i. Managers have an opportunity to create a work environment in which organizational members can do their work to the best of their ability and help the organization achieve its goals.

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ii. Managers often receive recognition and status in the organization and in the larger community; influence organizational outcomes; and receive appropriate compensation. iii. Knowing that their efforts, skills, and abilities are needed by the organization gives many managers great satisfaction.

The manager of today must integrate management skills with new approaches that emphasize the human element, enhance flexibility and involve and empower employees.

1.8 FOOTBALL AND MANAGEMENT – Parallels between management in the business world and football

“There’s a complete parallel with running a successful company as there is running a successful sports team. You need the same skills. I make no apology that I’ve brought my business background in to play. Although I played for England, coached and my degree was in sports science, the best experience I’ve had for this job is having to run my own company.” Sir Clive Woodward.2

Football managers including Dowie, and Stuart Pearce identified a range of lessons which sport can learn from business. According to Dowie, these include “long-term strategic planning, the value of personal development and goal setting. Also achieving short-term goals within a wider long-term vision”. Conversely, there are also valuable lessons which business can learn from sport. Among these Dowie, who has managed at Oldham, Crystal Palace, Charlton, Coventry City, QPR and assistant at Newcastle United, includes the fact that sports stars and managers learn how to operate in pressurized situations, have excellent understanding of how teams work and they work in the ultimate results business. Dowie, who has an engineering degree, cites former GE boss Jack Welch, BA boss Willie Walsh and Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary as business people whose methods he has watched with interest. He stated at the inaugural League Manager’s Association Management Conference

2 http://startups.co.uk/clive-woodwards-business-meets-sport-success-formula/ - Clive Woodward’s business-meets-sport success formula by Ian Wallis (2007)

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that “What business can learn from sport is not to be afraid of taking emotionally- based decisions, how to deal with pressure when you are under the gun, and team dynamics.” 3

The parallels between managing a football team and a business organisation are extensive. The role that business managers are increasingly being asked to play is precisely the same one that football coaches/managers have always played. They have always been the ‘ringmaster’ trying to channel the activities of talented individuals for the corporate good. The success or otherwise of a football coach or manager has always been determined by how well he manages to harmonise the conflicting interests of a myriad of stakeholders, in particular the demands of football players themselves and it is imperative for him to maintain the authority of the players because once he ‘loses his dressing room’ his position becomes untenable. De Geus, the ‘guru of organizational learning’ stated in an interview in Strategy and Business (Rothenburg 2001) that there is an unequivocal link between football and modern business management issues. De Geus focuses on the tension between legitimate shareholder demands and the needs of the ‘members of the work community’. The shareholders logically and legally claim a ‘right to the bottom line’ while the knowledge workers respond that ‘there is no bottom line without our talent’ and when asked if he saw a model for the resolution of such conflict, De Geus replied: ‘‘I am very intrigued by the example of one particular group of – let’s call them human associations – where the conflict is nakedly visible. These are the European football clubs.’’ 4

In today’s business environment which is being characterised by a greater openness to scrutiny and analysis, the pivotal role played by the manager in any organization is being recognised, a role which has been apparent in the football world for decades. In a football team, a good coach is easy to identify, because his team consistently achieves results. In a large company, good managers have been difficult to identify, often lost in the chaos of corporate politics and bureaucracy. This lack of openness

3 Boardroom lessons for the dugout. BBC website: http://news.bb.co.uk.l/hi/business/8278449 4 The 90-Minute Manager, Lessons from the sharp end of management Third Edition (2012) by David Bolcher & Chris Brady. Pearson Prentice Hall Business, Pg. 7.

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hinders management performance because it provides little incentive for good managers to be rewarded and precludes meritocracy and leads to cynicism.

In both football and business environment growing external pressures are now forcing internal company operations to become increasingly professional, so that management performance will be more measurable and the positive effect of a consistently good manager more obvious. Coaching and managing an elite football team also replicates all the problems of corporate management in the global environment. When you consider the composition of the Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid teams for the final of the Champions League in 2016, Real Madrid were coached by a French person and able to field players from Costa Rica, Spain, Portugal, Brasil, Croatia, Germany, Wales, Colombia and France. Atletico Madrid were coached by an Argentinian and able to field players from Slovenia, Montenegro, Uruguay, Spain, Argentina, France, Brasil, Belgium and Portugal.

Another striking similarity is the short average tenure—Premier League managers in England are about thirty-nine months; for FTSE 100 CEO’s it is about forty-five months.

With the media spotlight zooming relentlessly, not only does football replicate the problems found in the corporate managerial world but it intensifies them and then accelerates the process by compressing the timescale and sharpening the focus. As a former Manchester City chairman said: ‘In football you have at least 40 AGM’s every year, each with forty thousand shareholders.’ A single moment, one slip from a player, a wrong referee decision, can make the difference between a successful season and a failure and can cost a coach his job. In fact, the commonly perceived myth in football is that “You are never more than six games away from getting the sack”. Football management is management in an exceptionally unpredictable world where only the best practice succeeds and this is a pure model of corporate management as virtually everything is on view. The coach is always the one held responsible and the one to suffer the wrath of supporters, committee members and media alike and when a run of results goes against the team, the coach must carry the brunt irrespective of whether the collective failings of the team are down to a lack of finance, not having players of sufficient quality or individual player mistakes.

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There is little room to make mistakes as football management is management in the full glare of the media spotlight, managing in a “goldfish bowl” where every action and gesture is on view. Most senior managers can recall one or two episodes along the way where things did not go to plan, for which they took the consequences, minimized the damage, learnt a valuable lesson and moved on to become better managers. No such chance for many football coaches. From the first match, fans, media, Board and players are watching. Every decision will be analysed, every decision replayed on television and discussed in the media, on football phone-ins and on internet web- boards. This is an exceptionally steep learning curve and there is no chance of making mistakes and learning from them without anyone noticing.

According to management guru Drucker, today’s complex organizational environment requires a process of deconstructing the ‘old’ organization and suggested that the most appropriated model for the ‘new’ organization was the orchestra. An orchestra, with its disparate, highly skilled individuals, all focused on the same objective, seemed to provide an insightful metaphor for process-centred organizations. The typical business will be knowledge-based, an organization composed largely of specialists who direct and discipline their own performance through organized feedback from colleagues, customers, and headquarters. For this reason, it will be an information- based organization, a group of full of high-level specialists (i.e. knowledge workers) under the overall leadership of the charismatic conductor.5

However, in contrast to this rigidly functionalist structure, business was moving towards flatter organizations accommodating multiple functioned and highly skilled individuals able to cover colleagues called away on priority tasks. Ironically, many football teams are showing a more flexible attitude towards interchange ability. Notwithstanding the change in attitude, major International Football Tournaments such as the World Cup and European Championships still mostly resemble fixed-term project management. Such events require specific management techniques. Bringing together a team for a specific length of time in order to achieve specific goals, which will automatically enhance the value of individuals, demands certain skills of a manager but they do not compare with the skills needed to sustain success over an unlimited timescale.

5 The Coming of the New Organization, Harvard Busniess Review, January 1998 Issue, by Peter F.Drucker. 17

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League management, however, is an altogether different challenge. It requires that a team is managed on an on-going basis, continually producing performance at a level which constitutes success. It also requires managers who are able to reproduce their success with other teams when they either resign or are sacked by their current employers. This is the same role played by modern CEO’s. They too are required to manage teams which are made up of highly skilled and highly sought-after individuals. The CEOs are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the organization. Their ‘players’ may be management consultants, salespeople, financial experts or product specialists, but they need managing to ensure that the organization (the team) succeeds.6

Robert W. Keidel, a clinical Professor of Management at the Le Bow College of Business, Drexel University, established clear structural links with the business world. He argued that ‘three major team sports in the United States – baseball, football and basketball – represent generic organizational forms common in business (and other sectors)’. He highlights that of the sports he investigated, it was basketball that was the most concentrated and complex and where the players were ‘connected to all their teammates in a fluid manner’. 7 By contrast, the basic units in American football are issue-specific (functional) sub-teams and in baseball they are individuals. In basketball, the basic unit is the team which is also true of football. In addition to the fluidity of basketball, soccer has the set-plays associated with American football as well as the same number of players on the pitch as American football. From a thorough analysis of the game of football it is ardently apparent that its transitional nature, in which players have to constantly shift their focus from attacking to defending and vice-versa displays stark similarities with the dynamism of contemporary corporate organizations.

The issues that confront modern organizations are precisely the issues that confront football teams. Those issues include the debate concerning the separation of duties between CEO’s and chairmen, the ‘talent war’ (increasingly competitive landscape for

6 The 90-Minute Manager, Lessons from the sharp end of management Third Edition (2012) by David Bolcher & Chris Brady. Pearson Prentice Hall Business , Pg. 11.

7 Game Plans, Sports Strategies for Business (2006), by Robert W. Keidel. Beard Books, Washington, D.C. 18

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recruiting and retaining talented employees), the development of a strategic direction, the creation of tactical plans, the continuity and succession of managers, the relationships between CEOs and their chairmen, their shareholders, the media and the regulatory authorities – these are all relationships which are central to both business and football. “Talent Wars”, which mean that leaders need to attract, retain and sometimes decide to let go of the key individuals who make up their teams show many of the characteristics of the football team full of stars and the leader’s challenge to manage these individuals may also be complex and challenging.

Being successful as a leader in any of these sectors requires, as Dowie says, the ability to take difficult decisions, remain calm and cope with life in the spotlight whilst building teams who deliver winning performances consistently.

1.9 THE CHALLENGES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT

Although there are a number of similarities, the challenges facing a football coach are overtly distinctive. Former England Under-21 National Team Coach, Steward Pearce, who also experienced the pressure of club management at Manchester City points out the difference at the heart of the football industry and traditional businesses, despite how much the two can learn from one another:

“When you have just lost on a Saturday and are getting stick, you cannot turn around and say “it’s OK – my chairman has a really good long-term business plan.”

1.9.1 The challenges a football coach / manager faces include: i. Tenure is becoming ever shorter Being a football manager or head coach, unlike other assistant coaches or Head Coaches of Academy brings a higher profile, possibly higher rewards but it is, as one football manager put it: “like a game of snakes and ladders. One moment you are cock of the walk, riding high and everyone wants to know you. Then you are sacked and after a few days the phone stops ringing”. This shortening of tenure and the trade- off between high rewards and high pressure are common to several types of leaders – CEO’s, Headmasters, etc.- not just to football managers.

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ii. Football is a results business As stated earlier, no matter how good you are, you are never more than six games away from the sack. Performance in football is clear, measurable and the results – league tables, reports, ranking of players and manager are extremely public. This ranking and the use of league tables is now increasingly widespread in sectors as broad ranging as education, consumer businesses, financial institutions and commerce. iii. Football coaches must get the best out of talented individuals and prepare them to work effectively as a team Talent management is a challenge facing many managers of knowledge workers, creatives and specialists. Indeed any sector in which there is a scarcity of available talent, the organization must reach, attract and retain this talent in the face of competition. iv. Dealing with “Match Day” Once the players cross the line onto the pitch, the football manager has limited ability to change the outcome of the match but he is held accountable for the performance.8

Harry Redknapp, reflecting on the football manager’s task, states that the most important things for a football manager were good players and knowing how to get the best out of the team. When specifically asked during a newspaper interview for Daily Mail, “What makes a good manager?”, he replied:

“It’s knowledge of the game and judgement of players. I keep reading about these new great coaches but I ain’t seen them. It’s about good players and knowing how to get the best out of people.” “That’s what wins games, that’s what Alex Ferguson does. He’s not a coach, he’s a great manager. Brian Clough didn’t coach and Cloughie was a genius.” He added “I love coaching but if you ain’t got good players – I never saw a coach yet who could turn bad players into good players. You have got to get the best out of them and keep them on their toes. But I can’t tell Kanu how to bring the ball down out of the air, I don’t tell Sol Campbell when to attack the ball – he knows”.9

8 Football Management(2010), by Sue Bridgewater, Warwick Business School, Palgrave Macmillan, Pg.10 9 Daily Mail, 14th January 2007, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-428768/No- substitute-experience-says-marathon-manager-Redknapp.html 20

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1.9.2 The characteristics of the football coach’s world as managers comprises:10 i. It is 24/7 During the football season, games come thick and fast. In some instances, a team may have two matches a week. A coach has little time to relax, spend time with his family because the minute one match finishes he has to start immediately thinking and planning for the next game. ii. Resources may be scarce Majority of football coaches/managers, with the exception of those coaching top clubs in their respective leagues, have to make do with limited financial budget, lack of facilities and equipment and other shortfall in support personnel. Notwithstanding these financial constraints, many times coaches are still under pressure and expected to perform ‘miracles’, super maximise utilisation of resources and expected to compete against other clubs who have much greater financial clout. iii. Flexible use of resources Where resources are limited, and especially for a team trying to compete at a higher level among rivals with higher levels of resources they must deploy their resources flexibly. Since bringing in extra resources may be limited, success must be achieved by making best use of the resources that already exist within the organization. The concept of using someone as ‘cover’ or playing them out of position is fairly common. For instance the term ‘utility player’ is used to describe a player who although he excels in one position can be used effectively in a variety of roles. One such player is the current England international, James Milner who has been used by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp as a left fullback during the 2016 season even though he has played in more advanced roles throughout his long career. iv. The ultimate results business Football has clear measures of performance: three points for a win and one for a draw, goal difference, goals for and against, win ratios and statistics for all aspects of on-

10 Football Management(2010), by Sue Bridgewater, Warwick Business School, Palgrave Macmillan, Pg.11

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the pitch performance, which are captured in minute detail by television coverage and specialist analysts. These are scrutinized by fans, media and other stakeholders and any dip in form results in speculation over the manager’s job security. The magnitude of the importance of results is exemplified in England were promotion from the English second tier into the Premier League is worth an estimated £60 million so for the two teams which contest the third promotion place, this prize rests on a single match: ninety minutes – which is the single “richest” sporting contest in the world. Even league position in the top division in England determines the share of broadcast revenue gained by each club – so it is ardently evident that points really do mean prizes. Sometimes fans and media will be unrealistic in their expectations of what is possible. If a coach over-achieves and gains promotion, starts the next season well and the fans may expect a football coach to qualify for Europe (the highest level of achievement possible in the English football league structure). If the coach is unable – as might be anticipated – to deliver this level of performance over a sustained time period, he may pay the price with his job, no matter how unrealistic the expectations of those making the decisions. According to Arsene Wenger ‘We are living in an environment where only winning counts. Anyone who loves sport knows that when two boxers enter the ring, there can only be one winner. Yet, for all that, for a good fight you need two heroes. Unfortunately, today, too much attention is paid to the winner.’ v. Short time horizons Most managers now get sacked before they can change much: their average tenure in English football has dropped from 3.5 years in 1992 to 1.3 years now. Whilst many businesses have short, and shortening, time horizons, few have quite such short periods in which to deliver performances and build teams. vi. Managing today’s players It is increasingly difficult for the coach to motivate, reward and sanction players especially the star players on high salaries (at times much higher than the coach himself) who are bestowed with so much power from the supporters and even the presidents/owners and the board that at times they think that they are bigger than the club. These stars like Ronaldo, Beckham, Ibrahimovic, etc. may hold the club at ransom due to their ‘pulling power’ by generating millions in terms of revenue from image rights, merchandise and sponsors. Luis Suarez move to Barcelona, Raheem 22

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Sterling’s to Manchester City are just examples of players forcing a move away from their clubs to play wherever they want and when they want. This player power hinders the authority of the coach. For instance, if a coach sanctions the player for not behaving in an appropriate way, the player can threaten to walk away rather than accept the sanction. Contracts are no real deterrent to a player moving and there have been instances of players forcing the hand of manager and club by refusing to play, or by expressing dissatisfaction and a wish to move in the media. Put simply, the power lies more with these talented individuals than it does with the manager.11

Contracts are no real deterrent to a player moving and there have been several instances of players forcing the hand of coaches and club by refusing to play, or by expressing their dissatisfaction and their wish to move on the media to unsettle the club. It is of course understandable that players, given their short and limited playing career are entitled to maximize their earnings and success while they have the chance. However, many players are seen as greedy individuals who will move for the highest pay cheque rather than remain loyal to the club who gave them a chance or their local club, as used to be the way.

Football coaches also face difficulties attracting the best players or the players that they need to fit into their system or philosophy and many times they need to act as good salespeople as they need to ‘sell’ the club to these prospective players. Players can pick and choose between deals and may be swayed by the club’s history, which other big name players are playing there, the likelihood of winning trophies or competing in Europe. This difficulty in recruiting players hinders the coach’s planning and preparation process ahead of the new season as many times they have to start preseason without the full squad they plan to have for the season ahead while also having players they do not wish to retain themselves and are seeking pastures new.

Many teams embark on Preseason Tours in Asia and America playing preseason friendlies with only one or two players who would be forming part of the eventual squad for that season. The result is that the team will take more time to settle and the risk that the coach will be sacked before the final squad would have been

11 Football Management(2010), by Sue Bridgewater, Warwick Business School, Palgrave Macmillan, Pg.15

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assembled. As Sir Alex Fergusons states : “Some English clubs have changed managers so many times that it creates power for the players in the dressing room. That is very dangerous,” he observed. “Football management, in the end is all about the players. You think you are a better player than they are, and they think that they are a better manager than you are.”12 vii. Combining skills and specialists Success for a football coach, as for managers in many other sectors, does not only depend upon his own performance but upon getting the best out of others. In the case of football managers the “others” are a team of highly paid, talented individuals with different areas of specialisation. He has to get together a team of specialists (goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and attackers) and success depends on all of these delivering and performing from game to game throughout the whole season. All parts of the team must work together for the whole to succeed – it’s useless having the most potent strike-force scoring freely if the defence and goalkeeping department do not do their job proficiently. These talented individuals are not the easiest people to work with as they all have their particular demands, motivations, characters and ideologies. viii. Delivering on match day Just as it is fundamental for managers in other sectors to deliver a good performance on a sales pitch, in a difficult customer situation and in a key interview or presentation, the whole crux of the football coach’s job is to prepare the team to deliver on match day where the players have to put into effect the performances expected out of them. The hours of planning and practice all boil down to those ninety minutes on the pitch during which the coach has limited influence over the outcome. Research points to the stresses placed on coaches once the match starts as they cannot control the result notwithstanding the amount of shouted instructions and gesticulations. Although they can do tactical changes that can alter the outcome, there are a number of uncontrollable factors (luck, refereeing decisions, etc..) and also these changes can have little effect if for example the team concedes three early goals and would be headed for a heavy defeat. The coach might be able to motivate and get things back

12 Sir Alex Ferguson: Managing Manchester United, Harvard Business Review by Anita Elberse and Tom Dye, September 20, 2012. 24

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on track with a team talk and some changes but, other than this, he can only watch and contemplate how he might prepare the team better for the next such occasion. ix. Media spotlight As stated earlier football coaches performance is carried out in the spotlight where virtually every move and every decision must be made in the knowledge that others will revisit this, analyse it from different perspectives and offer opinions whether or not this was the correct thing to do. x. Under pressure Managing a football club is a perhaps uniquely high-pressure job due the combination of scrutiny, short horizons, and lack of control over talented, perhaps unpredictable, individuals.

1.10 THE ROLE OF THE FOOTBALL COACH/MANAGER

Despite this the roles and duties of a football manager are extensive and wide- ranging. The manager's responsibilities in a professional football club usually include (but are not limited to) the following:  Selecting the team of players for matches, and their formation.

 Preparing the players physically, mentally, technically and tactically during the week in training to be able to perform at their best during the next match.

 Planning the strategy, and instructing the players on the pitch.

 Motivating players before and during a match.

 Delegating duties to the assistant coach(s) and other technical and medical staff.

 Possibly scouting for young but talented players for eventual training in the youth academy or the reserves, and encouraging their development and improvement.

 Giving recommendations on buying and selling players in the transfer market, including loans.

 Facing the media in pre-match and post-match interviews. 25

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Some of the above responsibilities are shared with the director of football or sporting director, and are at times delegated to an assistant manager or club coach.

Additionally, depending on the club, other responsibilities include:  Marketing the club, most especially for ticket admission, sponsorship and merchandising.

 Growing turnover and keeping the club profitable.

These responsibilities are more common among managers of small clubs. In managerial jargon, the role of the football coach in simplistic terms, just like the CEO of an organisation, is to design the playing pattern (the process) and to coordinate the players to implement the pattern. The co-ordinators must then observe and monitor the performance (feedback), assess the performance, redesign the process – and improve or remove the players. Only in that way can teams (organizations) continue to improve.

Although the exact role and responsibilities of a manager (outside England often also referred to as “coach” or “trainer”) of a football club could vary substantially from one club to the other, a manager was usually responsible for running the first team, and just as in business, Premier League managers have a senior management team working under them. They have to oversee assistant coaches (first team coach, reserve coach, youth team coach), physical trainer, match analysts, scouts, doctors, physiotherapists, and other support staff. On a day to day basis, the manager must determine how the team should be trained, choose which players start the next match and which would serve as substitutes, and decide on the tactics to be employed in that match, and give pre-game, halftime and post-game talks. It is the manager’s responsibility to ensure that the potential of each player is realized through the team and for the team. He is responsible for identifying the strengths of individual players, at harnessing them to the needs of the team, at inspiring people to fulfil their potential.

The manager (head coach) is responsible for the values and culture around which the other members of the management team and the players converge for direction.

More generally, football coaches are often asked with setting up the organization around the first team, from the coaching staff to the youth development and scouting

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structure. Because of his long tenure and accomplishments, Alex Ferguson, the former head coach of Manchester United had a wider scope of control than any other manager in the English Premier League. He was the ultimate decision-maker on every football-related aspect at United. “Steve Jobs was Apple. Sir Alex Ferguson is Manchester United,” said chief executive officer David Gill, who had been at the club since 1997, first as finance director, and since 2003 in his current position. Ferguson was in close contact on a daily basis with Gill. “My best relationship in this club is with David,” he said. “Sometimes we disagree, but we respect each other, and we know that arguments are just arguments. He’s very fair.” “He moves on quickly – we can speak half an hour later and it is as if the issue was never there,” said Gill, who had credited Ferguson for the time and dedication he showed his staff. His long-time secretary Lyn Laffin agreed: “If someone knocks on his door and they have a problem, the first thing he does is turn the chair around and say ‘Sit down, let’s talk.” “He’s an unbelievable man, he knows how to look after people,” added kit manager Albert Morgan.13

The modern football team is characterized by its structure, orientation towards process and clearly defined performance criteria and can serve as model for business organizations. Managers, like CEO’s, set the tone, establish values and protect or create the culture; coaches, like functional managers, coach and develop the players so that they are able to implement the strategy established by the manager in a manner consistent with the culture; specialist coaches, like skills trainer, establish a level of technical expertise consistent with the implementation. Picking the right coach/manager is the most value that a chairman can add to a football club just like picking the right CEO is the most value that a chairman of a company can add to that business. The manager is engaged with the belief that he must make the difference. This simple relationship between chairman and manager is just one subset of the complex matrix of relationships that managers and CEO’s must handle.

13 Sir Alex Ferguson: 25 Years at Manchester United, Private recording of event. 27

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Fig.3 The complex network of relationships that managers and CEO’s must handle

Current club/ current Agents/ employers search agencies Peers Wives, partners, parents International Managers Players

CHAIR MAN MANAGER/ Governing CEO body Senior management team LEGISL ATORS LMA Support (professional Staff Media Fans/ bodies) shareholders Referees (ombudsman) tribunals

Source: Adapted from Bolchover,D. & Brady,C., The 90-Minute Manager, Pearson Prentice Hill 3th ed. Pg.16

In a football team, from a very simplistic outlook, there are ultimately only two processes – scoring and stopping the opposition from scoring. Coaches are gradually being recognized for their expertise in these distinct processes. Within each process, particular skills are required to execute the process designed by the functional coaches. It is the role of what the Americans call ‘positional coaches’ and what Europeans call ‘specialist coaches’ to develop players’ skills in order to develop specific patterns of play. It is the role of the manager to select these coaches and players and then to motivate and support them. The manager of top professional football teams, maybe unlike some CEO’s of multinational companies, does not sit isolated in a huge office which removes him from close contact with all levels of his staff. He is literally on the side-lines and establishes a close rapport with players and coaches. However, seldom he visits the training ground, his presence there changes the atmosphere and reinforces a level of contact. On match days the manager’s

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contact is immediate and intimate. The duality of being ‘the boss’ and in the dressing room (workplace) provides great managerial strength.

The value of ‘coaching’ in football sense takes distinctive connotations from what is normally perceived in the business sense where it is often mistaken for counselling or mentoring. While both functions are valuable to an organization and are necessary subsets of coaching, genuine coaching is only about performance. In football, coaches are judged solely on performance. Nobody watches the process, only the results. The entire management team is judged, each week, on what happens during each ninety minutes of competitive play. Kevin Keegan, former England, Newcastle and Manchester City manager stated : ‘If you’re Alex Ferguson, there are seventy thousand people coming into your business for two hours on a Saturday afternoon and every week they publish a league table – business only have theirs published twice a year.’

Sir Clive Woodward made precisely the same point just before the Rugby World Cup. He said: ‘If I made a bad decision while running my company no one knew about it apart from me and my team. But in this job, if you make a bad decision or have a bad day it is major media news.”14

Football managers also serve as their clubs’ representative to the outside world on football-related (as opposed to business-related) matters, handling press conferences and otherwise interacting with the media. “There is no way they are going to get my tactics when I go to a pre-game conference,” Ferguson said with a smile. Referring to post-match television interviews, he added “Really, why would I reveal my thoughts to the press when we have another game coming up on Wednesday?” “I know there is a time factor in these interviews, so my response is long and does not give them anything that is critical. And I certainly never discuss an individual player. The players know that – it stays indoors.”15

14 http://startups.co.uk/clive-woodwards-business-meets-sport-success-formula/ - Clive Woodward’s business-meets-sport success formula by Ian Wallis (2007) 15 Sir Alex Ferguson: Managing Manchester United, Harvard Business Review, September 2012 Issue, by Anita Elberse, Tom Dye 29

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW –

THE FUNCTIONAL AREAS IN FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW –

THE FUNCTIONAL AREAS IN FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT

The football management literature includes a broad scope of areas, including the role of the coach, coaching leadership and tools and techniques of effective coaches within the four functions of management. Since there is a dearth of research specific to the functions of management this literature review will include general studies in management within top football coaches which have been then subdivided into: The Coach as a Planner, as an Organizer, the coach as a Leader and finally the Coach within the Controlling function. The majority of literature and studies focus on football management in several different settings. The focus of this study is an analysis of the practice of management by top professional football coaches worldwide in order to develop common strategies and methodologies within their day to day operations as leaders and managers in their respective football clubs.

2.1 PLANNING

“There are two sides to management. One is the coaching of players as footballers, improving their fitness and their technique, teaching them to adapt to your tactics. The other is to convince them that, no matter what happens, no matter how dire the situation, you have an answer. It is making them believe that you have a plan. Every training session you take, every game you play, you must reinforce that message.”

Champions League Dreams, by Rafa Benitez.

The planning function includes defining the football club’s goals and determining the appropriate ways to achieve these desired goals (Gibson, 2006). For football managers, this involves setting a course of action for the club to reach its predetermined and predefined goals and objectives in accordance with the club’s mission statement. It is fundamental to keep in mind that the planning process is continuous. The club’s plans should change and evolve and should not be viewed as cast in stone. In case of problems or of situations arising causing the goals of the club to change, the coach should be ready to adjust or change the organizational plan to make it more appropriate to what the club is trying to accomplish.

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Planning starts with a thorough analysis of the current situation and environment in which the club is operating. It is an exercise of ‘Where the club is at that moment’ and involves an Internal and External assessment. One of the tools utilised is SWOT analysis which examines the team/club’s Strengths, Weaknesses as well as the Opportunities and Threats.

Table 2: SWOT Analysis – Tarxien Rainbows F.C.

Once this is established the coach/manager working closely with the President or Chairman and designated committee members must determine where the club wants to be in accordance with the Vision and Mission of the club. The mission is the overall purpose while the vision is the overall club aspiration. When the coach has a clear vision of where the club wants to be and what it wants to achieve, the next task is to set the goals it wants to attain and the strategies needed to attain these.

The planning process consists of both short-term and long-term planning. Short-term planning involves goals the club wants to accomplish soon, ranging from the next few days and weeks and up to a month. A short term goal might be winning the next

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league game or reaching a particular objective during a training session. Medium- term goals are goals that will embrace what the coach does towards the achievement of his long-term outcome goal. These normally range for a period between six months to one year and could be avoiding relegation this season. Longer term planning involves goals the club may want to try to reach over a longer period of time, perhaps within three to five years into the future. For example a long-term goal might be to become a top four club and qualify into Europe within the next three years.

A long-term goal is an objective statement about a specific achievement that can be measured. What is it that the team ultimately wants to accomplish? Or, what is it that the coach ultimately wants to achieve? These statements are too vague and not clear enough on how to achieve this and do not direct behaviour. It is very important for the team, coaches and individual players to have a long-term goal in mind. Approaching the long-term goal should be incremental - one game at a time, one training session at a time and one short-term goal at a time - otherwise it may seem too overwhelming and out of reach. All efforts and energy should be placed into achieving this goal, keeping in mind, what needs to be done to attain the definite goal. If for instance qualification to European competitions is the goal, the average points garnered in past few seasons could serve as a benchmark. Coaches should also help their players set team goals, as well as encourage them to set individual goals that coincide with the team's goals.

One problem that teams tend to have is that they set long-term goals at the beginning of the season, then never go back to see how they are doing, and they do not really talk about their goals or strategies to get there. Former San Francisco 49er director, Dr Williams says, "Every team in the league will say they want to win the Super Bowl, but the 49ers take steps and strategies to achieve that goal, positive strategies. All things are pointed in the direction of that goal which is why they are there."16 There must be consensus among the team in regards to the team goals, as well as an on- going, periodic review and assessment of the goals so that they do not lose their effectiveness. Sometimes goals need to be adjusted along the way to keep them

16 Winners and how they succeed, by Alistair Campbell, Penguin Random House UK(2015) Pg.111 33

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challenging, as well as realistic. These should be SMART – Specific (Clear), Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

2.1.1 Importance of Long-Term Planning Great football coaches seek to build a viable system of long-term success. They differentiate themselves from the ordinary manager by their constant emphasis, through words and deeds, on the long-term. This is apparent right from the early stages of their tenure. In business terms, although this year’s profit and loss statement might be important and might buy time to build real success, the more demanding and significant test of management is to set in place the fundamentals of the system, the structure and the style that will create sustainable prosperity. Since the success of a football team relies, like all other teams, very much on its human resources, the task of managers is to establish a structure and culture so powerful that long-term prospects cannot be jeopardized by the departure of any single individual.17

Bill Walsh, the successful head coach of the American football team the San Francisco 49ers, during the 1980s, when the team won three Super Bowl Championships in eight years, said this about the nature of winning:

“Winning does not necessarily mean being the victor in every single game. It is not winning every game at any cost. We have to remind ourselves that it is not just a single game we are trying to win. It is a season and a series of seasons in which the team wins more games than it loses and each member plays up to his potential.” He also added “if you are continually developing your skills and refining your approach, then winning will be the final result”.

Marcello Lippi, one of the most successful Italian managers and World Cup winner had won two consecutive league titles with Juventus and after missing out on the third to AC Milan he was lambasted by journalists, to whom he replied: “When I was a young man and learning to be a manager, I didn’t have much money. So I signed up for the class where they taught you how to finish top five years out of

17 The Manager, Inside the Minds of Football’s Leaders, by Mike Carson, Bloomsbury Publishing (2014) Pg.58 34

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eight. Had I been richer of course, I’d have taken the one where they explain how to win every year without fail….”

But focusing on the long-term is not easy for a coach when besieged by short-term pressures. When coaches constantly feel under pressure of losing their jobs, the idea of long-term planning can seem academic and impractical as impatient supporters, directors and the media are not easily placated by talk of the long term when their team is passing through a series of negative results or after a heavy defeat by their hated local rivals. Graham Barrow, former manager of several league clubs, including Bury, Wigan Athletic and Rochdale conveyed how the imperatives of the short term can dominate any long-term vision: “Long-term planning isn’t always feasible. I have to listen to the youth development officer saying he’s got the best 14 year old, but sometimes I think, ‘What use is that to me at the moment?’ It’s hard to believe I will still be here to see him make his debut. You can’t become too involved with youth development, because young players don’t win you anything.”18

Insecurity breeds short-termism. In this environment, the coach may as well concentrate only on short-term success. If it is true that the only certainty in football is the sack and the coach believes he will be dismissed at some stage anyway, he needs to ensure that he has achieved some short-term success that he can point to on his CV. The long term thus takes a back seat, as David Pleat, a manager at many top-level clubs over the years including Tottenham Hotspurs, points out: ‘Some managers are driven by fear. They go for the expedient way of playing football, get success as quickly as possible, and then move on.’

In Cannes in January 1999, Arsene Wenger reflected on when he was sacked as coach of Monaco, and the sense of injustice he had felt at that time. ‘Unfortunately, in France, the responsibilities of coaches are limited,’ he said. ‘However often they pay for decisions which they themselves did not take. There is, therefore, a certain ambiguity [to the role].’ He felt compelled to defend his record, having felt so constrained at the end of his time at the club. ‘There is increasing instability in the

18 The 90-Minute Manager, Lessons from the sharp end of management Third Edition (2012) by David Bolcher & Chris Brady. Pearson Prentice Hall Business , Pg. 133.

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modern game, and this unfortunately puts the quality of the game and the spectacle it provides at risk.’ He added. ‘Everyone recognizes that the perfect situation is to win every match. However, nobody can achieve this, even the best managers among us. It follows on from this that you need certain stability, a certain confidence within the club which helps coaches to deal with difficult periods without becoming a scapegoat when results don’t go the right way.’19

There are two necessary conditions that enable thoughtful and patient long-term planning: i. The confidence of the support network The employer, the shareholders and the supporters. Gaining the confidence of this complex constituency requires frequent and effective communication by the coach. Everybody needs to be informed of the goals of the management and the timescale and methods for the achievement of these goals. If this communication is not established for the long haul, then the lack of early success will lead to irresistible, insupportable external pressure and the cycle of short-termism will continue.

As well as relationships with players, the football coach must also build and maintain good relationships with the Board, investors and other stakeholders. The relationship between the football coach and the President or Chairman is in fact one of the most important relationships in football. The key challenge is dealing with the agendas of significant others, i.e. players, staff, directors, fans, media and so on. All of the different stakeholders might have conflicting agendas which the coach is surrounded by and he has to try and negotiate a way through which will suit everyone.20

In December 2013, Brandon Rodgers highlighted the importance of the directors support when he was managing Liverpool F.C. "When I look at managers and decisions that have been made, it makes me really appreciate the decision I made to come here with the owners." "They have been so supportive of me in my time here, but ultimately had a strategy and a vision in terms of how they wanted to work. They have brought someone in and trusted them to give them that time to implement

19 Arsene Wenger, The Biography, by Xavier Rivoire , Aurum Press (2007), Pg.67 20 Football Management, by Sue Bridgewater, Warwick Business School (2010), Pg.50 36

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it. We still have a way to go in order to be where I would want us to be, but I think it's clear that we're making progress - and you have to give the owners huge credit for that. Never once have I ever felt under any pressure.

"Even in the most difficult moments - the first five or six months here, when the transition was really taking place in terms of our identity and we didn't have a lot of coaching time with the players on the field - they were very strong and committed in terms of the choice they made. Hopefully as much as for anyone - the supporters and the players - over the longer term they will get their rewards for that, because they have shown that, strategically, they know where they want the club to go and they are prepared to give it time to evolve." ii. ii. The second necessary condition is that the coach has the intellect, self- confidence and commitment to think and act long-term. That is why it is imperative that enough time, effort and thought are spent finding the right coach at the outset as this will create a whole atmosphere of confidence, which will in turn create the breathing space essential to the painstaking building of long-term success rather than rushing into the appointment of a coach or key executive, only to be back to square one a short-time after but with additional pressure for short- term success from shareholders or supporters.

A useful tool used by German companies and football clubs to determine whether a coach fits in the value system of the club or business is the Limbic Map from Gruppe Nymphenburg Consult AG (a brand consultancy based in Munich). In this map, every individual value, a figure or company stands for, can be tied to a particular overarching concept. In Figure 4 and Figure 5 the Strategic Fit between Jurgen Klopp and Borussia Dortmund can be assessed by having one map for Klopp and one for Borussia. According to Frank Dopheide, an expert on marketing and brand formation Borussia Dortmund brand stands for concepts such as friendship, home or loyalty. In the map the 3 instructions of “balance, stimulant and dominance” are overarching concepts. Discipline/control, adventure/thrill and fantasy/pleasure represent “mixed forms” of the three: the mixture of stimulation and dominance is adventure/thrill, the mixture of dominance and balance is discipline/control and the mixture of stimulant and balance is fantasy/pleasure.

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The Dortmund brand is based in being deeply rooted in the Ruhr region so the overarching concept of ‘Balance’ is very important in the field of values. Fig.4. The Values of Borussia Dortmund represented as a Limbic Map

Source ©Dr.Hans Georg Hausel/Gruppe Nymphenburg Fig.5. The Values of Jurgen Klopp represented as a Limbic Map

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According to Frank Dopheide, as can be seen Klopp’s values “are in a very similar area to those of Dortmund. Klopp covers all of what Dortmund stands for. Family is important to him, Klopp stands for Friendship as he is a mate and is approachable and he had demonstrated his Home value through his long tenure at Mainz. And the Security that is important here are his skills as a master craftsman: he is doing his job for quite a while and has proven that he is capable. This is already the basis for being able to say: it is a fit with Dortmund and Klopp. In contrast, managerial types like Louis Van Gaal would not work well at all at Dortmund because they stand for other values – ‘dominance’ in this case. This is not a judgement about which area is better. They are simply different. Yet in order to achieve harmony, the values represented by manager and club should overlap as much as possible”.21

When Dortmund appointed Klopp they were looking for a coach with a new philosophy: one based around young, hungry (and cheap) players who could offer the fans more exciting football as his predecessor Thomas Doll had relied on a squad of mostly aging players. Klopp was the perfect fit for their new direction as he had forged a team that played attractive and tactically mature football without any big stars. Immediately he set out to imbue his team with a new philosophy. Their playing style should have an identity, be ‘recognisable’. And he was brave enough to deal with the old guard straight away.’ Dortmund fans were hungry for their team to play attractive football, but most of all they wanted to see some passion and commitment. They realized that titles might be beyond their reach, but having a team that made it easy for you to identify with them was what they wanted. Klopp understood this: his first promise to the fans was to deliver “full throttle football”. His vision was clear; his challenge was then to coach the players to achieve this.

Arsene Wenger also had a long term vision in mind when joining Arsenal. His philosophy has always been to create a legacy for Arsenal. “When you look at our results, Arsene is the greatest manager the club has ever had”, ‘Arsene is the first to arrive at the training centre in the morning and the last to leave at night. A lot of clubs have copied his techniques. His arrival was the best appointment Arsenal have ever made.’22

21 Jurgen Klopp, The Biography, by Elmar Neveling, Ebury Press (2016), Pg.261 22 Arsene Wenger, The Biography, by Xavier Rivoire , Aurum Press (2007), Pg.194

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Wenger had a vision and set out to change Arsenal’s notoriously dour reputation, playing ‘boring, boring, football’ and has succeeded spectacularly. The whole culture of the club changed after his arrival, as perhaps did the whole outlook of English football. His players put on a show. With the manager’s attacking philosophy flowing through the team, Arsenal became one of the most attractive teams to watch in Europe. He and his French players gave the club more discipline, or rather changed the off-field image of the playing staff. With players like Henry and Pires, it was unimaginable that these would be stumbling out of a nightclub and causing a fight as had been the case prior to Arsene’s arrival at Arsenal. Their presence helped to calm English players down, especially the younger players who followed the example of those more experienced professionals from abroad. ‘To be honest, for our supporters, the likes of Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry were primarily Arsenal players, then Frenchmen,’ said Wenger. ‘That goes to show that we have created a cultural identity within the club where everyone can express himself. We are united in our intention to play beautiful, attacking football. People often perceive football as a purely financial world but Arsenal is a club which has held on to its human values.’

2.1.2 Communicating the Vision As stated earlier, the goals set must be challenging yet ‘Realistic’ and ‘Attainable’ within a reasonable time-frame. It is also important that these goals and parameters of success are well communicated to all the stakeholders but most especially to the players and the supporters. One common marketing adage is to ‘under-promise and over-deliver’. This is exactly what Herbert Chapman did, one of only three managers in history who have managed to win the League Championship with two separate clubs, as he told the supporters in the club programme on his appointment as Arsenal coach in 1924: ‘Do not expect too much in too little time. It will be five years before a major honour is won.’ Arsenal ended up winning the FA Cup in 1930 as he prophesied. When Gerard Houllier took over as sole Liverpool manager in November 1998. Interviewed at the end of the 1999/2000 season, still not having won a trophy, Houllier fended off criticism of the lack of short-term success and was at pains to stress the positive progress made towards the achievement of a stated, explicit, long-term goal:

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“I have to look at the overall picture and what I am engaged in at this club is a four- year strategy to re-establish Liverpool among the foremost clubs in the country. But my job is to view the season from an overall perspective and we have made sound progress. We have already got thirteen points more than we did last season and we have a higher league position.”

Football is based on emotions and supporters tend to identify themselves with the club and seek to bask in the reflected glory of the team they support. Results have a huge bearing on the emotional state of the supporter as a win usually brings great moment of happiness while losses normally result on disdain and despondency. It is very common for supporters to get carried away and let their emotions and imagination run wild and a good manager must be able to suppress these unrealistic expectations. These are even more evident especially in clubs which have a long history of success but which in recent years have had disappointing results and supporters may wonder why it is so difficult for the club to recapture the glory days irrespective of the struggles and constraints the club is facing as supporters are normally oblivious to these. For this reason expectations must be managed prudently as this is key to long-term viability and consequently relative success.

Managing expectations is crucial to avert damaging pressure and to give time for the longer term changes to develop. In the first years at Liverpool, Gerard Houllier managed to do this expertly as even in the trophy barren years there was little talk from media and supporters to sack him as he was managing expectations. Even after Liverpool had won the Treble (FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup) in 2001, he made references to Alex Ferguson’s first years as coach of Manchester United, who had become the benchmark for long-term success, in order to dampen the expectations of the supporters which had escalated following these successes: “Alex took seven years to win the championship and I have been here two-and-a- half. Give me a bit of time. If we manage to keep our players and get one or two more signings, then in two or three years we can be very strong, but you can’t programme success, you can only prepare. I am preparing.”23

23 http://myliverpoolfc.org/houlliernews-01.htm 41

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Even after Liverpool failed to win the League the following year, although the team finished second, their best performance since 1991, Houllier moved swiftly to point to the gradual process that continued to be made: ‘The team has done better and better year in year out. The foundations are there. We know we need to improve some areas of our game.’ That will be done.’

Houllier was clearly buying himself time. However, this is obviously much easier to do when the team is visibly making progress towards the stated strategic goal. In his four seasons in charge, Houllier’s Liverpool team finished seventh, fourth, third and second respectively, with their points total increasing dramatically from fifty-four in 1998/99 to eighty in 2001/02. When progress seemed to stall, as it did with Liverpool when the club finished fifth with only sixty-four points in 2002/2003, the stakeholder base inevitably becomes more cynical. After the points total dropped to sixty in 2003/04, Houllier’s requests fell on deaf ears and he was sacked.

2.1.3 Planning and Recruiting the Team The major protagonists in football are the players as they will be the ones walking out on the football pitch to deliver the performance needed to win the match. The coach is only as good as the players he has at his disposal, thus planning and recruiting the playing staff is of fundamental importance for the success or otherwise of the team. The coach as a manager must deliver his plan through to these players, and must seek to maximize their potential, thus it is imperative that ideally the players at his disposal must be in sync with the philosophy of the coach, have the right behavior, character and attitude, and endorse the coach’s system and style of play.

Even in planning the composition of the squad, it is imperative for the coach to have a long-term perspective and not being obsessed solely on achieving immediate results. Sir Alex Ferguson believes that ‘Balance is the key to every team. It is impossible to win football game with eleven goalkeepers or with a group of people with identical talents. I imagine that’s true in other organisations too.’24

Looking across his seasons with United, Ferguson was most proud of his efforts to reestablish the club’s youth program. “The first thought for 99% of newly appointed

24 ALEX FERGUSON LEADING with Sir Michael Moritz , Hodder & Stoughton (2015), Pg.87 42

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managers is to make sure they win – to survive. They bring experienced players in, often from their previous clubs. But I think it is important to build a structure for a football club – not just a football team. You need a foundation. And there is nothing better than seeing a young player make it to the first team”.

Alex Ferguson tried to find the right balance in terms of age composition as he did not want a team that was either ‘too old, where players had lost a yard or took longer to recover from injuries,’ but he also did not want one ‘which was too young, inexperienced and impetuous.’ When he first arrived at United the average age of the squad was too high for his liking and he immediately tried to figure out whether he could shape them into something stronger, and went about analyzing every detail of his set-up: pre-season preparation, training, the way in which they started the season and the reason why they lost specific games. “Between 1988 and 1991 I concluded that Father Time was the enemy, and told our chairman, Martin Edwards, to conduct a fire sale and get rid of the lot for whatever he could get for them”. The idea is that the younger players are developing and meeting the standards that the older ones have set before. Managing the process unavoidably involved cutting players. “The hardest thing is to let go of a player who has been a great guy. But all the evidence is on the football field. If you see the change, the deterioration, you have to start asking what it is going to be like two years ahead.”25

Getting an organization into balance does not occur once but requires perpetual work. ‘I felt I was always re-uniting things – although, once in a while, we had to do more than just a simple brake adjustment and oil change. We needed to change with the times, so we did, and this occurred on a regular four-year cycle. Our squad in the early 1990’s was British and muscular. By the late 1990s it had become more refined, and a decade later we had a decidedly continental flair. Players like Ronaldo, Nani and Evra would have seemed like oddities in the late 1980’s.’26

The task of building and maintaining a team is never done and teams are in a constant state of evolution, thus the coach must resist the temptation of thinking that particular long-serving players can go on forever. The coach must constantly remain

25 Sir Alex Ferguson: Managing Manchester United, Harvard Business Review by Anita Elberse and Tom Dye, September 20, 2012. 26 ALEX FERGUSON LEADING with Sir Michael Moritz , Hodder & Stoughton (2015), Pg.89 43

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on the lookout for new players for the first team squad – either home grown or from another club. One important consideration for Alex Ferguson when targeting another player of unusual ability was whether he could serve better than the current incumbent. He would also regularly carry out an exercise by asking himself “which member of our first team squad would be able to command a starting place with Real Madrid or AC Milan or whatever team happened to be Champions of Europe that year. That little mental exercise always illuminated our weaker spots” and helped the planning process.

The characteristics Ferguson looked out for when getting new players in where:  Flexibility – having players who could play in a variety of positions(Ex. Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and John O’Shea),  Reliability – players who were fit to play in possibly every game (Ex. Brian McClair and Dennis Irwin, who between them played more than 1,000 games for United)  Durability – players who rarely spent extended periods out with an injury. (Ex. Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Denis Irwin, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Eric Cantona, rarely ever spent extended periods out with an injury.)  Creativity – players who can see things other cannot but it is important that the team is obviously balanced.

Hard work and discipline are the cornerstones on which Alex Ferguson plans his team. “I tell them that hard work is talent too. They need to work harder than anyone else. And if they can no longer bring the discipline that we ask for here at United, they are out.” “I am only interested in players who really want to play for United, and who, like me, are ‘bad losers.”

Another important point to consider in recruiting players is the opportunity for the coach to be able to choose the players himself. There have been instances where club Presidents and committee members have insisted in bringing on board players who do not form part of the vision and strategy of the coach and this leads to long- term problems for the coach to administer the squad. Nowadays, some clubs in England have appointed a Transfer Committee comprising of a technical board possibly chaired by a Director of Football. The sole aim is helping the coach in the identification, scouting and recruiting of players presenting him with important

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statistics, data and information relating to players they believe can be of value to the club. Many managers have been sceptical of this board and viewed it as a threat to their power and many managers have insisted that the final decision should be made by themselves. Claudio Ranieri stated categorically “I decide. When Mr Abramovich bought the club I went to him with a list and said, "I'd like you to buy him, him and him." And that is exactly what he did. I had a very clear vision in my mind of the people who I thought would fit in well with the team and Mr Abramovich relied on my judgment to identify these players. For this reason I think we will work very well together.

When the transfer window closed I said thank you very much to Mr Abramovich for all the fantastic players he has bought for me to manage, and now the rest is my responsibility.27

2.1.4 Planning and Organising the team behind the team After setting the goals and the timescale for the long-term strategy, top coaches have sought to put in place the foundations upon which success can be painstakingly built. Seeing the big picture and setting the goals is the easy part. Establishing and consolidating the necessary foundations requires dedication, professionalism and an almost obsessive eye for detail. After planning, the organizing function is all about putting plans into action and the coach/manager must determine what types of jobs need to be performed and who will be responsible for doing these jobs. The single most important component of the foundation is the appointment of the staff to support the head coach. A support team must be assembled which the manager knows and trusts, the members of which share his vision and complement his attributes. Only in this way it is possible to produce a complete managerial unit.

One identifiable person might need to have the ultimate responsibility and authority but that person cannot operate single handedly. There have been several examples in recent years of business leaders and coaches whose style has been criticized as overly autocratic and resistant to constructive advice.

27 http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/claudio-ranieri-one-one#wLfaAVo6eQXeCASL.99

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Once the support team is assembled, it is important to determine what types of jobs need to be performed to avoid confusion and overlapping of roles. For this an Organizational Chart needs to be developed which shows the various positions within an organization as well as the reporting schemes for these positions. In addition, an organizational chart may contain information about the people filling the various positions. After an organizational chart has been put together, the next step is to develop position descriptions for the various positions within the organizational chart. These position descriptions are important in defining the tasks for which each position is responsible. The position descriptions define responsibilities and indicate the authority accompanying each position. Finally, position qualifications must be developed. Position qualifications define what is needed in the person filling a particular position. Position qualifications will depend on the organizational chart, the responsibilities of a particular position, and the authority given to a particular position.

The need for a well-developed and well-communicated organizational chart cannot be overemphasized. On numerous occasions organizations may find problems starting to occur because one person does not know what another person in the organization is doing. The organizational chart can be extremely beneficial in showing staff members the various positions within the organization, who fills the responsibilities of each position, and who reports to whom. Once the organizational chart has been developed and the position qualifications established, staffing can take place.

Staffing determines who will be responsible for the jobs in the organizational chart. Staffing involves the effective recruitment and selection of people to fill the positions within an organization. The position qualifications developed during the organizing function come into play here. Recruiting and selecting a staff member means finding the right person, with the appropriate qualifications, to get the job done. To find that person, the coach must do his homework and go through the proper steps to really get to know and understand the people they are considering. These include reviewing the individual candidates, choosing qualified people, checking references and selecting the “best fit” person for the job.

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In addition to the selection process, staffing includes the orientation, training and development of staff members. Orientation introduces the new person to the nature of the club, to club’s goals and policies, and to his fellow staff members. Training focuses on the actual job and teaching the new person how to do the job. Development involves a commitment to improving the staff members’ knowledge, skills and attitudes, allowing them the opportunity to grow and become better. Unfortunately, some clubs are so busy trying to do the day-to-day work that they ignore the development of their staff and this can hinder their efficiency and productivity.

The great football coaches/managers have always understood the value of an able assistant and a strong support team. Herbert Chapman, the first of the great British managers, said of his right-hand man, Tom Whittaker: ‘If trainers were transferred like players, his fee would be beyond price’. Since those days several coaches duos have earned their place in football folklore. Their names have been automatically intertwined in the mind of the football fan – Shankly and Paisley, Busby and Murphy, Clough and Taylor,28 Mourinho and Faria, Klopp and Buvac, Mercer and Allison. Joe Mercer, former Manchester City Manager who won the League Championship, FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup believes that management should never be a lonely pursuit: “As far as I’m concerned, managing is a team game. A good manager, a good number two and a good chairman….It’s a combination of things as far as I’m concerned. Nobody does it on their own.”

Coaches should not let their insecurity play a part in the decision making process of the talented and self-confident manager as many have fallen into the trap of appointing people because they know them well and do not feel threatened by them, not necessarily because they are the best possible candidates. Jim McGregor, formerly a physiotherapist at Manchester United, states “Managers like to feel secure.

28 The 90-Minute Manager, Lessons from the sharp end of management Third Edition (2012) by David Bolcher & Chris Brady. Pearson Prentice Hall Business , Pg. 133.

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This is why, increasingly these days; the new manager brings in his own team. Even the medical man is at risk. That used to be unheard of – he was part of the bricks and mortar. But when a new manager comes in now, the entire backroom staff shakes in their shoes.”

Self-belief is one of the hallmarks of the great coaches/managers. Bill Shankly, the greatest Liverpool manager of all time, definitely was not one to suffer from insecurity. He was confident enough in his ideas and ability to give the incumbent management team a chance when he first arrived at Liverpool in 1959. Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Reuben Bennett, who were all to go on to become vital members of the management team in the Shankly era, had all presumed the sack. But Shankly assured them “I’m not bringing in my own men. I’m keeping you all on as long as you guarantee me just one thing – utter loyalty, loyalty to each other and loyalty to Liverpool FC.”

Arsene Wenger made a similar decision to Shankly when he took over at Arsenal. Rather than appointing a number two he worked with previously, he chose Pat Rice, an Arsenal player for many years who had been working on the management team under the former manager, Bruce Rioch. Rice’s appointment signaled continuity and his familiarity to the players allowed Wenger, the unknown foreign outsider, to gain trust and implement changes more easily. Rice’s obvious and extrovert passion also neatly complemented Wenger’s image of cold blooded, coolness and composure and this complementarity is very important to a successful partnership.

Managers need to be aware of their own weaknesses, and according to David Platt, when searching for personnel to form part of the support team, they should assess whether their strengths paper over those weaknesses, and look at their weaknesses “and see whether my strengths could compensate. So we’ve got a circle of staff that provides everything but not one of us is every component of that circle."

This complementarity was also evident in the relationship of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley. As former player Ian Callaghan states: “They were the perfect double act. Shanks was the motivator supreme. There was nobody better. Bob’s tactical knowledge of the game generally was incredible. He could watch a match and

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recognize the qualities of every single player, spotting their strengths and weaknesses.” Shankly was the inspirational figurehead who conceived the long- term strategy that built the foundations for sustained success. Paisley’s natural inclination to focus on detail was an ideal complement. He kept a logbook that included all sorts of information about the players: “I observe training, watch movement, jot down any injuries, anything at all that may be relevant. Everything that could possibly affect a player’s performance is entered into the book, no matter how unimportant it may seem”.

But Liverpool’s success could not be attributed just to Shankly and Paisley. One of Shankly’s greatest strengths was the way he unashamedly exploited the full extent of the creative energy of all his management team. The Boot Room included Paisley, training staff Joe Fagan, Ronnie Moran and Reuben Bennett, youth development officer Tom Saunders, youth coach John Bennison and chief scout Geoff Twentyman, eventually supplemented by coach Roy Evans. They all used to go into the Boot Room on Sundays to talk about the matches they would have been involved with, but Shankly would not go in. He knew it was good to let them exchange ideas and thrash it out without him. In doing so, he was using his men superbly well and was getting the best out of that team by never playing one off against another. Shankly had formulated the broad strategy.

The Boot Room was filled by those who shared his fundamental vision but who could assist him in the formulation of the necessary detail within the limits of this vision. As Tommy Docherty said: ‘He had a team in the Boot Room, men who were disciples of his way and who had sense of building from within.’

Alex Ferguson learned over the years that much time and effort needs to be devoted to finding the right people to join the management team, such is the importance of the decision. Indeed, his increasing self-confidence and maturity as manager of Manchester United could be measured by the amount of thought he used to put into the selection process. On taking over in 1986, he simply brought in his trusted assistant from his Aberdeen days, Archie Knox, as his number two. But when Knox’s eventual replacement, Brian Kidd resigned in December 1998, it took Ferguson two months of painstaking research before he finally found the type of assistant he

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believed he had needed, in the shape of the then unknown Steve McLaren, then assistant manager at Derby County. In his autobiography, Ferguson wrote: ‘I instructed Eric Harrison, our former youth coach, and Les Kerhsaw, director of the Academy, to scout England for the best candidates in terms of coaching ability and work ethic. Their researches kept coming back to Steve.’

Steve McLaren would complement Ferguson perfectly and could challenge United’s group of talented players to achieve a yet higher level of accomplishment. Ferguson himself was in charge of recruitment, to motivate and inspire the players, to develop a coherent long-term strategy and to oversee the implementation of that strategy. Steve McLaren’s dedicated and innovative approach to the detail of the more immediate technical and psychological aspects of team performance made him the perfect foil. McLaren evaluated and communicated with each senior player at United on a daily basis. He plotted in detail every development in their activity and performance level and then provided feedback to them both individually and collectively. Hard work and planning were key to his method: ‘Failure to prepare is preparing to fail’ is one of his catch phrases.

Although United’s form stuttered in the 2001/02 season, not winning a trophy and finishing a lowly (for them) third in the league and McLaren also departed to become manager of Middlesbrough and Ferguson was left without an assistant, he still would not be rushed into the vital choice of a number two. Eventually, in June 2002, after much consideration, he recruited a man he believed would ‘challenge the players’, Carlos Quieroz, who had previously been manager of the Portugal and South African national teams. United subsequently reclaimed the league championship in 2003, but Quieroz left after just one year at the club to take over as manager of Real Madrid. Again Ferguson waited patiently for the right man. Unable to find such a person he turned back to Quieroz when he was ousted by Real.

The same painstaking effort was applied to Ferguson’s recruitment of other members of his management team. He came to the conclusion that the club needed a technical coach who could work on the skills of the younger players and teach the other coaches how to develop the skill levels of all the players. The introduction of this new role, Ferguson believed, would bring the standard of coaching methods into

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line with other major European clubs. The right man was eventually identified. Rene Meulensteen, a Dutchman virtually unknown in English football circles and at the time working in Qatar, was recruited in May 2001. McLaren, Quieroz and Meulensteen were not Ferguson’s friends before he appointed them but he had carefully thought through the type of skills and experience he needed for the respective roles and had then made sure he sought out the best man for the job.

2.1.5 Laying the Foundations An important aspect of long-term planning and laying foundations for the future of the club is the investment in training facilities and infrastructure where players, football’s human resource, can hone and improve their skills for years to come. Soon after his arrival at Liverpool in 1959, Bill Shankly complained that the training ground at Melwood was ‘a wilderness…it was in a terrible state’. At Shankly’s request, the board made the investment necessary to upgrade the facilities. Shankly transformed Melwood as he introduced new training boards that were used in various exercises; he got an all-weather pitch and brought it up to scratch.

The great coaches of the modern era have also understood the potential long-term rewards of investing in the development of players’ skills. Sir Alex Ferguson has helped to conceive and design Carrington, a state-of-the-art training complex, complete with acres of football pitches and top-notch indoor and medical facilities. After taking over at Arsenal in 1996, Arsene Wenger soon realized that the training facilities at London Colney were inadequate. Together with the Arsenal chairman, Peter Hillwood, he studied the best aspects of training facilities at top European clubs renowned for their player development, such as Auxerre, Nantes and Bayern Munich. After eighteen months of meticulous planning, the new site boasting the very latest in modern technology and sports science was opened in October 1999. Wenger points out that the new complex serves not only to improve current players’ skills, it will also ‘be a big attraction for players who may come to Arsenal from outside the club. They will be very impressed by the facilities that are available for them and perhaps more likely to sign for the club.’

For the club to be able to exploit the benefits of such an investment in the most modern facilities and training methods, the culture of the club must be directed

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towards increased professionalism and a collective focus on progress. It is possible to be too concerned with just doing the job on a daily basis, dealing with problems and issues ad hoc, with no real thought for the opportunities which might exist for the club to improve its overall working methods. Addressing the club’s whole attitude to issues of training and personal development is a key fundamental in long-term strategy and Ferguson believes “the main difference between here and the Continent is the preparation the Europeans put into the game. We have to get away from the mentality as kids of ‘just playing the game’. Just because you are playing football doesn’t mean you are a bloody footballer. That comes from sheer practice. If you say, here is a ball, go and do what you want to do, a lot of players in Britain just end up shooting the ball in the net. Yet there is this big piece of football ground where you can learn to master the skills, the balance, and the movement. You have to lay down the fundamentals of practice.”

It is imperative that no detail, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is overlooked in order to lay the foundations for long-term success. Bill Shankly and Don Revie, even went into the detail of changing the colour of the kit that their team traditionally wore in order to gain a potential psychological advantage. Done Revie changed Leeds’ kit from blue to white in order to replicate Real Madrid, who were the dominating force in European football in the 1960’s. Shankly, changed the Liverpool strip from red shirts and white shorts to the now famous all red as in his opinion “It’ll make the whole team look huge.” When Mourinho arrived at Chelsea in 2004, he immediately revealed a keen eye for detail in upgrading the training facilities at the club’s Harlington training ground. Tighter controls over who entered, both fans and media, were introduced and a new fence was erected over one of the pitches. ‘I feel this is important,’ said Mourinho. ‘If we don’t use the fence, maybe we lose balls.’

2.1.6 Preparing for the Game - Training In sports tactical considerations are so often the difference between winning and losing--- the objective is winning, the strategy is tactical supremacy, and the tactics are strategic adaptation.

Strategy - being strategic - this is when you do something for a certain moment or a certain game. For Mourinho, according to Didier Drogba, it is imperative that he

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prepares the team so well that he is always ‘one step ahead’. Infact, “he prepares before a game start for various scenarios, regardless of who is the next opposing team playing: he shows us videos, how the other team plays, its best player(s), strengths and weaknesses, everything to the smallest detail. For him there are no easy games, but only respect for the next adversary, whoever it may be.”29 As he himself stated, “Every game, we analyse opponents, real depth, and then we try to predict how they play and we say “so today we add a particular strategy to our tactical system”. If we play Liverpool at Liverpool we add this to the way we play. Then maybe the next game is Hull City here (Stamford Bridge) and we play a different way, we make this strategic plan, we add it to the tactical model, the basic model is the same, the strategy depends on the moment, depends on the context.”

‘I look forward not back,’ when asked to reflect upon his dizzy statistics. ‘I have never been one to scrutinize my results like that. You have to keep looking forward in this job, always setting yourself new targets to meet. You do that so often, you simply don’t have time to look back at what you have already achieved.’30

As his former player Deco stated, even though other coaches might have the same quality as Mourinho, in his view, nobody works as hard as him. “That man was born to be a coach. I have never met anyone like him. He thinks twenty-fours a day.’ 31 He is obsessed with detail and preparation is fundamental to Mourinho’s approach. He leaves the absolute minimum to chance and as Andy Roxburgh stated although he has that instinct for the game, he prepares to do as much as possible through preparation. He is also very good at analyzing his own team’s games, even during the game, he keeps a little pad to take his notes to serve as his reminders so that by the time he goes in to see his players at half-time, he’s talked to his assistants and got his talk ready so the points he wants to make can be punched out.

In an interview with Andy Roxburgh for UEFA’s coaching magazine soon after he joined Chelsea, Mourinho described his coaching style as flexible and evolutionary – ‘I am different today from five years ago’ – but very demanding in terms of the commitment required from the players during training. ‘I have always been lucky to

29 Jose Mourinho, Special Leaderhip (2014), by Luis Lourenco, Prime Books Lda. 30 Game Plans, Sports Strategies for Business (2006), by Robert W. Keidel. Beard Books, Washington, 31 Mourinho, Further Anantomy of a Winner (2012), by Patrick Barclay, Orion Books Ltd., Pg.149 53

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have more than one pitch at my training centre,’ he said, ‘and I therefore prepare my sessions in such a way that I can jump from one situation to another with effective working time high and resting time very low. We go for quality and high intensity during short periods. Players want to work, whether it is in Portugal, England or Spain, as long as training is well organized and serious and they know the purpose of the exercise.’

Mourinho uses a ‘guided discovery’ approach whereby players at a certain level must be led gently to lessons rather than told what to do. He is a firm believer in the global method for training and uses small-sided games to develop technical, tactical and fitness training. As he stated ‘My fitness coach works with me on the tactical systems, advising on time, distance and space. I want to develop tactical aspects of the game: how to press, when to press, transitions, ball possessions, positional play. After that other things come – the physical and psychological aspects are part of the exercise. The individual work is done when we feel the players need that. Often we need to separate the players into groups depending on their condition and the amount of playing time they have had. The emphasis of the work is always tactical.’32 The players find his training sessions enjoyable every day as they learn so much and many of his former players love their briskly conducted work with Mourinho and Rui Faria by his side, and even the players on the fringe of the first team enjoyed training. ‘Believe me – the players just love Mourinho’s coaching and man-management’, stated Gerard Houllier.

Attention to detail during training is the cornerstone for success of Jurgen Klopp wherever he has coached. At Mainz, as well as with Borussia Dortmund he was regarded as a professor of football working relentlessly to make his ideas a reality on the pitch. ‘Klopp’s players were drilled hard on playing without the ball, defending as a unit. There was to be no skiving: the midfielders and forwards had defensive responsibilities now. In the previous season, Dortmund had shipped sixty-two goals, more than any other team in the league. That wasn’t going to happen again under Klopp, and everyone had their part to play in ensuring that.’ Klopp repeatedly interrupted the training drills, making them do them over until they got it right, until they could do it without thinking. The ‘flant bank of four’ in midfield still wasn’t working

32 Mourinho, Further Anantomy of a Winner (2012), by Patrick Barclay, Orion Books Ltd., Pg.168. 54

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properly. Ingraining training ground routines was vital. Klopp knew that, out on the pitch, if you have to stop to think, you lose: ‘If I break through the byeline and someone’s completely free in the area, ideally I’d be spotting him. That means I should already know exactly where to look for the midfielder bursting into the box,’ said Klopp.33 For Klopp the ethos is ‘Practice, practice, practice, until you can do it in your sleep. Keep an eye on the fine details.’

For Sir Alex Ferguson, the most important aspect of their system was training. Whatever happens on a Saturday afternoon had already occurred on the training ground. The training ground was where the real work was done. There was a rhythm to this from which they rarely deviated. The day following a game, all the players would go in for loosening exercises, a massage and Jacuzzi. On Monday they would have a thorough training session and, if they had a midweek fixture, Tuesday would be devoted to pre-match preparation, Thursday would be a recovery day and then the whole cycle would start again.

Ferguson was very clear in his autobiography - “I laid down the ground rules for training and I wanted my ideas to be implemented on the practice field.” When Steve McLaren took over training at United in 1999, he was very specific with him. He was going to run the training, but he made sure he understood that he required intensity, concentration and commitment in every training session. He told him that if he was dissatisfied, he either had to start all over again until it was right, or get the players back for an additional session. There had to be no bad sessions.

“I just didn’t want people tinkering with our training system. When Carlos Quieroz started running training sessions, a couple of the players didn’t like the sessions because they were too repetitive. I stopped one training session and told them, ‘When I was a player I wished I’d been coached by Carlos. All the repetitive things we are working on will become second nature on Saturday when you have no time to think.’ All our planning and preparation was to help guard against a sudden rush of animal instincts in the heat of the moment. When a game starts to go in the wrong direction, it is so easy for players – especially the youngsters – to be controlled by their heart rather than their head. That’s the last thing you want.”

33 Jurgen Klopp, The Biography, by Elmar Neveling (2016), Penguin Random House UK, Pg.71. 55

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A common salient trait Arsene Wenger has is great analytic skills, attention to detail and preparation. As he stated in his autobiography hard work and dedication is the hallmark for his success as ‘I spend 90 per cent of my waking hours thinking about football’. Wenger and Pat Rice would oversee training from start to finish. He would often deliver short, sharp pep talks before each session, and then start the players off with a 30-minute game limiting the number of touches each man can take in possession. ‘To get the English training during the league season, you have to be strong,’ said Wenger. With that in mind, he stuck to a timetable from which he rarely deviated: Sunday, rest; Monday, training in the morning; Tuesday, a session in the morning then another in the afternoon; Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, training in the morning. This schedule would change according to midweek domestic or European games, but other than that it was rigid. When a match took place on a Saturday afternoon, the morning of the game was reserved for a warm-up session.

‘I remember these short sessions,’ said Remi Garde. ‘It wasn’t just stretching the muscles; it was holistic, including a short stroll before matches, with sessions taking no more than 15 or 20 minutes. I think this sprang from his experience in Japan. It was almost a stretching of the spirit, a psychological warm-up based on small movements.’ This gentle physical warm-up, this soothing of the soul ‘to counteract lethargy’, was mainly carried out in a room of the hotel, and Garde remembered how intimate they were. “These small confined rooms gave the exercise a rallying feel, with Arsene urging his troops on. He didn’t really speak, but he made us undertake a range of movements which became a ritual. It wasn’t yoga or t’ai chi, but it was very Zen. Some players approached these sessions as a purely physical exercise, while others got more from it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was spiritual, but Arsene’s approach wasn’t far from it.”34 The sessions were not compulsory: each player was allowed to decide whether or not to attend. ‘But Arsene considered these sessions as vital to a player’s preparation,’ said Garde. ‘He just has a way of not having to impose his will. You need to understand that it is the right thing to do. And, in general, when you are around him, you follow him.’

34 Arsene Wenger: The Biography, by Xavier Rivoire (2007), Aurum Press Limited, Pg.119 56

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Yet tactical planning was key to the group as a whole as Wenger used to apply the methods he had learnt at Milanello, AC Milan’s training centre, when the young Wenger had visited Arrigo Sacchi whilst coaching at Monaco. Sacchi was considered ‘the modern prophet of football’ with his zonal marking techniques and free-flowing attacking style inspiring, among others, Rafael Benitez before the Spaniard progressed to success at Valencia and Liverpool. Wenger, like the Spaniard, counted Sacchi as a mentor. According to Christian Damiano, his assistant, Wenger was very open to outside influences. He always questioned himself and wanted to see the very best that was out there. He was very close to Sacchi at Milan, and that had a huge influence on the way he approached the game. He went to Milan all the time, accompanied by Jean Fernandez. He is still inspired by current trends and performances. I would even say that he has always been influenced by them. At the same time, at Arsenal he implemented everything he had learnt in France.’

Wenger constructed the ‘made in Arsenal’ style of play by scrutinizing individuals rather than general systems. ‘You just have to look at how he managed Overmars and all these great stars in training during his career.’ Fabrice Dubois said ‘The minutiae that he worked on were incredible. He got them all to stand in the position, then move just a few metres to the left then the right. Basic stuff, but all geared towards improving their awareness, movement and mobility.’ Christian Damiano, who would become Gerard Houllier’s assistant at Liverpool, has followed Wenger’s methods since his years as an apprentice. ‘Easy technical exercises have a tendency to put the player in a certain comfort zone and cause a certain lack of vigilance.’ he said. ‘It is therefore necessary to introduce targets, into easy exercises, and make them more demanding by introducing one or two hurdles to motivate them and keep them concentrated. It is mainly an issue of permanent adjustment in relation to the players. The great footballers like this challenge in any event, but they always need to be placed in an attractive situation.’

With less talented players, Wenger adopted a specific approach: exploiting their strengths and relying on the talents of others to haul them through. If for example his player, Ray Parlour’s controls left something to be desired, Wenger would ask his team-mates to pass the ball to his feet at a precise angle. Arsene Wenger’s

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office is his laboratory. London Colney was built according to his ideas and designed precisely along the lines he had demanded. This is where his theories are put into practice.35 His attention to detail is also shown by Wenger requesting the groundsman to plant the exact same grass as in Highbury to ensure that his Gunners are able to practice on the same turf.

Arsenal’s tactical nuances placed huge emphasis on the team as a whole. ‘We merely ask players to play the way in which they feel most comfortable,’ said Wenger. ‘Arsenal’s game was perhaps more direct before I came – we gradually developed into a more structured game, from the back, and to which players adapted remarkably well. A more structured game that needs to be based on movement and mobility.

For many commentators Arsene Wenger is unique as his vision is succinct and holistic. As one sports doctor stated ‘Every time I went to see him, which was pretty much each week, I reflected: “His curiosity is peerless”. He needs to understand how pathology works to fight it as effectively as possible. Arsene of course wanted to see his injured players recover as quickly as possible, but above all without any repeats of the problem. For Wenger, football is above all a game with principles of organisation but, at the same time, a certain freedom of expression. Infact what attracted him to the game was the fact that players can express themselves.

2.2 LEADING AND MOTIVATING

‘A good pianist doesn’t run around the piano and do push-ups with the tips of his fingers. To be great he plays the piano. He plays all his life and to be a great footballer is not about running, push-ups or physical work generally. The best way to be a great footballer is to play football.’ That said, a good coach must know more than football. ‘He has to be a leader of men and a coherent leader. He must make all his men feel big, not small.’ Jose Mourinho.

Leadership is defined as “the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals.” (Robbins, Judge, 2015) Strong leaders are often admired

35 Arsene Wenger: The Biography, by Xavier Rivoire (2007), Aurum Press Limited, Pg.141. 58

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for their personal qualities and characteristics. The leading function has often been referred to as the “action” part of the management process. This is where it all happens. The coach/manager is involved in directing the activities of the players, assistant coaches, physical trainers, kit manager, physiotherapists and all the support staff as he attempts to accomplish the club’s and organizational goals. In carrying out the leading function, the manager participates in a variety of activities, including delegating, managing difference, managing change and motivating these human resources.

The leading function begins with the process of delegation, which involves assigning responsibility and accountability for results to players and staff alike. Effective communication is critical to the delegation process. Players and staff need to know what they are being asked to do and they need to be assigned the appropriate authority to get the job done. The importance of delegation cannot be overstated, yet it is one of the most difficult skills for new managers and coaches to acquire. One’s first inclination is simply to “do it myself” so that a task will get accomplished the way the individual manager wants. Realistically, it is impossible for the coach to do everything.

The leading function requires the manager to take on a leadership role and manage any differences or changes that may take place within the club. Ultimately, the manager is responsible for all the players and staff and how they perform their duties. The manager must handle any types of conflicts, work problems, or communication difficulties so that the employees can achieve their goals. The manager also must be ready to stimulate creativity and motivate his players and assistants if needed. Thus, the manager takes a very active role in the operations of the club.

According to English journalist Russell H.Ewing., ‘A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group.’ 36 The word leader is associated with power and literally means the one who shows the

36 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201105/good-boss-is-good- leader-quotes 59

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way. It’s a formal power – the power to give orders, to decide, to demand, etc. – but it’s also an informal power, which translates into the natural ability that someone has to influence others. Jose Mourinho’s leadership is mainly based on this second form of power and this informal power is actually the basis for all his formal power in that very often he achieves the desired results captivating others rather than manipulating or threatening them with rewards and threats.

Mourinho, as stated before elucidates the importance of empowering his players, through a ‘guided discovery’ approach during training to give them autonomy to develop and express themselves on the pitch. In his words, “Leadership is not to give orders; it is to lead, to guide. I’ll compare it with parenthood to explain myself better. You can be a father by ordering or by guiding. Any parent now tries to make their child learn by himself, find the way without having to issue orders. It’s castrating to issue orders. I’m going to play treasure hunt with my son. I won’t tell him where the treasure is, otherwise the game will lose all its leisure and educational value. He must strive to find the treasure. He must do what’s in his power to be able to gather the necessary clues. When he found it, through the clues I provided him, he was happy because he had discovered it, rather than me telling him where it was. If I had told him where the treasure was in the beginning, I would’ve castrated a range of skills from him that sooner or later, would make him discover the treasure and take another step in his development as a human being.

Applying this concept to my work, I don’t want to castrate them, quite the contrary; I want to develop skills both at individual and collective level. So I don’t issue orders, I guide. In my view, guiding is a route that gives some flexibility on both behavioural and mental levels. Therefore, the players don’t feel handcuffed, they enjoy some freedom. If they are shackled, they can’t move and they’re dominated by someone. The day that someone – if that happens- takes the shackles, they’ll be lost and won’t know what to do. What I want is to prepare them for the autonomy they’ll need to have in their life and on the pitch. They have ninety minutes of autonomy per week, and my action during those ninety minutes is extremely limited. At that time they must have power of decisions and decide. They must have creative skills and

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create. None of this is achieved with shackles, so I guide them, allowing to develop their skills at an individual and collective level.”37

Nowadays, there are no one-person victories, even in individual sports. Whatever the sports or business area, the victories and defeats are always, directly or indirectly, the responsibility of a team that works towards achieving the common goal. Leadership is a complex social process (composed of various systems), systematic (systems that relate to each other continuously, always evolving) and contextual (the actions of the leader depend and adapt to the context); so, a single leader can act differently in similar situations if inserted in a different context.

One fundamental aspect of Mourinho’s leadership qualities is his special relationship he establishes with his players, in the way he attracts, communicates, and connects with his team. In Victor Baia’s words, as one of his former players, this was very well defined: “We have always looked at him as a common man. Moreover, he himself has never cultivated this way of being and we were well aware of who the leader was, but we also knew that we could laugh and play when it was time for that. This was, after all, one of his characteristics even on a personal level. He liked fun and games a lot. He teased everyone in a playful way. Many times, he teased deputies with big pranks. And we made the best of this and spent quite a few fun moments, even at work.”

In other words, he saw him as a normal human being, as did another of his players, Jorge Costa, who saw him as normal, but normal in a different way who stated that they saw Mourinho as a regular guy, not a superman. However, they looked up to him with great admiration. They accepted him unconditionally as their leader. They felt that there was something different about him, and admired him. “I don’t know if it’s what he said, the image that he showed, maybe both, but mainly because of a very important asset he has: his decision, his decision-making capacity, when everything felt right …. For me, Mourinho is someone whom I look up to, and even him not being one of my best friends, he’s someone I see as a friend and, professionally, as someone different, and this difference is characterized by a

37 Jose Mourinho Special Leadership – Creating and Managing Successful Teams, by Luis Lourenco, Prime Books (2014). 61

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number of factors.”38 Such was the bond that he established with Mourinho, that after the team scored the last goal in the 3-0 Champions League Cup final win, he went up to him instead of celebrating with the other players and hugged him telling him that he deserved this and that he was the greatest.

Mourinho’s great leadership skills are based on the following principles i. Adapts his leadership style to the situation “My style of leadership is not a style. I try to have a leadership that is adapted to the reality. And last year I was feeling that they were not ready for what I call a pressure leadership – or confrontational leadership.”

In his first season back as Chelsea coach, outwardly, Jose didn’t see his young Chelsea side as serious title contenders, so he adjusted his manner to fit that scenario. He took the pressure off and adopted a more nurturing style that saw his players ‘learn on the job’ the way he wanted things done, without the pressure of difficult-to-achieve targets. It paid off – the season after, his team was more confident and tactically astute. They became a swaggering, dominant force and won two major trophies in 2015/16.

ii. Uses ‘Confrontational leadership’ to make potential reality “I called it confrontational leadership: confrontation not just inside, but also outside the group. We were not afraid to say we are the best, we were not afraid to say we are going to win, or we are special, we are going to prove that we are – so it was perfect.”

Maximising the potential of his players has always been one of Mourinho’s greatest strengths and he does this by adopting a confrontational approach by motivating, challenging and pushing his players to the limit of their capabilities. His ‘confrontational' style is about building egos and setting massive individual challenges, like telling Frank Lampard he was ‘one of the best players in the world, but nobody knows,’ effectively setting a challenge for Frank to win the Ballon d’Or (world player of the year). He did not win it – but he did go on to be Chelsea’s record all-time goal scorer – a huge achievement for a midfield player.

38 Jose Mourinho Special Leadership – Creating and Managing Successful Teams, by Luis Lourenco, Prime Books (2014), Pg. 63 62

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iii. Establishes personal relationship to get to know his players “In terms of mentality, I’m not much older than the players – I think I have the ability to put myself at their level. I think it is important to understand them. The more you understand them the more you can lead them. I never liked the kind of leadership where the boys say: ‘He’s my leader, I have to respect him.’ I prefer them to say: ‘I respect him and he’s my leader.’”

Another characteristic is that Mourinho empathises a lot with his players and takes time to get to know his team on a personal level. With this he develops a solid knowledge of his teams’ ambitions, prevailing emotions, creative methods and their capabilities and faults thus help him see things their way, which makes him more approachable and trusted, which is highly motivating to his team.

For Mourinho to get the very best out of his players, the degree of personal relationship he establishes goes beyond acting like a friend but more like a best friend – the person they can go to with anything, who tells it like it is, who is constructively critical without being judgmental or cruel. He is not afraid of upsetting them, because they trust him so much that ultimately, they know that he means well and only wants good things for them: “Of course, many people say we cannot be friends with the players. I say exactly the opposite. If you are not friends with the players you do not reach the maximum potential of that group. You have to be friends with them, but they have to understand that between friends the answer is never the answer they are expecting, or the answer they want to hear. They have to understand that.”

Mourinho does not adopt this approach with all the players but adapts accordingly: “I am distant and close. Can be very away or intimate. I am everything. It depends upon the situation and the player. Some players I never, ever, embrace because they do not feel the need. With others I act as a paternal figure. I analyse case by case, moment my moment, personality by personality, and act accordingly. The relation? Not an end by itself, my aim is not to be friendly, or liked, but solely to contribute to the team’s performance, that’s all.”39

39 http://www.creativeboom.com/tips/10-ways-to-lead-your-team-like-jose-mourinho-leads- chelsea/ 63

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iv. His players are more important than himself “One of the things you must remember as a leader is your people are more important than you.”

To get the group to perform, he acknowledges that he must put the group first before his own personal self-interest. In fact, he is all about the group, because groups win trophies, not managers. He recognizes that being approachable, listening, being a good communicator who ‘sells’ ideas – and making all the players feel they can contribute freely and make a real difference – will get him much further than any sort of autocratic ‘coz I say so’ approach.

v. Good communication skills “When I go to the press conference before the game, in my mind the game has already started.”

Many journalists and football gurus opine that Mourinho is the king of mind games, manipulating the media and baiting other coaches through the power of his skill on the soapbox. Far from being an ego trip, he does it to inspire his players and take pressure off them by making himself the headline-grabber. He realises the power of his own words and knows that his players will be affected by every word he says, positively or negatively, consciously or unconsciously. As an excellent goal- orientated communicator he is always attentive, ruminates before he speaks, and constantly tries to speak and act in a way that builds morale, not deflates it.

Mourinho’s management style is also distinctive due to his insistence on having the clearest possible communication and he is aware that to get the message across, depends mostly on the ears of the receiver and not the mouth of the sender. People receive and process information based on their experience and according to what they are. As his former player stated, he starts by knowing very well the individual personality of each player, how best to communicate and make the psychological management of him. He also has a propensity to communicate with his players in writing as a way to impart his wisdom and support. Not only does he write them messages and letters, he passes post-it notes on to the pitch. In an excerpt of a letter Jose Mourinho sent to his Chelsea squad he stated:

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“From here each practice, each game, each minute of your social life must centre on the aim of being champions. First-teamer will not be a correct word. I need all of you. You need each other. We are a team.”

vi. Builds his own Culture and Identity Mourinho’s culture and identity is built around hard work, unselfishness and putting the group first into the mind-set of the whole team. He instils into his players the mentality that when part of a group, they do not exist alone by themselves “and the whole can never be sacrificed for the individual; on the contrary I sacrifice the individual for the whole”.40 “People ask me: what is your model of play? I say: “Model of play against who? When? With which players?... For me the model of play is the principles I establish with my team as priority principles which give us a certain DNA.”

vii. Only Recruits players with right character, attitude and mentality When selecting his personnel, Mourinho only brings in players who not only can do the job, but can enhance and empower the team in other ways too by being team players, ambitious, hard-working and disciplined.

"I am a winner because I am good at what I do and because I am surrounded by top people. Alone, you do absolutely nothing."

“But can you work the talent properly so that he understands the team’s needs? Is he an intelligent, open guy waiting for you to help him be better? Is he the kind of maverick guy, the selfish guy, where it is much more difficult to persuade him the team is more important than he is?”

“I want everybody with a very strong motivation. When you have a big box of oranges and one of them is bad, one month later, 10 oranges have to be sent to the garbage."

Sir Alex Ferguson shares many similar leadership traits with Mourinho and he proved that he was able to lead teams to great results, regardless of the team’s ranking. The following qualities are what made him a great leader with such astounding success:

40 Jose Mourinho Special Leadership – Creating and Managing Successful Teams, by Luis Lourenco, Prime Books (2014), Pg.13.

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i. Self-confidence Leaders who are confident get the support of their team members because they exude a positive attitude. Sir Alex Ferguson was self-confident, and had the right knowledge and skills to run Manchester United. His past football and managerial experiences allowed him to lead the club, and he knew he was capable of doing so. Even though in the early years of his tenure the club was doing badly and supporters were demanding his dismissal, “Ferguson had the support of United directors, and paid back their trust by leading United to an English FA Cup victory and European Cup Winners.” Because of his self-confidence and drive, people followed and trusted him. ii. Great communication skills As analysed earlier in Mourinho’s leadership traits, the ability to convey a message, inspire and influence people’s attitudes and actions is crucial in attaining objectives. Leaders must be able to make use of both verbal and non-verbal communication, paying attention to such things as body language, to ensure the right message gets across efficiently. Just like Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson is a great communicator. Individuals can get distracted easily, but he was always able to make sure that everyone stayed focused on the objectives. One example is how he used the 15- minute break between games to reconnect with the players and motivate them. “When that cup is going to be presented, just remember that you cannot even touch it if you are the losers. You will be walking past it with your loser’s medals, knowing someone walking behind you is going to lift the cup.” These words motivated Manchester United players in 1999 during their match against Bayern Munich, and allowed them to grab the victory after half-time. iii. Team development and high standards In order to succeed, teams just like any other organisation need to create and develop a strong foundation. The more employees know, the better they can affect a company. In the case of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson always showed the drive to succeed by encouraging his team members mentally and physically. “By prioritising youth player development, rebuilding the team, emphasizing attacking football, and bringing the best out of his players,” he led Manchester United’s come

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back to the top of the first division. Sir Alex Ferguson adopted the same principles in football from management of business organisations in that in business, just as in football. Providing “on-the-job” training has shown to increase job satisfaction and employee morale. Employees are often more motivated, since they appreciate the fact that the company invests in their professional development.

In addition, in Sir Alex’s case, everyone understood what was expected from them, and were held accountable for their actions. As Andy Cole said, “If you lose and Sir Alex believes you gave your best, it is not a problem… but if you lose in a limp way…then mind your ears!” Ferguson set high standards and used his creativity to tell inspirational stories to keep his troops motivated. iv. Honesty and integrity One common trait that all top football coaches including Jurgen Klopp and Wenger have is that they are always honest and open and are not afraid to speak their minds out. Being honest and having integrity in the workplace and in working relationships is very important. Ferguson had these traits, which earned him respect and admiration from everyone around him. He was honest, and encouraged open communication with his players, where people felt valued. As a result, people considered him trustworthy and reliable. v. Emotional intelligence Leaders with high emotional intelligence find it easier to influence people (Robbins, Judge, 2015). Leaders who demonstrate empathy, compassion and humility obtain greater commitment and a higher performance level from their employees. (Labier, 2015) Empathetic leaders can sense other people’s needs, listen to what followers say, and read the reactions of others. Ferguson has been credited with spending time and being dedicated to his team members. When players needed to talk to him, the first thing he would do is turn his chair around. Ferguson communicated with all of his players privately, and took pride in the fact that he would sit with players and explain privately the reasons behind his decisions. As he stated, “I have been dropped from a Cup final in Scotland as a player at ten past two, so I know what it feels like.” By doing this, Ferguson showed concern for people around him, and his

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team members knew that he had their backs. When people feel valued and cared for, they push themselves to hit targets.

The qualities and attributes that inspire people to commit to goals and objectives, as demonstrated by Ferguson, are the difference between someone who is responsible for a team and a true “leader”. Real leadership can mean the difference between a team’s failure and success. Whether a team just like any business is in a bad situation or it is rapidly expanding, no organisation can survive without the collective efforts of its people but as yet many forget the value of “human resources”.

Mourinho, like Ferguson, is also one of those leaders who creates feelings, and leads the collective emotions of their followers who cause them to better themselves and get unexpected results, simply because their players trust their leader and believe that, under his leadership, they will achieve better results. So they follow him over and over, almost blindly. The emotional role of the leader is the first and most important act of leadership; because people, especially in time of crisis, always need and seek emotional orientation. The way these top managers know, understand and manage their emotions and those of others makes them stand out as leaders due to their high Emotional Intelligence. As Victor Baia stated when recalling the importance of emotion in Mourinho as a powerful weapon to condition and influence the world around him: “He gets the best out of his players through his leadership, and that makes all the difference. In addition, he is also able to have control over very important areas such as human resources. He handles the psychological and emotional part of people very well, and he pioneered the use of psychology and brought it to sport. It is the combination of both that builds efficacy. Obviously, he is also a born strategist who works for both the outside and inside of his teams. When he works to the outside, he always has an effective strategy: to place a large emotional charge in everything, protect and take pressure off everything that belongs to the team and is behind him, and cause the other (the opponent, the opposing coach, the media, etc.) various well defined gaps that he tries to accomplish. At the same time, these attitudes always have an action for the inferior, because in this ‘war’ we must also protect him, that is, we have to go down to the ‘death’ with him and he prepares us for that as well. In FC Porto, he had the added convenience of a team that was already special – we

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already have this culture in FC Porto, we are warriors by nature, we are people who do not care to ‘die’ on the pitch, who are supportive and this is the culture of the club. He helped us to put into practice all that we had inside in a natural way. He taught us how to better carry out that culture of club, so that we could improve our skills, our confidence and our game.

So this was one of his strengths.’

Mourinho himself in his autobiography stated that mind games do not affect him and on the contrary feels comfortable looking for others weaknesses if there are any. As far as he is concerned they can say anything about him, his team or his players as for him it does not make a difference. There is not a single comment, or a statement from a coach or from an opposing player that can affect him in any way or change his way of thinking regarding anything. Quite the contrary, he clearly feels that his statements have modified behaviours throughout his career. It is clear that, in Mourinho, his immunity to others’ mind games constitutes the secret of his leadership: his power comes from within. He shapes the circumstances, not the other way around as no leader is able to manage other people’s emotions if he is unable to manage his own and shows great mastery in all four areas of Emotional Intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.

The Claudio Ranieri story has become one of the most written about in recent sporting times as he has led his team of low profile footballers on a modest budget to arguably the greatest sporting underdog story in history. The reason, because nowadays to the game’s detriment, it has been fundamentally manipulated by money, driven by profit and ego and where huge finances have been seen to be the only way to success. Leicester have turned the football world upside down and their success could be the trigger which redefines the modern football paradigm.

Ranieri has built something that is so prevalent at his club that despite it being intangible and immeasurable, his players exude it. Self-belief, confidence, harmony, culture and togetherness appear to be the dominant factors in their organisation. The Leicester players became a band of brothers, in the trenches together and

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occasionally even party together! They were willing to put their bodies on the line, sacrifice for the team and removed their own egos in pursuit of the collective goal.

Kasper Schmeichel revealed that in week one of his tenure at Leicester, Ranieri introduced himself to the players upon his arrival and proceeded to sit back and observe for over a week. He changed nothing, observed what attributes his players had, kept a lot of the previous regime on board (as they knew the club, the players and the culture) and said very little. This decision was a shrewd move which demonstrates experience, confidence and composure. Coaches must remove their ego from a session or a season and have to be prepared to make mistakes, embrace chaos and get things wrong without fear. In going in quietly, Ranieri gave himself a chance to breathe, time to observe and importantly for his players, illustrated that his arrival was not about him.

At the start of the season, Leicester were scoring plenty of goals, beating top teams but were vulnerable at the back – something which seemed strange at the end of the season when they had won the Premier League and their defence had been hailed as watertight. However, it was not always smooth sailing, so Ranieri – in a fairly old school mentality – dangled the carrot of free pizza for his team if they kept a clean sheet. It is highly unlikely that the carrot and stick incentive was the only catalyst for their defensive turnaround; in fact, Stephen Covey would argue that this extrinsic motivation would be detrimental in a psychological sense. However, if Ranieri wasn’t just dangling the carrot, he was in fact challenging the group and implying that he believed his team had the defensive ability but they needed to show it. Of course it was revealed that Ranieri did not buy the players pizza in the end, he took them to make their own, sending the message that they had to earn everything. History now tells us that they showed the football world just how well they could defend. As Kasper Schmeichel said in that same interview, “My back four unashamedly defend. They take pride in putting the ball into the stands and stopping the opposition.”

Ranieri who is renowned as the ‘The Thinker Man’ has shown that no matter how many possession purists or modern tactical thinkers there are in the game at present, the soft skills and subtleties that make leadership and developing culture

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such an art form are much more valuable. Different coaches have different beliefs on how the game should be played, whether it is in the style of Mourinho or Guardiola, Klopp or Simeone, but the lessons that can be taken from Ranieri can be summarised as follows:  Knows his players well and establishes a good rapport

 Adapts to his environment whether it is Chelsea, Fiorentina and Leicester the crux is adapting to the team he is engaged with

 Shows unwavering support, care and belief in his players

 He is subtle in his tactical adjustments

 Creates a culture of autonomy

 Demonstrates self-awareness, knows his own strengths and weaknesses

 Works hard, is Positive and always enjoys the moment while it lasts.

2.3 CONTROL

The coach performs the controlling function by measuring and ensuring progress towards the club’s objectives. This progress is accomplished by the players and staff effectively carrying out their duties. The coach evaluates them by establishing reporting systems, developing performance standards, comparing performance to set standards and designing reward systems to acknowledge successful work on the part of the players and staff alike. Analysis of performance is an essential part of the coaching repertoire. The two usual forms of performance analysis are on-going performance analysis and end-of-season reviews. Good coaching includes individual and team evaluations along a continuous spectrum throughout the season. Analysis is typically carried out through observation of the coach’s expert eye and with video analysis software. Post-competition analysis should influence the weekly and daily planning for training.

The reporting system involves the collection of data and information regarding how a task or job is being performed. For example, the use of video footage, data and statistics to analyse the performance of individual players against predetermined

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game plans and benchmarks devised by the coaches for a particular game. This information would be reported to the head coach. Developing performance standards sets the conditions or expectations for the players. Player performance can then be evaluated based on how well (or poorly) the players did in meeting these performance standards. Finally, a reward system should be put in place so players feel their work is noticed and appreciated. Recognition for good performance and accomplishments helps to motivate players to reach their job expectations. Players will not be motivated to reach the performance standard placed before them if they feel they will not be rewarded or recognised in some way.

Wenger’s tactical planning was at the forefront of new techniques in his profession. At Monaco, Wenger used a data-collection program called Top Score, put in place by his friend Jean-Marc Guillou. The system worked by analysing and interpreting each player’s individual performance, giving a mark for everything he did during a game, whether attacking or defending. It was a precursor to the modern-day ProZone, the analysis program used extensively in the Premiership which tracks players’ movement and performance in minute detail.

‘The majority of the players who scored highly in Top Score went on to enjoy very successful careers,’ said Wenger, with two of the best examples being George Weah and Lilian Thuram. ‘George often walked away from games with the best score. The results accumulated by Top Score used to reassure me of my judgement when other people at the club were doubting players’ performances. At one stage, everyone was saying my faith in Thuram was completely misplaced, and that he didn’t warrant his place in the team. I actually started asking myself whether I’d called it correctly by playing him every week. But, when I consulted Top Score, there it was in black and white….I was right.’41

The importance of the Controlling function is emphasised by Ferguson, “You can’t ever lose control—not when you are dealing with 30 top professionals who are all millionaires. And if any players want to take me on, to challenge my authority and control, I deal with them.

41 Arsene Wenger, The Biography, by Xavier Rivoire , Aurum Press (2007), Pg.44

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“If the day came that the manager of Manchester United was controlled by the players—in other words, if the players decided how the training should be, what days they should have off, what the discipline should be, and what the tactics should be— then Manchester United would not be the Manchester United we know. Before I came to United, I told myself I wasn’t going to allow anyone to be stronger than I was. Your personality has to be bigger than theirs. That is vital.

“I tended to act quickly when I saw a player become a negative influence. Some might say I acted impulsively, but I think it was critical that I made up my mind quickly. Why should I have gone to bed with doubts? I would wake up the next day and take the necessary steps to maintain discipline; it’s about having control and being authoritative when issues do arise.”

In terms of recognition of performance Ferguson believes that few people get better with criticism; most respond to encouragement instead. “So I tried to give encouragement when I could. For a player—for any human being—there is nothing better than hearing “Well done.” Those are the two best words ever invented. You don’t need to use superlatives.”

Controlling Function for coaches has been facilitated by advancements in technology and Alex Ferguson was one of those who championed the use of vests fitted with GPS sensors that allow an analysis of performance just 20 minutes after a training session.

“At the same time, in the dressing room, you need to point out mistakes when players don’t meet expectations. That is when reprimands are important. I would do it right after the game. I wouldn’t wait until Monday. I’d do it, and it was finished. I was on to the next match. There is no point in criticising a player forever. “Fear has to come into it. But you can be too hard; if players are fearful all the time, they won’t perform well either. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to see that showing your anger all the time doesn’t work. You have to pick your moments. As a manager, you play different roles at different times. Sometimes you have to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a father.”

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Ferguson placed discipline as one of his fundamental principles and cornerstones for success. Discipline related issues on or off the pitch were among those. When players got into trouble, Ferguson explained, “We fine them, but we keep it indoors.” He did not normally respond forcefully when players violated the standards he sought to maintain at the club.

The hectic schedule of a game or two a week gives teams and individual players a constant opportunity for evaluation and is in stark contrast to the business world where most companies evaluate employees once a year. According to Arsene Wenger “I would say the biggest lesson I have learned in life is rigor.” “Discipline, discipline and discipline again… I have learned that no one has enough ability to live off it alone. It does not go far and a life without work goes nowhere,” he stated on the team’s Web site. Wenger is also in favour of rewarding players if they meet the standards he rigorously sets for each one of his team members and has seen the implementation of performance-related contracts. The player, on top of match bonuses, gets a target bonus at the end of the season depending on the number of appearances he has made and the performances he has put in. According to Wenger, this ‘Is the best way of maintaining incentives.’

As highlighted previously, one of the challenges of football managers is reining in sometimes-very-young men who need to learn how to handle sudden fame and vast fortune. If a player gets in a brawl or otherwise generates negative media attention, he is letting down the whole team.

“Players are young and will make mistakes, but the manager has to get them back into line,” says Dr Cooper of Lancaster University. Good managers “let people know what the rules are and what the boundaries are and rein in those who come close to the limit.” Mourinho emphasised discipline through control and intervention when (but only when) the player’s responsibility fails. Sabry, Sousa, Postiga, Baia, Deco, McCarthy, Maniche, they all are life examples that there are no stars, only work and that no one is greater than the group: “when part of a group, we do not exist alone

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by ourselves and the whole can never be sacrifices for the individual; on the contrary I sacrifice the individual for the collective”42

Mourinho, as leader focuses his action on the followers’ clarification, on the requirements and task development, using rewards or punishments for their achievement. Frank Lampard stated that “Mourinho gives you the option: you can take the right route or the wrong one – but if you take the wrong route, he will know about it and there will be repercussions.”(Lampard 2006: 317). Rui Faria, his assistant spoke of the complex perspective: “The sanction aims at the reorganization of the whole, not as a punishment itself. It doesn’t matter which player we punish. It’s part of a structure that needs stability, because the disruption ultimately comes from each person’s individuality.”43

Mourinho is also equally eloquent in rewarding players for their professionalism and good behaviour. One clear example was in rewarding his player Pedro Emanuel who had always given him sterling service and who had not started the Champions League final and was on the bench. Mourinho had great respect and admiration for Pedro Emanuel and he yearned to participate in the final as any player would. However, captain Jorge Costa was “filling in” for him. Five minutes before the end of the match, FC Porto was winning against Monaco by 3-0, and victory was assured. Mourinho called Jorge Costa to the side line and asked him if he agreed to let Pedro Emanuel go in. Not because he felt that the result was at risk, but as a matter of justice to one of the leaders of the dressing room. With his five minutes on the pitch, Pedro Emanuel was guaranteed his match fee, only paid to those who played, even if just for a minute. But the real reward that Mourinho wanted to give Pedro Emanuel was for him to be able to participate in that match, so he could say he was a European champion.

2.3.1 Peak performance Good managers must also instil a subtler form of discipline, which is about different kinds of limits — physical and personal. For example, good managers stop players

42 Jose Mourinho Special Leadership – Creating and Managing Successful Teams, by Luis Lourenco, Prime Books (2014). Pg. 13 43 Jose Mourinho Special Leadership – Creating and Managing Successful Teams, by Luis Lourenco, Prime Books (2014). Pg. 111 75

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from overtraining to maintain peak performance for the match and to prevent injury, notes Ms. McMahon, the executive coach. “In business it’s the same. A body is only flesh and blood. If you think you can work 24/7, 365 days a year, it doesn’t matter how powerful you are, eventually it will catch up with you.”

Good managers also get star players to sublimate their big egos for the greater good of the team. If each player is trying to score a goal for his personal glory, the team is likely to lose.

If the business world looks to sports, says Dr Weymes of Waikato University, it will see “we need to look to the importance of relationships. And that being an individual isn’t always the most effective way of winning.”44

44 http://online.wsj.com/ad/article/businessoffootball-coach.html

CHAPTER 3

ANALYSIS OF THE LOCAL SCENE –

THE FOOTBALL COACH AS A MANAGER

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CHAPTER 3 ANALYSIS OF THE LOCAL SCENE –

THE FOOTBALL COACH AS A MANAGER

The coaches in Malta, as those overseas, operate in a highly complex environment and latest trends in the local football scene have further exacerbated the need for more holistic managerial acumen to cope with the particularities of the local domain. Recent trends have led to greater public scrutiny and the challenges facing the local game have also placed extra burdens and pressure on the coaches themselves.

Some of the major challenges Maltese football is facing in the 21st Century and are crippling the popularity and growth of the local game in general are:  Dwindling attendances  lack of finances  emergence and upsurge of online betting and subsequent tarnished image of Maltese football  lack of administrators and diminishing volunteers in football clubs to serve as committee members  limited investment in facilities and infrastructure

The proliferation of social media, exposure to televised foreign matches and training sessions of top professional football teams and greater media coverage of the local sphere has led to a more knowledgeable, discerning and demanding stakeholders (committee members, supporters and players alike). The influx of foreign players with the introduction of the seven foreign player rule permissible on match day has also placed new challenges and greater need for coaches to be more knowledgeable, manage a diverse workforce harmonising different cultures and languages. Faced with falling supporter attendances and lack of sponsors coupled with spiralling costs have led to great financial struggles of Maltese football clubs to cope with the financial burdens of sustaining a team in the Premier Division.

Some clubs have resorted to opening their doors to foreign so called ‘investors’ and/or sponsors some of which offer players and technical staff as part of their ‘sponsorship package’. Moreover, some clubs have developed a degree of mistrust; scepticism and cynicism towards local coaches and in their illogical quest to project greater professionalism show a tendency to favour the engagement of foreign coaches which 78

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has placed extra pressure and threats to local coaches, thus diminishing even further the coaching job opportunities at the top echelons of local football. Administrators of local clubs foster a false belief that this will lead to greater quality of coaching and increased proficiency and expertise especially as majority of Maltese coaches cannot commit full time due to insufficient budget, lack of job security and guarantee that their wages will be honoured and on time.

All the above has placed a greater need for coaches to maximise the utilisation of the resources they have at their disposal in the most efficient and effective manner possible by improving the quality level of their coaching and management perspicacity as well as seeking to achieve the best results with limited budget. As has been outlined in the course of this dissertation the human resources, in particular the playing staff, are the greatest resource that the club owns and it is the job of the coach to get people to work together for the attainment of the club’s goals and objectives.

In this chapter, a summary of the analysis of qualitative information collected through interviews held with a number of coaches is being highlighted. All the coaches lead a senior team in the local Premier League.

The purpose of this analysis being depicted in this Chapter is to identify the proliferation, utilisation and application of management principles in the local football sphere.

For the purposes of the exercise, the interviews have been recorded and later on transcribed into written form. The transcripts were also treated as texts for analysis.

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The interviews were held with seven coaches. For ease of reference throughout the chapter the initials of the coach’s name is being used as per Table 3 hereunder. Table 3: List of coaches interviewed and their initials. Appendix Name of Coach Initials of No. Coach 2 Branko Nisevic BN 3 Darren Abdilla DA 4 Mark Miller MM 5 Oliver Spiteri OS 6 Winston Muscat WM 7 John Buttigieg JB 8 Paul Zammit PZ

The interview questions are presented in Appendix 1 and the written transcripts in Appendices 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

The interview consisted of an introductory part were questions were specific to Management, how coaches in the local sphere see themselves as to whether they consider themselves coaches, selectors or managers, how important they see management in the day to day operations as a coach and what managerial qualities should a good coach have.

The interview questions were further divided into four sections to analyse the four functions of management.

A set of questions were asked under the headings:  Planning  Organising  Leading  Controlling.

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3.1 MANAGEMENT a. Do you consider yourself more of a coach, a selector or a Manager? Most of the coaches, BN, WM, and JB describe their passion towards the pitch and therefore see themselves as being a coach; however BN states that he is working on the human relation aspect to introduce more managerial qualities in his coaching career. DA feels that he is the manager and MM and OS feel that they have to be a mix. At the beginning of the season OS feels they are more managers and selectors and during the season he feels he is more a coach because everything has to be prepared including training sessions, the games with the help of the staff and it is important that one keeps up the dressing room. MM also states that if the management side is not right one will fail as a coach. PZ in the beginning of his career felt he was more of a trainer, coach, whilst along the years more of a manager. He feels that he is not just a trainer during weekdays, coach during weekends but also a manager. b. How important do you think Management is in the day to day operations as a coach? All the coaches have agreed that Management is very important nowadays since they are all dealing with people and leading a team of players. BN stated that there has been a switch to the mentality of managing teams like business company managers as nowadays coaches are expected to deal with people where social skills are more important than technical abilities. MM agrees with BN, he feels that management has taken priority over coaching nowadays. DA, OS, WM, JB and PZ all agree that management is essential especially man management. Leading a squad including foreigners and locals and dealing with structures within a club made management an essential skill for a coach to have.

c. What managerial qualities must a coach have to be a good coach in your opinion? All the respondents recognise the importance of management in today’s coaching job and they agree that as coaches they should have a wide spectrum of managerial qualities. BN looks at three aspects; professional knowledge, intra personal ability and inter personal ability. DA, MM and PZ mention man management as an essential quality. JB agrees that as a coach he should have as good a relationship as possible 81

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with everyone. OS adds the importance of having leadership in the dressing room and knowing your players and background of the game, and WM mentioned the following factors: commitment, observation, respect, communication, honesty and inspiration.

3.2 PLANNING a. How do you Plan for short-term, medium term and long term? In terms of Planning, which is the foundation in the management process, the coaches all agree that planning is very important. They all look at the long term plan depending on a number of different factors. DA bases planning on the objectives of the club. WM and JB also agree with this, but look at the duration of their contract. DA feels that prioritising is the key and he categorises the short term with results, the medium term with consistency and long term with achieving. MM relates long term planning and short term planning to the development of players within the club therefore he plans long term but switches to short term to sustain the medium and long term plans of the club. JB reasons out the same way and he believes that the club should adopt a long term structure since some of the players are signed on a long term contract. OS believes he should plan long term but when it comes to training one has to plan the short term. He works in meso-cycles and upon the results of monthly tests carried out the plan is adjusted accordingly. PZ on the other hand focuses first on analysing the current set-up, structure and the team behind the team and from there he initiates his planning process. Firstly he identifies the type of squad he requires and then he plans for a whole year both from a team and physical perspective and also from the identity he wishes to imbue in his team. From this he divides his season plan into meso-cycles taking into consideration the upcoming fixture list in the next 4-6 weeks, moving on to planning weekly and furthermore daily not just in terms of training sessions but in general. b. How do you converge your vision and philosophy with that of the club? Adaption is the key – All the coaches stated that when joining a club it is not always possible to have the perfect match and in a way one has to find a balance to converge one’s vision and philosophy with that of the club. Overall they all agree that if the vision and philosophy of the club differs drastically from theirs one will not succeed as a coach. However they also agree that based on respect towards the club, one needs 82

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to find the right balance and implement changes slowly and cautiously. BN states that in certain clubs it is very difficult to implement change as they are set in their ways. MM believes that a fine balance has to be achieved between the respect for the club and their culture, how they play, what they want and what they have been doing and place the coach’s philosophy along, therefore adapting and try to find the best solution. In fact he mentioned two examples where Hibs club believed in youth development and Valletta was to win every game convincingly, c. Before joining a club do you take into consideration the philosophy of the history of the club and whether this is in sync with your own? When it comes to the philosophy of a club in Malta, BN highlights that no particular club has the philosophy or has a tradition because all of them are surviving on a year to year basis, though each club has its own background so he evaluates those things prior to joining. Example: Hibs, obviously he knew the club, he was a former player, knew the structure, the people and the way the club functions by using young players. The relations between the president and the players and the coaches. Now, when he joined Gzira, as a club it was different from Hibs but the man in charge was very ambitious and it was something that he considered and joined them more as a personal favour to help the club achieve its objective of salvation in the premier league, but in general he does assess all aspects of the club. DA and WM both stress that their vision and philosophy must fit with that of the club. MM for example when he joined Qormi, the team was bottom of the league two points behind the second bottom team. A small crew, small club with big support base and he feels he joined to change the environment because it was different from the clubs he was used to work with. The reasons were to challenge himself and to see a different environment that he was accustomed to and if it was possible to change a player who was in that environment. And he states that he got more in his football career in three months than probably in fifteen years. The previous coach of Qormi is now his assistant, so he feels that the joined forces coming from the same experiences at Qormi has given them strength. Knowledge is massive but experience is what has equipped him the most, more than any coaching courses, travelling the world seeing different coaches in Africa, America, Europe, Eastern Europe. For example in Africa, the coaches are really aggressive to effect the player, it is a culture in Africa, if a coach is not like that, the player will not respond. In England or Spain putting an arm around a player is respected but in Malta if one does that the player can relax. In Malta if they do 83

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something good they are told but a good telling off keeps them on track. Players from various cultures need to be treated differently. He believes that one has to definitely adapt. OS likes to take on a challenge too but as long as he is ensured the support of the committee and the president. JB takes into consideration the people who are running the club, what they have in mind and what they want from him both from a technical point of view and also in terms of where they want the club to arrive. But the most important consideration for him are the people at the helm and the environment makes a big difference as in his opinion there are certain people in local football that should not be involved as they do not have any idea how they administer clubs. His aim is not just to win every game but that the team progresses step by step and he would not exclude joining a small club as long as their vision is to build a team as long as the things are done in a good way and the people behind the vision are people of integrity. PZ would only be interested in joining clubs that he believes share his same vision from the meetings that he would have held prior to joining. From these meetings, he would be able to determine if he would be able to work in that club or no, but it is important for him that himself and the club are working on the same parallel lines. Although from his experience during the course of his tenure this would start changing and it is then that the managerial skills have to be put into effect to realign the vision as for example, when results don’t start going in favour the vision of the club starts to change. d. The life span of a football coach is a short one – how does this hinder your long term planning? It is a fact that the lifespan of a football coach within a club is a short one and this is known by all the coaches but this does not hinder them from long term planning. All the coaches plan long term especially vis-à-vis youth development. JB interestingly states that he is contracted to the club for a defined period and that the club will continue to exist even after the end of this contract, but still he must invest in youths as in the future the players might be of service to the club. JB and PZ both derive great satisfaction from developing promising young players who are good enough. OS believes that this long term vision must be communicated to the players to ensure that they are on the same wavelength as this can entice and motivate players even more but his priority is always to win the next match.

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e. What qualities do you look for in building up a team? All the coaches look after more or less the same qualities, such as the technical ability, player’s character, willingness to work, and another important factor is how a player fits in the dressing room and whether he is a team player. Other important factors are self-motivation, age (to have balance of young and more experienced), honesty and attitude, described by MM as approach. MM also looks after players who have personality who take a stand for themselves and confront him when they are in disagreement with him or have a problem rather than keep it inside and let it affect their performance. On the other hand coaches when joining a club with an existing team, JB for example he analyses the players and although they are highlighted as good or not, he still works and give chances to all of them. He works on the players that need attention too since they are all employees of the club. When it is the right time to make changes he gives his opinion and suggestions about who should remain and what type of other players should be added to the team. f. How do you select and manage the team behind the team? The team behind the team is another component in the planning process. BN, JB and PZ all believe that the ideal situation is to have your own team; however BN states that in Malta it is difficult that this happens. Moreover PZ believes that the way forward is for the head coach to have his own team as he should have the team behind the team, one that he wants to work with. And overall all the coaches go through the same process when joining a club. They all evaluate the team and assess as to whether they can handle the present team. BN bases his decisions on staff who decide to be collaborators and apart from their technical abilities he prefers to have people good in something that he is not good at example: he would want his assistant to have an outgoing personality with whom the players can feel at ease and speak up to make up for the short comings he identifies in his character. He manages the team by discussing all aspects of doing things in the beginning, so that when it comes to selection, he asks for opinions, and even for the match preparation he involves the team. He listens to everyone but ultimately he takes the last decision. DA looks after trust and ability. MM expects high quality. He considers himself blunt and as a reflection of the culture he believes that maybe being blunt and straight get through more. He involves them in everything and he demands concentration at all times. He believes in delegating but most of the times he gets his staff to delegate for him such as asking the physical trainer and Assistant Coach to check about injuries and obtain 85

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feedback so that he can take more sound decisions. He believes that he has a great relationship with his Assistant, the latter likes to work and he lets him. Training sessions are planned but rarely all that is planned is carried out in full during the training session. He believes in flexibility and adaptability as long as the same objective is reached and always based on the previous and upcoming game. OS has been working with his assistant for the past six years and they were former football players fifteen years ago for the same club, therefore he chooses someone he knows well, someone who knows his vision. Since his assistant is the coach of the under 19’s he tries to pass on the same vision. He involves everyone, discusses with the physical trainer. He believes that having a goal keeper’s coach is fundamental and he involves him in every training session especially in the first 30 minutes with all the goal keepers. Then he involves him with the whole squad and together they discuss characteristics of the goal keeper’s characteristics required for the upcoming game. He believes that the physio therapist is also very important. The physical trainer does the physical part. During the training he divides everyone in three different groups and between him the assistant coach and the physical trainer they rotate to have equal management. He believes in delegating a lot. Even when working tactically one takes the defenders, one the strikers and the other the midfielders and then they change. WM looks for persons of integrity, loyal to him and supportive throughout the journey. He manages by giving specific roles to each individual and doing staff meetings on regular basis. If someone does something that he does not like he will speak to him individually and explain on how he thinks it is best it is done in order to allow everyone to express his idea. JB evaluates the team and if there are people that he feels he does not want to work with, he points it out immediately to have that person changed. His assistant was one of his players at the time when he was coach of the National team and he sees him as a person with great experience so he gives him a free hand. Most of the times he tells him to do a session himself on attack for example since he used to play as an attacker so he feels that he is better than him. Of course, he delegates but the last decision is his. Normally what he does he lets the assistant coach do the training and afterwards they discuss. PZ believes that it is one of the first issues to tackle and if he sees that there are any people he cannot work with he points it out immediately. He does his utmost so that the team behind the team is one that he wants to work with. For him it has a very important function.

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g. How do you periodise your work? Planning his work, his training sessions and periodisation is the most important part of planning for a coach to find it easier throughout the season. BN starts with physical periodisation, and then he thinks of a game model. He analyses the players that he has. For example with Hibs he had a number or players in various positions. On the other hand with Gzira the players in the various positions were more limited therefore he had to adapt and be flexible. After physical periodisation and game plan, a plan is done every six months. Tactic periodisation during the league is bound with results. At the beginning of the season he plans to work on certain tactics and it is true he changes according to the game and results but he does not agree that a lot of different exercises are introduced but in a way have to go round what his opponents are going to play. DA periodises the whole season but he gives much importance to the monthly monocycles and these may change from the beginning of the season. MM respects the physical elements, activation, strength endurances and speed during the week and for example: in any week, two endurance days are never done. In his opinion he cannot plan a six month periodisation, physically yes but not tactically. The reasons mentioned were the available players and one has to adapt to every game coming up. On a fifty week training plan, he plans a week ahead and adapts accordingly. Example: on a Monday they do recovery after a game, during any one session they spend more time on endurance, so then they switch during another upcoming session. He believes in being always flexible. OS plans a whole year, then goes into meso- cycles, a weekly plan and two macro cycles because sometimes changes need to be carried out because of the opponent and because in a week there are times when there are two games. WM prepares a six week pre-season physical and tactical programme. During the season he plans monthly Meso-cycle (Physical) and micro cycle (from game to game). He always prepares the team on three moments of the game, the team in possession, team not in possession and positive and negative Transition. JB believes that it is the ideal situation to plan ahead but he thinks that it is very difficult because one has to see the condition of the players all the time. He states that he can follow a plan however most of the times; one has to be flexible and adapt. There are sessions where they work on the physical, sessions on technical and sessions on tactics. He states he does carry minor changes depending on who is the opponent in the upcoming game, but the principles remain the same. He states that they have basic regulations and normally they stick to them and according to what happened in the previous game, they change accordingly. PZ feels that during the 87

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fourteen years that he has been coaching at high level in Malta, he has evolved a lot. And he states that he kept on changing up to recent years. He tries to keep abreast but it is not enough, and he does not follow by the book, for example: in Holland they might play in one way but it does not mean that he has to play like that. He takes only what is suitable for the local circumstances. He opines that planning is very important. When it comes to training he plans periodisation for the whole year, then plan what he needs during the year, after which he divides into six weekly periods then he zooms into a particular week to start preparing for the game. He believes that what is most important is that one continues to change, every year. Example: This year, he found very interesting a periodisation that was adopted by a particular technical team and he ended up liking it and found himself comfortable to work with it. When he joined Valletta, a set of objectives were drafted based on the moment and that moment was not a good one. He had to go to basics, build a squad, remain competitive and never thought they would win the league. His plan was based on three years, one year building on the previous one. It was not their intention to win the league during the first year. He believes in continuity and so planning is fundamental. He states that winning is not everything; it is the way on how to get there, results will follow. He is the type of coach that invests in youth, develops and builds a long term structure for a club to keep on benefiting from even after he leaves.

3.2.1 Comparative Analysis – Planning From the research carried out it transpired that one major quandary was a lack of clear vision in most football clubs in Malta which was hindering the long-term planning process of coaches. Although all the coaches recognised the importance of long-term planning it is ardently clear that most of the coaches had limited or no strategic direction from committee level and when present this was inconsistent and changed haphazardly resulting in the coaches focusing on short term, season by season rather than laying the foundations for the future. The majority of coaches could not elicit precisely and seemed oblivious what the vision of the club was. Unfortunately there is also a lack of structured planning which should start with a thorough analysis of the internal and external environment utilising management tools such as SWOT analysis followed by drafting of clear strategic goals. This vision and mission of the club must serve as a road map for coaches and so this should be made very clear to the coaches who ideally would be involved along with the committee in the goal setting and have

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formalised plans for the short term, medium term and long term. From here all the work and endeavours should be aimed at reaching these goals and objectives.

Given the volatility of the coaching job in Malta, as it is all over the world of football, one must not let the job insecurities dampen the long-term prospects as having a dim and narrow view will have detrimental effect on the club and the coach. It is important that the coach is not afraid to challenge the cultural status quo of the club and has the will and confidence to instil his stamp on the club to give the club an identity. For the local coach to be able to build long-term he needs to have the full support of the committee and the president. Hence, it is imperative that the coach apart from managing his players and coaching staff, just also give due importance to manage upwards and foster and maintain excellent relationships with the power base of the club seeking to maintain constant and effective lines of communication.

Another major observation derived from the study was the fact that given the limited opportunities for local coaches to coach in the top division, the coaches need to analyse better if there is synergy between their personal values and philosophy and those of the football club they are about to join. The coaches should invest enough time and energy to perceive if they are comfortable to work and fit in that particular environment as well as the outlook of the club for the future apart from obvious considerations such as financial stability and sustainability, structure and organisation of committee, reputation and ethical considerations amongst others. Unfortunately the lack of opportunities seems to result in coaches accepting coaching job offers without much thought and consideration for the future and this will lead to difficulties in carrying out their coaching role successfully without hitches and this can have detrimental effect on their future career and reputation. (Also the club should do its research)

In planning the composition of the team all the coaches expressed an interest that ideally they should have control or at least be consulted on the players they want, a short-list of players that they believe would fit in the game model, system and style of play that the coach envisions for his team. It transpires however that there are many instances where players have been brought into the club without discussion with the respective coach. Although this is not exclusive to local football clubs as it is evident even abroad, it is far from the ideal scenario as a situation could arise where a player 89

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is brought in and he does not fit in the plans of the coach, increase unnecessary pressure on the coach by some committee members who could insist on his inclusion which can ultimately disrupt the plans of the coach and ultimately destroy the harmony of the team. If this is not possible the coach must seek to maximise the resources that have been made available by the club and this will involve the coach being adaptable and flexible enough to exploit the strengths of these individual players and fit them into his system.

Managing the recruitment of these players must be done in a more professional manner. Most of the coaches highlighted that many times especially in the case of foreign players these are identified purely on the recommendation of an agent and chosen on the basis of a video highlighting the player’s best moments. This is far from an ideal selection process as the video will only focus on the best moments and strengths of the players rather than giving a full report including the player’s weaknesses and personal traits such as character and attitude. If clubs are to become more professional it is imperative that the recruitment has to become more professional as well and a scouting network should be developed by having at least one person within the technical staff acting as a scout who establishes his agent network and specialises on the provision of detailed information and reports about a particular player. Furthermore, the coach may even be given the chance to actually see the player in action first hand. This obviously involves certain financial considerations but many clubs have ended up paying much more than this by having to terminate player’s contracts as these fall short of reaching the expectations and criteria required.

3.3 ORGANISING Organising implies putting plans into action. a. How do you prevent overlapping and confusion of roles? One of the things that should be prevented is overlapping and confusion of roles. BN, MM and OS all let their team members carry out their work independently and they evaluate, correct and ultimately take the last decision. DA, OS, WM and JB believe in giving clear and specific roles at the beginning of the season and monitor through good communication systems, such as staff meetings. MM makes it clear with the team manager that all that is related to football and can affect his players’ performance

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he needs to be the first to know and through his experience he learnt that good managers get people to manage for them. OS regards the team manager as the person who takes care of the logistics, travelling and injuries. PZ believes that if one is not careful there will be overlapping for sure. He is adamant that everything in relation to football and the players has to start from him. He instructs every member of the technical team up to the extent that even for example: a player who is going on a particular TV programme he has to have the final decision whether to send that player or another player. When working with his physical trainer although he has full trust in him, he is still the one who gives him the loading, distances the objectives and tells him today we have to work this way or that way, with the ball or without the ball. He likes to carry the full responsibility when something is not done correctly. He does not want players to inform the Team Manager or Assistant coach that they are coming late for training or that they have a problem with the car but they have to tell him directly. And then he delegates to the right people. b. Place your staff on the image.(organigram) They all agree that organisation is important so that the club functions well and they can work as a team throughout the season. All the coaches stated that they have an organigram composed of the following:  Coach  Assistant Coach  Goal Keeper’s coach  Physical Trainer  Team Manager  Kit Manager  Physio/Doctor  Masseur

Ultimately they all believe that the Coach is the overall responsible person.

3.3.1 Comparative Analysis – Organising In organising, recruiting and managing the team behind the team, the majority of the coaches stated that ideally they would be allowed to choose their technical staff and that each coach should have his own assistants and technical team whom he trusts and wants to work with and maybe take them with him when he joins a new club.

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Unfortunately this is not common practice in Malta as most clubs tend to have their own assistant coaches who would be already working with the club. Having assistants and support staff that enjoy the trust and confidence of the coach and are familiar with his ‘modus operandi’ would provide continuity and guarantee that the support staff compliment the head coach, share his philosophy and vision and acclimatised to work in sync with him both in terms of planning training sessions in preparation for the matches as well as managing and leading the players. This would help the coach to have the conviction to delegate more to his assistants, as from the analyses undertaken, there seems to be a general inclination that coaches still tend to take complete charge of training sessions themselves due to lack of complete trust in their assistants.

Having a reliable right hand man to actually undertake the training itself under the tutelage of the coach’s plan and strategy would liberate precious time and energy for the coach to take a step back and be able to analyse and observe the fine detail as well as to concentrate more on the management of the team, assistants and individual players. For this to be successful all the technical staff must have clearly defined duties detailing their exact areas of responsibility and accountability with the head coach spearheading them and pulling the strings. The aim should be to ensure maximizing the potential of each individual, avoid overlapping roles and confusion and giving each individual greater job satisfaction, personal development and motivation rather than feeling marginalised and not utilised by playing just peripheral roles, as currently is this case in some local clubs.

An important role in the set-up and structure of football clubs in Malta is the Team Manager whose role should be that of acting as a liaison and intermediary between the coach, the players and the committee and who takes care of the day to day problems and well-being of the players and the team. Many coaches lamented that this role is so laborious and time-consuming that it requires a full-time person to be able to undertake this job adroitly but unfortunately in the local clubs it is undertaken mostly on a part-time basis or even worse on a voluntary basis with the result being that the coaches are burdened with extra work that go beyond their area of responsibility and alienate them from their main coaching duties. It is not the first time that due to lack of support administration, coaches in Malta have ended up resolving non-football related issues such as delays in wages, accommodation problems, 92

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transport arrangements, training pitch allocations, visa and permit issues, and other disconcerting problems. Hence a full-time person with the right hard-working criteria should be engaged and amalgamated in the technical set-up to ease some of the workload and pressure as well as to facilitate a well-organized, efficient administration of the team as well as a harmonious and serene environment.

3.4 LEADERSHIP Leaders are those who are able to influence others and who possess managerial authority a. How and when is your leadership evident? All the coaches believe in leading by example and that it is very important to win over the people one is working with especially the players. BN associated leadership with discipline and in his view leadership also means influencing the people to do what he wants to be done and that this will be good for them. He has to convince them that everything they do they are doing it to make it better for them and for him it is fundamental to win the players on his side. He gave the example based on his experience with Hibs, there were some problems during the first year since he was still inexperienced with coaching senior players and was told that the players were undisciplined and were used to doing whatever they wanted, so he started by being a bit autocratic and tough but as time went by he relaxed a bit and became more friendly so when it came to the moment that the committee thought of replacing him in his third year, they even stood up for him and this meant that they saw him as somebody important to them. DA believes in leading in every aspect of the team. He gives all the instructions and does not delegate them. He carries the total responsibility of the actions of the team. MM thinks that leadership is the control of everything and reflects on performance. It comes out when things are not doing so well and it is mostly evident when one responds and deals with setbacks. OS thinks that when you get to know your players, they will get to know you. It is important so that they know the transparent line and it is kept at a certain distance, both the players and the staff that is the style of leadership he adopts. For example: if there is a conflict in the dressing room and it is a minor issue, he lets the players’ leaders themselves to solve the problem, always under the supervision of an Assistant coach. If the problem is not resolved the Assistant Coach gets involved and everything is reported to him so that if something goes out of hand he uses his authority then. So far he did

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not encounter this situation since they know the rules, the dressing room’s code of ethics, and they know there are fines. The players sign this at the beginning of the season. In the beginning of the season he also assigns three players to be the leaders, one of them is normally the captain. He does not consider himself as authoritarian; on the contrary, at times they see him as the father figure head. There are different types of attitudes to adopt, with some players he feels it is best to be direct, sometimes one understands. However when it comes to training and the game he is very strict. WM agrees with OS to let the team find solutions by themselves. He likes to show enthusiasm so that this is reflected on the team and he prefers to listen more to get to know their feelings. JB agrees with OS regarding the fact the there should be a transparent line and is known by the players and he also agrees with WM when he says he listens more to the players and he also gives ideas and options of how they can deal with problems themselves as when they are on the pitch they have to make it happen. JB considers himself a participative leader. Along the years PZ feels he has evolved and so even in his leadership he has changed. Before he used to show his leadership through his work, working very very hard. Nowadays his work is carried in silence and his leadership is shown through the respect that he tries to attract towards him. He believes that respect is the most important thing especially from the players; if there is respect the job of a coach is a bit easier. Once respect is lost one can be the best leader but it will be lost. The qualities of a leader are varied. His transition from a player to a coach was fast and infact when he looks back he realises that in the beginning although he became a coach but he still kept the same attitude as if he was a player, ‘one of them’ attitude. Example: He saw it happening, with his Assistant infact he stopped him and directed him to concentrate on one thing at a time and to have a wider perspective. Although nowadays as a coach, he keeps his distance, however when he speaks on a one to one basis he is very open with the players. He thinks that to be a very good leader they have to know the coach very well and that the coach has the respect for every single one of them and this respect has to be reciprocated from the players’ end. b. How do you influence players and technical staff to buy into your vision? As a coach it is important to have the players and technical staff following your same vision. BN convinces his players by mentoring them on their good capabilities and make them feel good and convincing them that they have the ability to do some good things. Then they go to practice and they analyse games and when they manage to 94

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do what he asked of them he positively reinforces. DA thinks that if he wants something from the staff or players he has to be the first one to commit. MM influences through his passion and good knowledge of the game and passion on his football experiences and learning of those aspects of the job for example: Coaching skills, communication, being positive and how important being positive is. The importance of jumping the hurdles to ensure a good character and grow strong especially in situations where for example: players are not getting paid. Here he feels that it takes the coach to turn things around and so he tries to get something from the club towards the players to show them their support or that they care, such as flood lights, keys for the boardroom, gym. These little details which become massive and accumulative if not present.

OS likes to set realistic goals. He learnt that a coach should never lie to players or bluff his way as they know. Players should be respected as otherwise all the authority will be lost including the power in the dressing room. Technical staff knows his vision and the vision of the club, they all work together. Players are involved so they know what is wanted from them. When showing videos of the previous game, players are asked and involved so that they always work on improving their performance. WM believes in showing and discussing with his staff regarding his vision and listens to their ideas too. Upon agreed issues he discusses with players and individuals but his staffs are always involved in these discussions. JB relates everything to the game, the way he works is by imposing certain conditions for example during the training he tells them that he wants the ball always on the ground. Certain ideas they include them as regulations. Another example: They build up a match and whistle for a foul, i.e. Certain things they are bound to do them and other times where they are left free. Or one cannot impose on a player to play three touch, when he dribbles five and scores. One has to be flexible too. However he does portray the risks of playing like that but as much as possible they are left free. PZ believes that to be able to influence others you have to be a leader and to be a leader one has to be capable of delivering his ideas. In football, just as in business it does not matter how many people you have and how many deadlines you impose or orders you issue. If you are not capable of gaining the respect and they believe in what they are doing one will never succeed. He gave an example that in one particular season he was convinced that they were doing the right things but he did not manage to believe enough and the season ended up in failure. Therefore leadership cannot be imposed but must be earned. Attitude, 95

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approach towards work, training and the game, are very important factors. Gaining respect is another important factor. Therefore he believes that with having all the above one will succeed. c. What sort of relationship do you like to establish with your players – parental, personal, boss? The relationship with the players is one to be nurtured and will reflect during the games. Not every coach is the same, however they all agree that there is a fine line that should not be surpassed. BN was brought up in an environment where the players were treated like soldiers and it was an authoritarian regime and the coach stands on a pedestal and there is no discussion. But as more years passed by himself as a coach/leader moved from parent-like to friendship as he is always ready to help to give advice and although he cannot give them solutions to personal problems like for example with their wives, he can relate to his own personal experiences. WM and JB adopt the same approach as BN, however OS although he can be friendly and adapts but he never considers himself as one of them. On the other hand, DA, MM and PZ consider themselves as being the boss. MM believes that a fear factor at times is good because it makes the players perform better. MM like BN was exposed to an authoritarian style of coaching and when he feared his coach he got more from him so it is important for him that there should be that distance between himself and his players because if he gets too close then he cannot get the hammer down. So, mostly they end up going to speak to his assistant first. When a relationship becomes too close between a coach and the players, one has to be careful not to lose respect and it might become too comfortable. He adapts a lot to the kind of players he has in front of him and for the different situations he is tackling. OS agrees, especially when a player is going through turbulent times, for example, he has a long term injury and he might have lost his motivation, might have problems at home and so feels it is appropriate that as a team he is helped. PZ emphasised a lot the need for adaptation as you cannot put everyone in the same basket, so he needs to get to know his players well because he does not deal with everyone the same. He never goes down to the levels where his assistants or the players see him as their friend but he wants them to see him as the person who could help them if they have a problem. PZ is open to listen but as a professional not as a friend.

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d. What lines of communication do you keep with your players and how do you interact with them – directly or through intermediaries (ex. Assistant coaches)? Communication is one of the very important factors in managing a football team. It is important that communication is present at all times. BN adopts the ‘Door always open’ approach. All the coaches agree in open communication but almost all of them also agree that talking face to face still gets the best results amongst using the varied communication methods that nowadays exist. In certain instances, the Assistant coach or the Goal Keeper’s coach communicates with the players. Infact BN specifically has someone as an Assistant Coach who is very open and applies a very friendly approach and looked for such characteristics in his Assistant since he knows his character is quite closed. All the coaches at times talk directly to all the players together as a team or else one to one depending on the sensibility of the matter and the sensitivity of the player. MM also mentioned that if he gives in for something, he keeps it as a means of negotiation in future instances. For examples, he gives them a weekend free but if there is another weekend that he wants them to train he reminds them of when he had given them a weekend off. e. What level of autonomy do you like to give to your players – during training sessions, during games, in general (ex. Appointing captains)? The level of autonomy given to players during training sessions, during games, in general differs from one coach to another. To enhance further the discussion, the following example was portrayed:

There was a case where Mourinho prior to appointing the captain of Chelsea had chosen Frank Lampard as his captain but on their way on the aeroplane flying to go and play their first friendly match he undertook a discussion with the players who agreed between them that they would prefer to have John Terry as captain as they believed that he would be better in that position. Mourinho was ready to listen what they had to say and infact John Terry became the captain of Chelsea. Would you take that into consideration or would you have made up your mind that listen he is going to be that’s my way and no discussion? BN, MM, OS, JB, and PZ all mentioned that they promote discussion, and with certain players particularly MM mentioned that if he sees someone who is a bit shy, he 97

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actually goes to him himself and asks him if he has anything to say to ensure he gets the opinion of everybody. After all they are on the pitch and they know what they feel, BN highlighted. He also stated if he asks questions after the speech in the dressing room and no one answers, he then asks directly to some. MM always challenges his players to ask questions as he expects to have the opinion of his players but it is fundamental that the coach knows how he is going to respond, show how things will proceed and how to deal with an issue next time it crops up. What is not acceptable in his opinion is when a player confronts or remonstrates on the pitch as it portrays a bad image on the coach and can imply that the coach is losing his authority. During the training session if one starts questioning and being negative, the others will follow so it is important that one puts his foot down on the first time it happens because if one doesn’t control such a situation, they will do it when things are going wrong. The most important for MM is that he stamps his authority very early in his tenure because if you don’t, it will accumulate because the players are always challenging your authority so he needs to be assertive from the outset. He let the players know immediately that he is the boss as prior to his arrival they were dictating everything and that they have to respect him and do as he tells them otherwise they would be on their way out. So for MM it is important to keep total control. He thinks Mourinho was correct. Terry shows more leadership qualities on and off the field. Lampard was good too but not exceptionally. So, it was a case of, if I was in a battle who would one want next to him in the trenches. He selects his players and especially his captains based on this concept as the captain must be responsible and exemplary to the other players.

DA allows a very limited level of autonomy to his players. He believes that any formal request should be directed through the team captain unless it is not related within the team. In the particular club OS is with they have a policy that the captain has to be the most kept player but he believes that when you have a good strong dressing room and a code of ethics the players can decide who the captain is themselves. Although the captain is not the best leader but those that are leaders will also take a step back to allow the captain carry out his responsibilities. However they are pillars of support too. WM prefers to use sort of guided discovery with his players and get feedback especially from players with vast experience. The captain is selected based on leadership skills since he will be asked about the group’s feelings and ideas. JB sees no difficulty although here in Malta the majority of the clubs select the player who has 98

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been playing the most as the captain. He thinks that that very often it is not the ideal. PZ does not agree with Mourinho. He is not that type. If he believes in something but it will be based on a lot of ground work. Ultimately they all believe that the largest decision is taken by the coach and therefore the total responsibility is taken by the coach. f. You are about to take an important decision regarding team tactics – how much do you consult your assistants, your players and what level of participation do you allow? When taking important decisions regarding team tactics, the coaches all demonstrated a predisposition to consult with their technical team but in terms of discussing it with players the coaches take a different approach. When they consult their technical team, they give weight to the opinion of their assistants and although it is their decision which is final, there were times when they changed or adapted other methods too. When it comes to players, OS for example states that one has to be careful on how far you discuss tactics with the players. If it is a drill, a movement, a corner or a set piece, yes it is discussed but he is the one who must decide as he has to take the ultimate responsibility. During training, if players suggest an alternative solution that they felt more comfortable with, they usually tried out both ways during the training to evaluate better and during the games there were instances where they changed according to what the players suggested and felt most comfortable with. BN on the other hand states that if players do not feel comfortable in a situation and they suggest other ways it will depend on the results that they are obtaining - if they are good he might go ahead with their idea, if not, he will persist and by time he feels that they will learn how to accept it. DA very rarely consults with individual players, occasionally he asks the team captain. MM believes that selling the idea to the players and convincing them is the best way since ultimately he is the decision taker. WM discusses with players and although it is his final decision but if he feels that the group is not sure he considers every option. JB believes that it is useless persisting with an idea if the players don’t feel confident and therefore he must try to sell his idea on the training pitch by showing the players that maybe doing it this way will be better and he lets them try it out but he recognises that this might take time and has to be ingrained gradually as the players have to be convinced and ready to take it on board. PZ always revolves around the notion of respect and finding the right balance as one cannot just be dictatorial that its either his way or nothing but on the other hand one 99

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cannot just change because a player simple does not feel comfortable with a particular idea as both extremes might have consequences. So he believes that one should always try to convince not in words but by attitude, on the training pitch, one session after another. In the process it is important to involve the other technical staff (assistant coach, goalkeeper’s coach, etc.) so that they are already aware that he would be contemplating a different approach and starts working on it. However, the crux is always that the coach would have earned the trust and respect of the players as otherwise it would be difficult to convince the players. They must trust the coach to an extent that if the coach believes this is the correct way, it would be better for them as otherwise if they immediately think that this idea will not work, for sure it won’t. He has encountered situations, even in key matches like deciders and do-or-die matches that he had to change drastically in half-time as the players were not feeling comfortable. For example in one championship decider, he was playing a 1-3-5-2 system as he had been playing for a whole season but in half-time, they were trailing 1-0 and one player starting crying as he felt that they were being outplayed and PZ changed to a 4-3-3 system and convinced the players that with this system they would be able to resolve their problems and create a lot of problems to their opponents especially on the flanks. Ultimately it worked and they ended up victorious so yes he does listen to what players have to say and would be ready to take it on board. But one has to be careful because there are some players that with coaches they always want to have their say and it is important that with these players a firm stance is taken that they should concentrate on their job and the coach concentrates on his so that’s why it is imperative that from the outset the coach must impose his authority. For instance prior to his arrival with Valletta, the club was going through some bad time as certain players had taken over in terms of control and pretended that they were running the club themselves so he had to take drastic decisions and prior to the commencement of the season he had to tell some players that had over-stepped their authority, without being arrogant but outright that that they would not be retained and would need to find another club. The key is to make the people around you believe that your actions are for the benefit of the team. g. Your players are not happy with the amount of training and would like to reduce the workload how much weight do you give to their opinion? Coaches might also encounter situations where players are in disagreement with the coaching staff like for example the players might not be happy with the amount of 100

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training and would like to reduce the workload. DA, MM, WM, and JB all give weight to their players’ opinion. For example BN when he joined Gzira during the pre-season there were a number of new players who arrived late and were physically backwards and he proposed a mini-preseason and he pushed them a bit excessively for them to regain their fitness quickly but one of them explained that they were overdoing it and training was too hard and could not cope with the physical exertion, so he decided to skip one planned training session so he was ready to take recommendations on board if the players could substantiate the argument. MM considers himself to be flexible, and JB would take note and stop them immediately because he believes that it is useless to keep pushing if players are tired as otherwise he would be risking increasing injuries. From his experience as a footballer, OS knows that players like to play with the ball not run but physical training is essential too and although he adapts, there are times he goes ahead with his decision but he believes that he should always give an explanation. He likes to use a trick, that when players are tired, he stops the session and play a game, and if he sees them running you start with the whole and then do the part after. PZ sees this happening a lot especially in those teams that participate in the European games. Example: in the case of Valletta, they started training in May and they passed on messages through the physical trainer that they were tired. The coach must listen even through informal channels or intermediaries and observe prior to reaching his decision. Once he decides, it is important that one convinces the players that he knows the situation and keeps them informed all the time and showing them that they know what they are doing and that it is normal that there are games when they are going to feel heavy. But nowadays, as coaches they have more resources which could help them. For example: Valletta use the GPS, so through the results of the GPS one can show to the players and explain the relation between the training session and the game. h. Change can be stressful and damaging to the group-- how do you handle change within your group? Change is another factor which affects the leadership qualities of a coach. Once a coach encounters situations where he has to challenge the ‘status quo’ and put the players out of their comfort zone so it is imperative that this change must be handled effectively and with the least disruption within his group. All the coaches expressed a penchant of discussing change with the team. BN believes that it is important to gain the players’ commitment through good arguments and with the help of other 101

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channels such as the captain or some senior players. On the other hand he believes that if players do not agree with him it is best to discard the change. DA believes that time heals the process. MM believes that if a change has to occur it is because it needs to fulfil an objective so he gives reasons and a lot of thought too prior to implementing the change. OS thinks that routine is very important so he agrees with discussing it well with his team. WM follows the same thought. JB agrees with OS too, he does not like to carry out changes but if they are reasonable he identifies an influential person especially the captain whereby he emphasises the importance of this change. PZ believes that he should listen a lot and observe and most of the times one can see how the situation is and in the case that a change needs to be adopted, he talks with the senior players on a one to one basis to show them what the idea is and sell it to them. He chooses to talk to them to obtain feedback and he shows them that what he is after is an opinion not a direct answer. Ultimately he decides and he either decides on the basis of the feedback or else according to what he believes. But he will never persist with a decision if he sees that he is breaking the team. i. How do you keep your players and staff motivated from training session to training session and from game to game? Keeping a team motivated throughout an entire season is an arduous task for any coach as there are a number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can hinder or augment a player’s motivation. BN thinks that the first thing that motivates the player is money. PZ believes that the coach on his own cannot be the sole motivator. He thinks it requires a united front. He does not accept when people say that a particular coach is a good motivator as although the coach might be able to hype the players up for a particular game, in the long-term, there are a number of considerations that must be taken into account. Every individual is unique, a local who knows that he is really good has to be motivated in one way and a foreigner with a different language and a different culture has to be made at ease in our country and therefore motivate him in a different way. Also motivational factors are different for an experienced player who has maybe already won a lot of titles to a youth player who is still establishing himself. One is lucky if they are winning since the win in itself can be a motivator and JB mentions this point too. From his end, PZ ensures that he can work on keeping the player motivated during the training by making training as challenging and personally rewarding as possible. With regards to training sessions, BN believes, 102

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that when players play in their position it keeps them motivated so his training is always game oriented. DA makes sure that the players look forward for the end game of each training session. MM believes that it is important that the training sessions are game related, motivational and always competitive with a point system or some sort of competition in it. By doing competitive based training sessions, he can observe who are those players who are competitive and those who aren’t. OS works a lot on interval training so the intensity is always high as he believes that high intensity training and games keep the players motivated. The major thing that he instructs to his assistants is to keep the players on high tempo. His philosophy is that training has to be at a high tempo because he believes that is what motivates the players and they love it. WM gives them new challenges and explains to everyone what is needed from every session and by creating different scenarios from game to game. JB believes that as much as possible the training has to be inclusive as this is liked by the players. If one is not prepared for a session you cannot change it to make them more motivated and once a player is demotivated one will lose control. BN believes that involving them in the game preparation by giving them the right to give their opinions keeps them motivated. DA and OS motivates them through reachable objectives and goals which can change from week to week and OS believes that before the game day they know what they are doing, they know what they are going to do, they know the goals and they motivate them by speaking and communicating with them. During the interval they continue to fill the players up with confidence. JB recognises that winning matches makes it easier to keep players motivated but even when results are not going your way it is important that the whole group believe that they are doing things the right way and that if they keep working hard at one stage things will change for the better. One has to accept that when playing against a stronger team and they truly are better than you, you cannot beat team but you have to work harder and challenge them to try to reach their level. This is not an easy task and the players have to buy into this vision as otherwise it is destined to fail so it is pivotal that players are given their importance and they are on your side for things to run smoothly.

6.j. Technological advancements have improved, transformed and facilitated the job of the coach --- how much are you ready to embrace new innovations within your jobs such as Heart Rate Monitors, Match & Motion Analysis, Recovery Enhancements, etc..?

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Technological advancements have improved, transformed and facilitated the job of the coach. In the local football sphere innovations such as heart rate monitors, match and motion analysis, recovery enhancements are unfortunately are still not widely dispersed especially due to financial considerations. BN considers them very important and with Hibs he managed to have one of the systems which was not the top of the range but still the fact that one is monitoring the players, after training players could go and follow up and check the results. Like this the players become motivated and compare results against each other and with previous days. He also utilises extensively Match analysis in order to plan training sessions and prepare the team for the next opponents and to highlight certain mistakes. DA strongly believes in them. He does use some of the latest technology which makes his work easier and effective. MM is receptive to any technology that can facilitate his work and sees it as an opportunity to get more data and evidence and so does not see technology as a threat. OS stated that as a club the heart rate monitors are something that they really would like to have. During preseason they work with the heart rate and the watches but the budget they have is limited. Match analysis are carried out by them and he tries to do it himself because he can see the game in a perspective, so in order to prepare well for the training he wants to know the opponents before. During recovery they have the ice baths. He looks at technology advancements as an opportunity. WM before implementing something he always studies if it is the ideal for their team. He believes that it is always good to improve from this aspect but the secret is to convince the players that they are going to implement new ideas because they will help them for certain reasons. JB believes that they can be very helpful especially match analysis, but other technologies like GPS are important but one needs to have also the human resources who know how to operate them and be able to interpret the data. When he was coaching the National Team he had specialised people who used to carry out analysis of results however he stated that there are only two clubs who have certain equipment. He does not totally agree on giving too much importance to certain statistics such as the number of passes completed as a it is difficult to determine if this was effective or not and questions ‘Who is going to decide what is a good pass?’ In his opinion football is not numbers. He gave the example: one has 10 corners and one has one and the one who has one wins so ultimately football is not about numbers. PZ does not consider himself as an IT person; however he is open to new evolvements. He believes that like anything else if it is used properly it can offer its benefits. On the other hand he believes that if one uses only that then it has 104

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its own disadvantages. Ultimately he believes that technology can help the coach’s job to show visually certain situations during training. For example: During the B’kara game since I had a monitor in the dressing room I could show three actions where they did wrong and made them see it to change things around in the second half. He also believes that it is imperative to keep the human element. For example, if he needs to show something to a player he prefers to sit down together with him and discuss improvement together rather than just send it to him and next day he discusses it with him.

3.4.1 Comparative Analysis – Leadership From the study carried out it has transpired that many local coaches based their leadership style on formal authority and tend to adopt a more coach-centred approach, with the coach giving clear, precise instructions which the players should adopt both during training and during games. I believe that the way forward should be to give the players more responsibility in decision making especially during training to prepare them for the level of autonomy they will experience during the ninety minutes of the game, as ultimately during the game itself, they will have the liberty to express themselves and deal with different complex scenarios with minimal input and intrusion by the coach. What we need is more intelligent, inquisitive, discerning players who are ready to ask questions and find solutions themselves.

As was analysed in this study, many of the modern leaders of business organisations and top coaches base their management and leadership on allowing greater decentralization and participation. In modern management coaching methodology they see themselves at the bottom of the pyramid rather than at the top and refer to this as the ‘inverted pyramid’. At the top of the pyramid there should be the clients (the supporters, the investors, the president, the group).The coach as a leader should not be ahead of his followers, but behind pointing the direction as he is not there to give orders but to guide by pushing (setting goals), acting as a facilitator (communicating, motivating, coordinating, solving conflicts and optimizing working conditions) and finally controlling and intervening only when deviations occur from the pre-set course or from mistakes and when players’ responsibility fails.

Within this context, local coaches should not be afraid of the players’ participation and involvement in the decision making process or view it as a sign of weakness. They 105

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should seek to promote dialogue and discussions to discover what is in the minds of the players and decide together with the input of everyone. Players like to feel important and the coach should have the confidence to rebound ideas and ask their opinions without losing sight of his own or fearing loss of authority as was discerned from the interviews undertaken in the local context. Coaches should seek to stimulate mental efficiency by promoting a ‘guided discovery’ approach prompting discussion, questioning and experimenting. As a result players will participate in their own future, making them find a path for the group under the guidance of the coach and making them decide on their own comfort and most effective way to perform their tasks. This will lead to a joint process of evolution where everyone participates and will ensure the development of players with greater motivation arising from ownership of ideas rather than stagnating their imagination.

Training sessions present an ideal opportunity to experiment and assess the players’ feelings about different situations or movements. If the coach has a particular plan or system, he should work it out during training and get the feedback that allows him to change according to that. He must have that flexibility and ability to make changes according to how the players respond and if it makes him realize that for example an exercise is not appropriate for the situation and the players are not comfortable, he should adapt and change accordingly rather than persist and be stubborn. This intellectual stimulation during training encourages innovation and creativity and will involve both mental and behavioural training as the players have to think and be smart to observe.

Ensuring that he manages to get the best out of his players in the most efficient and effective manner is the primary task for the coach. This involves great leadership skills and, as highlighted in the analyses of successful coaches, this includes being confident in their personal capabilities, manage and establish a great relationship with and between the players, ensuring good and honest two-way communication which is clear and consistent with the players, develop team spirit, motivate the players through recognition, reward and positive reinforcement and being emotionally intelligent by being able to manage and control his and the players’ emotions.

As Transformational Leaders, the coaches must transform the objectives by making the players sacrifice and forget their personal goals and replace them with the 106

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objectives of the group. The coach must adopt four important principles to produce direct results in the players. These include Inspirational motivation and Idealized influence which involves motivating and influencing players by example and charisma. Coaches should also include Individualised Consideration by seeking motivation, appreciation, education and transfer of power to players and finally Intellectual Stimulation to get the players to challenge and question the status quo.

3.5 CONTROLLING

The last function of management is Control. Controlling is the process of checking whether or not proper progress is being made towards the objectives and goals and acting if necessary, to correct any deviation. a. Do you set any standards and benchmarks in terms of performance and behaviour during training, games and daily routine? One of the measures of control in football is setting standards and benchmarks in terms of performance and behaviour during training, games and daily routine. BN, DA, OS, JB, and PZ all mentioned that within the club they have a code of ethics that the players are aware of at the beginning of the season and they have to sign in agreement. BN can be flexible too. With regards to fines, he thinks football is amateurish not professional so huge severe fines do not make sense. As a consequence, he adopted a system that if fines are kept within the team they will be much less but if a player does not to pay it, then they had to pay the full amount through the club. The players accepted this as a disciplinary measure. During training the heart rate monitors are used to benchmark their performance but unfortunately this data is not available for matches so instead he approaches the players with statistics such as the number of crosses, number of shots, etc. So if he has a winger who in his opinion did not meet the benchmark of performance he expected of him and the player was in disagreement, he would confront him with this data as evidence. MM prefers to sit down with the player and talk to him telling him that he could fine him and he would fine him if it happens again but hopefully it would not be repeated. So they set the standards without writing them down. OS states that the code of ethics were only introduced three years ago and the players were not so keen in the beginning but nowadays if something is breached they pay a fine and with the money collected they either have breakfast all together so the money is spent between them.

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He expects professionalism from his players, he appoints three players normally one is the captain and another two and they see that no one breaches the rules. They can be reported too by the other players so they make it up like a fun game or team event. The players are motivated and we ensure to keep the training interesting. If this is established he believes that one won’t have any problems with the players. JB did carry out some changes from the code of conduct that was in force prior to him joining the club. They insist on other things every day to promote discipline and he believes it is important to have standards such as the level of intensity during the training. WM keeps standards and benchmarks between his staff for a short period of time and then he starts giving challenges to his players. PZ believes that maintaining discipline is essential to keep the group united but it is not enough to have a Code of Discipline, these have to be explained in detail at the beginning of the season so that there won’t be too many problems throughout the year. Once again the key is respect—that the players respect you, respect others as they are working together. He also believes that fines should be set up in percentages not monetary. His teaching background, also taught him that sometimes with players who have a rebellious nature, if you rebel yourself against them you would lose him and it would be lose-lose situation so it is not possible to adopt the same approach with everyone but control measures have to be control with everyone. b. How do you deal with cases of misconduct and what disciplinary steps and procedures do you normally follow in terms of your attitude, reprimands, fines etc.? Another important factor complimenting preventive action in control is corrective action. In football such control measures have to be managed too. It is interesting to see how coaches in the local football sphere deal with cases of misconduct and disciplinary steps and procedures one normally follows in terms of attitude, reprimands, fines etc..

BN adopts a code of conduct but on the other hand he sees that local clubs operate in an amateurish way and when it comes to taking a stand, one does not find support from a club to discipline a player. Example: A game against Sliema, and his team was losing 1-0. His stopper got a red card for he abutting an opponent and he was suspended for 3 matches. Getting a red card was unacceptable and he expected a severe punishment like a hefty monetary fine but the club opted for a very lenient 108

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approach and sees this as a big problem as the club did not support the coach. DA agrees and states that if misconduct is treated within the rules and regulations they should pay a fine. If they go above board they need to attend in front of the disciplinary board within the club. MM knows that everybody has a code of conduct but he states that he does not have a code of ethics or any rules when it comes to football.

The reasons are:  When he was a player he hated people telling him what he has to do.  If a player is late once he asks why but if the player comes late again he decides it is over. He sets his own rules by setting his own standards.  If on the pitch someone answers back, I tackle it immediately that one will think twice as to whether it is done again.

If something is really terrible, then the player is fined but if it arrives at that stage it would mean that the player is not wanted anymore in his team, since he does not agree that fining the players will solve a situation. His idea is to create trust in the dressing room and tells the players there are no set rules here, they decide how they want to behave and what behaviour is acceptable to them as a team. If they think that a player should be fined they would fine him but they had to remember that when they did the wrongdoing themselves they would it to him. In his opinion the biggest fine is dropping a player, putting them on the bench or out of the squad. OS states that in the dressing room there are two types of fines. For example: If a player fouls, and he is substituted and he makes a scene he is fined by them. If on the other hand, like in a previous game, with Tarxien, three players were suspended and this time it went up to the disciplinary board because it was a problem that occurred after the game and which went beyond our code of ethics. Above the code of ethics in the dressing room, there exist two other disciplinary boards. One which is composed of the Committee members and the other is an independent board, and the penalty was given by latter. WM always looks at the individual and tries to find a reason why the action was done. Then he discusses with his staff and at times with the president and they see what the player can learn and benefit from the decision taken. JB states the code of ethics are followed, although they are rarely used but it is supported by the club. Fortunately they did not have a lot of misconduct, but they also take into consideration that the player will be nervous on the pitch and recognise that it is not easy, so we speak to

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them, we warn them but there is a limit to everything. PZ believes that there are situations where he shows authority by a change of voice or change in attitude, to show that he can as well be different but on the other hand he prefers to set a basis so as to leave out these control measures. Nowadays players know what makes him angry and so they do their best to abide by the rules. Example when someone comes late, he leaves them waiting and he does not speak to them in front of all the team. During the training he spoke about the game. He makes them reflect and he mentions the lack of respect form a player. His decision was that this player does not play during the next game. He believes that a coach has to be fair and firm. He believes in being responsible for your action. c. How do you monitor the progress within your team? Monitoring and evaluating progress is a critical element of the controlling function in management. Most of the coaches monitor progress based on performance and results and some compliment their monitoring process through video analysis to compare. BN monitors progress mostly on the basis of performance rather than results and through clips he compares one game with another. He makes this evaluation for the whole team or for a group ex. for the defence. At times, whenever he had the time he would also do it to individual players but for him the best way was to do it by group/department. OS carry out tests out individually to assess the progress from a physical perspective. From a tactical perspective the progress of a player is assessed through observation during training but sometimes players perform well during training and lead you to believe that they would win you the game and then they do not perform on the pitch. But as a general rule, if a player does not train well or perform during training he would have a problem being selected let alone starting the match. WM likes to present different challenges to his players and then monitor progress through performance. MM has a game model how things should be done and this gives structure to the team. For example what generally the defenders do when they get the ball, what the midfielder does when he receives the ball. The coaches analyse the performances of the different departments and at times of individual players on a week to week, game to game basis. If for instance when they are defending the midfield has to do this and when they analyse they are not doing it they would ask the players why they are not doing it during the game as they would have practised it and performed it but then in the game they were not doing it so having a game model implies having a structure on how to play gives you control. PZ 110

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believes that not every player is the same. At the beginning of the season he sets standards to each individual footballer, a set of objectives to each such as physical improvements, tactical objectives. He sets up meetings individually and explain the objectives. When it comes to match day, he rates the performance of each individual player with the roles and jobs he had to do during the game. JB discuss the performance of the team with the other coaches but recognises that this judgement is subjective as everyone has his own opinion. d. Do you judge improvements merely on results or performance? Improvements are judged merely on results or performance. Interesting to see how coaches look at the various ways they judge improvements. BN also believes that every player has to be treated differently but players should be judged on all aspects of the game technically and mentally. He believes that as a coach he judges on performance. WM also states that he judges upon performance. MM judges on performance and he asks this question: ‘What is a good performance, getting three points or losing 4-3 playing well. So for him he sees results. JB judges on performance and on the result. Both are considered because without a result, he believes that without a result they cannot perform. He also believes that players should be given trust that if they are going to perform they will have results. Upon good performance the chances increase, although it might not always happen, since every game has it own difficulties. DA does not judge on results or performance but he gives them a lot of weight. OS does not believe in never changing a winning team. He believes that all players must be ready for the game, he does not have the first eleven or the winning team or the loosing team, they must all be ready. Training is kept the same for everyone, everyone is motivated the same, so he pretends that when one is called to play they are just ready to deliver. During the week prior to the match day, PZ talks globally, but on the day he tackles it individually. He explains what is their specific job and role. Highlights the good points and states where something could have been done better. On match day he rates according to the role and job of the players and based on what they had to do. e. How do you compare the performance of one player with another? A team is made up of a number of players and it is difficult to compare the performance of one player with another player. BN, MM, and WM do not compare within the team. BN does not like to compare between one player and another. He does carry out 111

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analysis on the player but when he is talking to them, although he does not compare to another player, the player in question will know if another player was better than him. MM does not judge a person with another person. They all have different levels. He implements the game model and if he sees a player going away from the game model he will bring it to his attention. If he complies great, if not he is changed. WM never compares, each individual has his own history. DA compares against the objectives that he sets for them. JB usually watches the game again. Around twenty five clips are prepared, and they are watched with the players. Sometimes, they also summarise the clips since some of the mistakes are repeated therefore they pick two instances out of five showing the same mistake. The principles are that they show them these mistakes so that in the upcoming games they are not repeated. There are periods when PZ is more generic and feels that there is a need to talk to the team all together, both positive and negative. Throughout the years he learnt that when he is discussing something negative he says it infront of everyone to pass on a message between the lines. He does this because he believes his players are intelligent and capable to understand his messages and to whom he is referring. If he needs to address someone directly, he speaks to them individually and this is something he does quite regularly and the player would be expecting it. f. How do you recognize and reward improvements in performances and Behaviour? Finally what is important too is the recognition and rewarding the improvements in performances and behaviour. DA believes in praising them in front of everyone and makes them aware that he is satisfied with what they are doing. WM recognises and rewards improvements by monitoring and giving praise, he shows the players where he was and where he is now but surely believes that there are new challenges for more improvement. BN highlights as an example a case in point from his experience: he wanted his wing-back Marcelo Dias to defend more and so whenever during a game he did a fantastic defensive thing, he would cut the clip and showed it to the group and then he asked all the others on what he did and they were all praising him and clapping hands. When this happens and everybody is saying ‘wow’ it is a bigger reward and at times one sees him redoing it during the game. So he believes in making positive reinforcement and recognition in front of his peers. MM keeps the game model as the benchmark, and according to this players are expected to perform and are judged upon this. OS states that within the club he is presently with, the 112

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players get financial rewards, but this goes beyond his jurisdiction. His aim is to try and build a hungry team. Most of his Maltese players are ‘rejects’ who had been put aside by their previous clubs and so uses this to their advantage and uses it also as a motivating factor. In the dressing room he always tells them ‘no price is greater than pride’. Rewards from his end towards the team are an extra day off. JB states that they do not give rewards. They believe that the greatest reward is for a player to play more. He believes in giving them trust. Ultimately he plays those whom he thinks are best for the team. A player knows when he would have played well so they always tend to help more those players who are going through a bad patch. After all he judges on performance and on result.

PZ thinks that the respect earned as a coach and being seen as a leader is important. He likes to give the players individual feedback both when their performance is not at par to what was expected and most especially when they would have had a very good game. He would explain why he was disappointed and what he expected to see more from the player so communication is fundamental. He highlighted an example of a player, Michael Mifsud in that he communicates with him when he believes that he had a sub-standard game even when he would have come on as a sub and was ineffective he explicitly tells him that he expects him to make the difference once he gets on the field of play. But he is also equally generous in complimenting him when he would have had a good performance, be it at club level but also with the National Team as he makes it a point to follow his players even when they are called up for International duty. He emphasised again that respect is what makes them look at you as the person who is leading and controlling but also as the person who can help them in different circumstances or at least can motivate them in different situations.

3.5.1 Comparative Analysis - Controlling The final managerial function which needs to be addressed within the local sphere is controlling. As discussed this involves ensuring that actual results and performance conform to those planned out by the monitoring of individual and collective achievements with set goals and objectives. To undertake this task local coaches rely mostly on observation and video analysis but as highlighted in the literature review, a number of technological developments such as GPS with heart-rate profile allow coaches of overseas football clubs to monitor each session and compare it with set benchmarks. This is an area where Maltese Clubs need to make significant inroads 113

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because as outlined by the coaches interviewed all are receptive of embracing the latest technology to assist them in their controlling functions but the clubs lack the finances. Unfortunately the majority of the clubs in Malta are not ready or willing to invest so much money in this latest technology as they see this as an extra expense but the coach should insist on explaining the multitude of benefits to the committee and how this will lead to significant improvements in performance if clubs really want to improve their professionalism.

At top foreign clubs each player is tracked in terms of four “corners”: technical, tactical physical and psychological. They utilise the services of a company such as Opta or Prozone which provides multi-camera footage of a player’s actions during a match and during training and the coaches can critique a player’s and the team’s performance. Having raw data or stats is meaningless and the coach must know with the help of data analysis how to analyse and interpret the data provided so to undertake a systematic analysis using metrics which might offer a more revealing measure of a player or team’s performance. From here the coach as a manager should recognize and reward players who exceed the targets set while investigating and taking corrective measures in areas where they fall short. Local coaches should seek to set meticulously set standards for the team and each individual player at the start of the season, and apart from acknowledging and rewarding players through positive reinforcement, social and individual recognition / praise they should also seek to implement performance-related contracts which is widely diffused in the local business world but which is scarcely adopted by Maltese football clubs. Through this players, apart from match bonuses, get a target bonus at the end of the season depending on the number of appearances he has made throughout the season and the performances he put in.

Managing and maintaining control of the dressing room through discipline and intervention when player’s responsibility fails is critical for the success of a team. Different coaches have their distinctive ways of how to deal with cases of indiscipline mostly through verbal reprimands, fines and in extreme cases suspension or exclusion from the team. The first mission for the coach should be to entice, motivate the players enough to keep them on board and in line with their responsibilities and obligations and prevent them from reaching this stage. But when such issues arise the coach needs to show a firm hand in a consistent manner irrespective of the name or connections of the player as otherwise he would risk losing the whole dressing

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room. This is one of the most challenging aspects for the football coach and where the human relations management is so important. Unfortunately many local coaches bemoaned that the committee many a time does not fully support the coaches’ disciplinary measures especially if they deem this player to be very important or even worse that he is an ‘expensive’ player. In order for the coach to maintain order, manage and control the team, he must have the full support of the committee subject who must totally back-up the measures taken by the coach, subject that the action taken is logical and without prejudices or hidden agendas.

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CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This dissertation has analysed how the managerial principles of Planning, Leading, Organizing and Controlling apply to modern day football coaches and how it improves coaching effectiveness. This involves the consistent application of integrated professional, interpersonal, and intra-personal knowledge to improve players' competence, confidence, connection and character in specific coaching contexts. Operating in a highly complex, dynamic and challenging environment, modern day football coaches are expected to excel not just as trainers or selectors on the training pitch or to prepare for match day but most especially as managers. Managerial skills are an essential arsenal in the skill-set of modern day coaches as coaches must be inculcated and endowed with the managerial proficiency to maximize the resources at their disposal in particular the human resources (players and staff) by leading and directing them towards the attainment of the club's goals and objectives.

As analysed in the previous chapter, Maltese football is at crossroads with a number of challenges afflicting the growth and popularity of the local game. The coaches, along with other stakeholders have a pivotal role to play to resuscitate football from the doldrums it is currently languishing in. In particular they have a responsibility through their coaching to add value by improving the level of Maltese football by improving the technical, tactical and physical level of players through the quality of their training. But it is through proficiency in the managerial acumen of coaches that Maltese football clubs need to make the leap towards greater professionalism which is where local football needs to be heading if it is to make the quantum leap forward.

The Malta Football Association (M.F.A.) has initiated the process through its coaching education department by introducing the first Professional Coaching Licence to expose coaches and prepare them to work and manage in a professional environment. In recognition of the ever-growing importance of management it is being recommended that Management courses are offered to local coaches to further enhance their managerial knowledge which would bolster their success as coaches. This would help them develop the required competence in managing their players and staff utilizing the latest management concepts and frameworks and learn how to integrate them in their day to day operations.

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For these coaches to be able to maximize their potential and for Maltese football to really make inroads towards a more Professional Set-up, the clubs and environment within which they operate also need to make the necessary advancements. In particular the greatest lacuna which is stalling the process is the administration of football clubs as this is still amateurish and lagging far behind foreign professional football clubs which should serve as a benchmark if true progress is to be registered in Maltese football. For this reason it is being recommended that club administration should no longer be left in the hands of volunteers but maybe with the assistance of the local football association through subsidies, administrators are employed with remuneration on full-time or part-time basis.

Having a more professional administration will lead to better run clubs, greater stability and greater focus on the overall management and finances of the club. Much work and effort should be directed towards reviving the finances of the club through revenue generation like sponsorship agreements, merchandising sales, funding etc. which in turn would lead to greater financial stability and greater propensity to invest in the necessary facilities and equipment which were highlighted to facilitate the coach in his undertaking of his coaching and managerial duties. Greater financial prowess and stability coupled with a more professional administration and structure would entice and encourage more local coaches and players to turn Professional which is a prerequisite for the advancements of the local game.

Further Recommendations based on the Primary and Secondary sources of the research carried out are highlighted here under:  Drafting of a long term strategic plan based on three to five years including financial budgets, covering all the operations of the club starting from Nursery level, Youth development up to the Senior team which highlights clearly the vision and the mission of the club. This enables the Coach to have a very clear indication of the objectives he needs to attain.  Appointing a Sports Director who will be running the club in terms of general management to ensure continuity in terms of respecting the vision and strategic plans of the club and to ensure succession and smooth transition between one coach and another. At the same time offering stability to the coach to manage better the day to day operations.

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 Ensuring strategic fit between the club and the members of the technical staff appointed.  The Committee and the Sports Director should support the Coach in the identification, scouting and recruitment of the right players who will form part of the vision and the strategy of the coach, which, after all, are the means to achieve the club’s goals and objectives.  The Technical staff assisting the coach should share his same vision and complement his attributes. The coach should be in situation where he either selects them himself or else bring over his team.  The role of the coach as a leader has highly evolved and nowadays it is believed that empowerment to the team is the key to success in the game. The fundamental principle is to let the team and the technical staff to participate to ensure individual leadership and become problem solvers rather than followers. The coach seen as a change agent and a transformational leader.  The importance of having the latest technological equipment and other modern resources to use on the pitch to enhance the motivation during the training sessions and therefore assist the coach in improving the quality of the players ultimately leading to the best performance.

It is also important to recognise the limitations and implications for further research. One of the main limitations is the singular approach of this study. The context of the interview allowed the coach to carefully craft a response in a rather relaxed setting. Respondents had time to consider the questions and answer from an ideal perspective. The study did not consider the systematic behaviour of coaches at training sessions or during games. Unlike training and competition environments that likely induce stressful circumstances, coaches had time to think about the responses and offer interpretation of their behaviour and philosophy. The research study was not obtained from a variety of environmental settings.

Another limitation is that the study focused solely on the football coach. Further research to determine the importance of management in coaching should be analysed from the Committee and also from the players’ perspectives and how the managerial principles of the coach can affect them. Lastly the participants in this study were not

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analysed from a social profiling side and therefore the views were coming from a mix of age and level of education.

This dissertation offers an insight into the work, philosophy, values and principles of some of the most respected, renowned and successful coaches and leaders in the world of football as well as those of some of the finest crop of local coaches plying their trade in the local sphere. Despite the differences in culture, frames of reference, personal insight and professional perspective, all the coaches foster a common dogma. Coaching is not merely about tutoring technical skills – it is a far-reaching holistic approach based on management. Leadership and management is all about people. Whatever the goals and grand vision, the successful coach must interconnect the four functions of management to lead his people as no manager, in the business and football world will achieve anything truly worthwhile without the ability to inspire his people.

A good coach must lead by example, lead through continuous learning and through inspiring the team by bringing together his experience, education, philosophy and practice, enabling him to create an environment for the team, players, staff and themselves to identify and achieve goals, learn and hone their craft and advance the game. It is this willingness and ability to work with and connect with people on an individual and personal level that distinguishes these successful coaches from others. The coach who invests the time and energy to emancipate the collective astuteness, ingenuity and creativity of his people will be the pace setters in the modern game. May this study make a real contribution to the growth and understanding of management and leadership in the beautiful game of football.

“You train dogs, I like to educate players.”

“Every player I see as my own son,” he said. “I want to do the very best for them. I want to be able to push them in their lives so they can do it for their children. We do everything in life for our kids. I don’t want to ever miss the chance of letting players understand that this is why we do it.” Brendan Rodgers

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APPENDICES

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APPENDIX 1 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Do you consider yourself more of a coach, a selector or a Manager?

2. How important do you think Management is in the day to day operations as a coach?

3. What managerial qualities must a coach have to be a good coach in your opinion?

Functions of Management consist of :  Planning  Leading  Organising  Controlling

4. Planning

4.a. How do you Plan for short-term, medium term and long term?

4.b. How do you converge your vision and philosophy with that of the club?

4.c. Before joining a club do you take into consideration the philosophy of the history of the club and whether this is in sync with your own?

4.d. The life span of a football coach is a short one – how does this hinder your long term planning?

4.e. What qualities do you look for in building up a team?

4.f. How do you select and manage the team behind the team?

4.g. How do you periodise your work?

5. Organising Organising implies putting plans into action.

5.a. How do you prevent overlapping and confusion of roles?

5.b. Place your staff on the image.(organigram)

6. Leadership Leaders are those who are able to influence others and who possess managerial authority

6.a. How and when is your leadership evident?

6.b. How do you influence players and technical staff to buy into your vision?

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6.c. What sort of relationship do you like to establish with your players – parental, personal, boss?

6.d. What lines of communication do you keep with your players and how do you interact with them – directly or through intermediaries (ex. Assistant coaches)?

6.e. What level of autonomy do you like to give to your players – during training sessions, during games, in general (ex. Appointing captains) ?

6.f. You are about to take an important decision regarding team tactics – how much do you consult your assistants, your players and what level of participation do you allow?

6.g. Your players are not happy with the amount of training and would like to reduce the workload how much weight do you give to their opinion?

6.h. Change can be stressful and damaging to the group-- how do you handle change within your group?

6.i. How do you keep your players and staff motivated from training session to training session and from game to game?

7. Controlling

7.a. Do you set any standards and benchmarks in terms of performance and behaviour during training, games and daily routine?

7.b. How do you deal with cases of misconduct and what disciplinary steps and procedures do you normally follow in terms of your attitude, reprimands, fines etc.?

7.c. How do you monitor the progress within your team?

7.d. Do you judge improvements merely on results or performance?

7.e. How do you compare the performance of one player with another?

7.f. How do you recognize and reward improvements in performances and Behaviour?

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APPENDIX 2 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR BRANKO NISEVIC – COACH OF A SENIOR TEAM IN THE MALTESE PREMIER LEAGUE

1. Do you consider yourself more of a coach, a selector or a Manager?

Coach, I am at a stage that I am still thinking I am a little bit more coach than manager.

OK even though you recognise the importance of management? Yes yes but I am working on it even my thesis is related to this next step. My thesis is about the relation between coaches and players so it Is the human relation aspect.

2. How important do you think Management is in the day to day operations as a coach?

Well I think that the rule has switched a lot in the direction of Business Company managers right, so it’s a moment that coaches are more asked to deal with the people where these social skills are more important nowadays maybe than technical abilities of the coach.

3. What managerial qualities must a coach have to be a good coach in your opinion?

Well from the studies I have done there are three aspects. One is related to the professional knowledge, professional knowledge is the knowledge of the job that you are doing, the second one is related to intra personal ability and the third one is inter personal ability - one is about knowing myself and the other one is about the ability to know the others and dealing with the others, so dealing with the people - human relations.

Functions of Management consist of:  Planning  Leading  Organising  Controlling

4. Planning

4.a. How do you Plan for short-term, medium term and long term?

So when I started coaching you know I went to speak with my ex-coach who was coaching the Yugoslav National Team and you know when you start coaching your idea is big term, big plans, big long you know and he told me one thing, that planning is always for the first season because this is and if you don’t finish you will not have nothing to play for the next season so you need to plan both long term and short term but I think short term is the most important.

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4.b. How do you converge your vision and philosophy with that of the club?

Well I try to implement my ideas definitely so I think you have to be balanced you have to take what is theirs you try to put something no big changes because its Hibs arrived at a point we don’t want to change its been twenty years like this so we want it like this so OK maybe my way of doing things was not the best way it also irritated them but I did try to change something, that’s my idea you have to change a little bit you cannot stay in a stale mate always the same you know yes changes but be cautious.

4.c. Before joining a club do you take into consideration the philosophy of the history of the club and whether this is in sync with your own?

Yes, yes Well yes when I join the club I try to assess all the aspects of the club. Now here in Malta you don’t have a club when you can say this club has this philosophy , has this tradition because all of them are surviving on year to year basis no, but it’s true that each club has something in the background so yes you assess and you evaluate these things for example for me in Hibs joining them there obviously I was a player there I know the structure I know the people I know the way how the club functions by using the young players and how relations it is between the president and players president and the coaches so I knew. Now when I joined for example Gzira, Gzira is not a club tipo Hibs but you know I knew the man who is in charge of the club he looks very ambitious which I liked it and I know the man that I belong with him so I was at a point that I don’t want to tell him no because I would like to help him if I can give some help so these are the aspects that you evaluate everywhere.

4.d. The life span of a football coach is a short one – how does this hinder your long term planning?

Listen at the back of our mind we all know that we don’t last long right, but still you do have some kind of idea for the next year so even when I start you know when I assemble the squad OK and I say when I will join for example these two or three young players I still think OK they cannot play now but from the next year maybe they can do this or they can do that you know so we get example he played this year with us on and off on and off then I say OK next year now you go somewhere else on a loan and you play full season and then you come back and then you are more complete so at the back of the mind there is always something for the next year despite knowing that listen I might not be there, but there is always something. But with Hibs you had a long term vision for the next three years even though obviously you knew that there might be a chance that you move. Yes of course

4.e. What qualities do you look for in building up a team?

Jacques everything counts no, I try to get the most what I can know about the person but the first impression that I have is what I see on the face so when I see another game and I see a player with whom I have never worked the first impression that attracts me is his technical ability so if technical ability is good then I start asking around the people who work with him can you tell me something about him? Listen if technically he is good I would consider him but I have to know his character definitely

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is he coachable, is he willing to work , does he match in the group, is he a team player or .

OK and if they tell you this player is fantastic, he is one of the best players in Malta then you get to know that his attitude is bad you know in the dressing room or whatever, would you still consider him?

Not sure not sure

The most important if you were to give a priority the character or?

No character is very important although sometimes listen characters are different he can be not good with you but he might be good with me, you know you never know for example if you ask about Jorginho I can tell you his character is strange he is not friendly, he is not easy but with me he was excellent you know even now he sends me a message or phones me the best coach you know I want to work with you you know sometimes even us we have different characters we manage to establish good relation with this one but not with that one and it’s not because it is our fault but because it is impossible to be good with everybody so I don’t know if I really have a bad feedback about somebody and I never worked with him then I definitely will not go to any kind of risk but if I work with somebody and people say listen he is not good I can still give it a go.

4.f. How do you select and manage the team behind the team?

The team no, the ideal situation would be that yes I have but I don’t have because in Maltese level it’s difficult you know that I take somebody with me because to say when we were with Hibs for example, if I bring a person and they don’t pay him then I am the shitty one you understand. If I see that the club is organised then OK I am ready to put my cheeks for somebody but if they don’t pay for six months then listen it’s a problem. So this kind of thing I try to evaluate can I handle them or not, secondly is when I choose collaborators apart from their technical abilities I would like them to be good in something that I am not good in it so let’s say I am not friendly with the players or something like that I am not approachable so I usually choose somebody with whom players they feel easy going almost like player to player relation you know.

And how do you manage them do you tell them what you want from them do you specifically?

No at the very beginning we discuss all the aspects of doing things, working the things so when it comes to the selection I always ask for opinion , selection, ideas or match preparation I always ask for opinion.

Do you find yourself comfortable working with others or you prefer to do everything yourself when it comes to, because there are some people some coaches who like to work on their own.

Yes yes, you trust only yourself, but you can assess the other people what they are good at so you can say OK when he tells me about this and I know he is good in this I accept it, but if he tells me about that and I am not sure that he is good in that no I will acknowledge it but obviously I will take the decision.

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But you do work hand in hand with him?

Yes yes even during the training session we split, we share you know.

4.g. How do you periodise your work?

How do you perodise your work Branko in the sense for example how do you periodise you have a team, you went with Gzira for example, and then you were with Hibs, how do you periodise you started a yearly plan and then you split two monthly there is a cycle or whatever how do you do it?

Well so you ask about technical so well I do first physical periodisation that’s the first point that I start so when I start I already have my synopsis and the one I use is the one you get a book that’s the one I use. Then I have a game order in my head now do I have the players, now that’s the other question, when I was in Hibs for example I had the players the one I wanted to play so I was OK it was just a matter of bringing the third good stopper or not, so once we found the third good stopper then we were full team. Now when I came to Gzira for example my idea is to play similar but same piece I am not saying I want only to play this because I am very flexible you know what is maybe main characteristic is that I like attacking football I don’t like just defend defend defend so this time we played nearly always but system can vary. So when I have the game model then I have my principles for this game.

But the game model you have it before you have the players or you have the game model according to the players?

No no I adapt. I came for example to Gzira I came my idea was that we can play 3 at the back 3, 4, 3 or 3, 5, 2 but

You tried to get players?

Yes yes for example like that but then we didn’t manage , many players that we approached they all refused so I came to the moment I said listen the idea of 3,4,3 is the best with this team. So then we adapt.

And then so you have the physical periodisation, you have your game plan and then you start with a yearly plan and then you split it into two monthly?

Every six months

And then each week you prepare each week according to for example what you did last game and the opponents that you would be facing?

Tactic periodisation yes in the preseason you can dedicate couple of weeks for a certain team then when the league starts we are all bound with the results. Beginning of the season you can still say OK I still work on this I still work on this but then we depend on game to game, but no big variations even when it comes to exercises you know I don’t use million different exercises you know everything is the game situations you know trying to see what your opponents can play and how to go around it with their way of playing.

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And how do you plan your training sessions Branko with your assistant for example you tell him what you want what you are going to do?

Usually OK but not always but usually at the beginning of the week I send email and through the email I discuss the points and then we meet on the first day we speak about coming days.

But always when you send the email you tell them listen Monday we are going to have a recovery we stay off we work on this, on this Thursday we are attacking for example?

Yes yes we speak about physical components and then we say OK listen for the next game maybe we need to work a little more on this so I say listen other than this maybe Jacques you work on that and then one day will be dedicated to the attacking part you know the other one will be on the defence.

Always based on the last game and your next game?

Yes yes.

5. Organising Organising implies putting plans into action.

5.a. How do you prevent overlapping and confusion of roles?

Well what I did for example with Hibs I let him do a couple of times then I stay on the side and I see what he was doing then when the training finish then I tell him listen I think that is good this just try to pay attention maybe on this detail maybe better if two strikers don’t like this don’t like that no and second time he does it so later he arrives to what I want.

5.b. Place your staff on the image.(organigram)

If you have an idea an organigram in your staff you would have you in the middle right do you see yourself in the centre and what would you have in your organisation you would have an assistant coach yes , you would have a physical trainer.

I reckon the most important is the physical trainer then I would have the physical trainer, then I always need a person to record the game then we need medical department tipo physio doctor then the kit manager and we need a team manager who would be our connection to the players. So when you say about team manager we say we don’t call him team manager we call him team secretary so he is in charge of the team so he is not somebody who is managing the team or managing no he is in charge of this.

But do you see yourself always at the centre of it all Branko do you want eh so you agree with this?

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But you agree that it is important you are always at the centre?

Yes it is important that I at the end of the day I am responsible for everything yes.

6. Leadership: Leaders are those who are able to influence others and who possess managerial authority

6.a. How and when is your leadership evident?

I think even in the very very small things you can show the leadership you know and many say discipline. Discipline is influencing the people to do what I want to be done so I have to convince them that what is to be done is also good for them. And I have to convince them that everything we do we have to we are doing it to make it better for them. It is important to win the players on your side definitely.

And how do you manage to do that Branko in your opinion? By being authorative by being…?

The same, let me tell you in the first year for example when I was with Hibs I did have problems you know, now somebody has to try to figure out because is the problem because of my approach or is the problem because the players were used to do how they to want to do so you know you have to find the way. Mind you, it is my first year so not really much experience in dealing with senior players, then second year everything was smooth but you get good results and everything goes well. Third year was a little bit turbulent and at one point when it is, it’s because the club is thinking to change the coach all the players stood up for me so that means that through these two years I managed to do something so I wasn’t really autocratic I started a little bit tougher because the information I got it was like the place I lose, they do what they want so I thought OK, strong hands maybe but as the time pass my hand was not strong I was quite friendly with them so when it came to the moment that even they stood up for me that means that they saw me as somebody important for them.

6.b. How do you influence players and technical staff to buy into your vision?

Well first we always start talking characteristics of the players you know convincing them listen I am sure that you get these abilities convincing the players you have abilities to do some good stuff right then we go to practice we go to video examples and we try we try and when something good happens even in our games the first thing to show is look even in the game this happens so I am sure you can do these things you know you reinforce.

6.c. What sort of relationship do you like to establish with your players – parental, personal, boss?

Well it’s something that I have been working even in my thesis now this, now this relation between parent and coach I work a lot. I don’t know because when I see players it’s not the same stuff like when I was player because when I was a player thirty years ago the players were tipo soldiers so coach there is this boom and there is no discussion. So I was brought up in this kind of environment but I think and even me I believe and I am trying to shift more to friendship not parent its more to friendship 129

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you know yes I am ready always to help, I am always ready to give advice, I cannot sort some solutions for them having problems with wives or whatever you know but I can tell them listen in my life I came to this this and this so this is how I dealt with it you know and for example I got many many meetings with Bjorn. Bjorn is very unstable boy he is always in some mental problems so; I was quite friendly with him not as a parent but as a friend.

And do you like them that they see you as one of them on the pitch for example you joke with them you get into torredoes with them and whatever or no?

Look with, no I do joke but it’s always at a certain level till the border , there is a border where you can joke but then there is something that listen we don’t joke sometimes it’s important to listen. I don’t joke but sometimes for example after losing the game I never try to be harsh, after losing the game it’s hard or with the jokes or with the exercise or with something or with you know we start to laugh and we start to pull them up so trying to balance it yes.

6.d. What lines of communication do you keep with your players and how do you interact with them – directly or through intermediaries (ex. Assistant coaches)?

First thing I tell them listen my door is always open so if there is something comes ask I am always available. Second thing is as I told you when I chose the assistant coach even at Hibs for example it was Hugh who already played many years with some of the players so whenever they get something it was always him to be approached first then they come to me so it was working OK .

6.e. What level of autonomy do you like to give to your players – during training sessions, during games, in general (ex. appointing captains)?

My starting position is always listen everybody can speak what he has to say even when I come to speak in a dressing room when I finish my speech whatever I have to say I always ask is there somebody who would like to say something. When nobody says anything I even go by the name you know what you think you know to try and open their mouth so I try to establish open relationship.

But do you leave them free to express themselves in training on the pitch or do you impose?

We try listen we try sometimes a player comes I think it’s better if I do this I say no problem let’s try if you do this do we still gain any advantage more than the other one I don’t mind we are here to try. When we try set pieces I always ask OK this is what I propose do you think there is another better or so we do try.

Let me give you an example I don’t know if you know the case but Mourinho when he chose the captain of Chelsea he had chosen that Frank Lampard would be the captain but they were going for the first friendly game, they were on the aeroplane and basically there was this discussion and the players said, they spoke amongst them and they said that they would prefer to have John Terry because they found him more (25.33) or whatever. Mourinho was ready to listen to what they had to say and in fact John Terry came the captain of Chelsea.

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Would you take that into consideration or would you have made up your mind that listen he is going to be that’s my way and no discussion?

No of course of course I am open for proposal of what they have to say because they know better what they feel although sometimes they might not be objective they may be subjective. In the first year we had a problem with this Tarabai he is always happy and not happy and six of them want to speak with me I said no problem so six of them sitting like this and telling me and explain me I said I believe what you say I am ready to try and to gain the best out of him so it was OK.

6.f. You are about to take an important decision regarding team tactics – how much do you consult your assistants, your players and what level of participation do you allow?

You are about to take an important decision regarding your tactics for example you want to change you said you want to change from 3,5,2 or 3,4,3 and you want to change now to 4,3,3 how much do you consult your assistants and the players? What level of participation do you allow them for example they are doing the session you are telling them listen we are going from 3 at the back to 4 do you let them express themselves if they don’t feel comfortable would you still would take notice of what they are saying or say listen I have decided I want to go to 4 at the back, now that’s my choice and that’s it?

I always take note now do I follow what they say or no then I have to judge it no but with collaborators yes with my assistants always. I explain what I see, he explains to me what he sees we try to match everything and we arrive somewhere. It’s not always exactly what I say but at the end of the day it’s you who decides no. Now the players yes sometimes look at Hibs there was not much need to ask them how we want to play because once the team go good there was no changing then in the third year we came to position that we had to change because bringing all those players tipo Cohen, Gilmar, Dani, we had to see how to fit them we had to change something. So I was trying to explain I was always keeping it listen guys this is always a backup because some of them they were not happy. So you cannot tell somebody who scored 16 goals listen you scored 16 goals thank you but now you are gonna play defence so obviously they are not gonna like it. So I tried to absorb this and I tried to see how successful was this I don’t know somebody from outside has to but I tried to consult them I tried to speak with them for example now in Gzira we get a game and I came to them with the plan the gay plan of the other team so I asked them what do you think how we should play so we went through it to the strong points of the other team to the weak points of the other team a little bit I guide them maybe so they arrived to the model that even me I wanted to do so you know sometimes I ask them sometimes.

But if you are doing it when you went from 3 to 4 and then the players tell you listen we are not feeling comfortable to change would you still persist with your idea or no?

It depends with the results if the result is not good then so you would go for it even if they don’t feel comfortable you try to convince them. If I don’t feel comfortable and the result is good but by the time obviously they would accept it

But the first time you would go ahead with your plan.

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Yes yes

You will go ahead with your plan?

You mentioned because I forgot to ask you before that if for example Danny and whatever and I know that it wasn’t really your plan how much was your input with Hibs for example and even with Gzira in the players that you got in planning for the players was the case, listen they got you the players and you have to work with them or you plan that you need this player and this player.

Those are different cases very much different cases because Hibs is attracted club so when you approach somebody most probably he will be attracted as well to join you so being the champion and then asking for a player every player will say yes I want to join you because we really looked as a great team at that time .

But some players were not your choice obviously?

Obviously Hibs at the end of the season, successful season I came with my plan, with my proposal and then somebody else comes with the waiting list they say waiting list there are one, two, three players waiting so I say listen because maybe I have too much respect I don’t know because now I am saying maybe I should boom I say this team doesn’t need these players but anyway because of respect that everybody did a lot for this stuff I say listen for every coach it is good to have many good players you know but I mean I made it clear from the beginning it is impossible that all these will start because there is no team in the world that can support all these players. So if you can afford to pay this player to sit sometimes and sometimes to play me as a coach it’s less problems because I have more choice. Anyway what was the answer on but in this specific case they did not follow my guidance right. Now when I went in Gzira I gave them the list let’s say this player, this player, this player but Gzira was not attracted for those players. Even if I am talking about the players who are not big star players but players tipo Luke Montebello for example he was not attracted, Camenzuli he was not attracted, Jean Paul Farrugia he was not attracted. So all these players financially the club was able to cope but the players were not attracted so at the end we end up bringing the players who could not play well, so who were not initially on the list. Then you end up creating the list of the players who are forced solution. So that is the case .

6.g. Your players are not happy with the amount of training and would like to reduce the workload how much weight do you give to their opinion?

Yes I get the case now with Gzira you know in the preseason because we brought quite some players when the season started and they were not fit. So once we have these two weeks’ break I proposed some mini preseason obviously so I pushed them a little bit harder and at one point one of them came he explained to me no, if you put argument though I accept so I said OK I skipped one plan training sessions so I give weight to their opinion. Yes yes.

6.h. Change can be stressful and damaging to the group-- how do you handle change within your group?

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they have to come with the team bus rather than and you are going to change this, how do you handle this change, do you just go and tell them listen from now on we are going to do this, this is the rule or do you try to identify a change agent, a leader?

Well again I have to commit them, commit them how with my good arguments and through some channels, some channels the captain or through some senior players who are understanding and agreeing with me because if not they are not agreeing with me then it’s not, nothing eh then it’s better to let go and not to go for it.

6.i. How do you keep your players and staff motivated from training session to training session and from game to game?

Well first thing that my money as I told you my way of training is always game oriented so I never give them to run without ball so I always try to put any exercise that I propose I always try to put them in the picture of their position in the so you find yourself in the game you will find yourself in that position so I always try to put you in that position to weekend to train. The other way to motivate them maybe is to give them a right or to put them a little bit more active in this match preparation so if they feel that they have importance in something, in some say or in some, I think this can also make them motivated.

I see them very important and with Hibs we had one of these systems, somehow we managed to get them it was the cheapest variation but not very accurate it doesn’t give you many many details but the fact that we had something that was monitoring the players, after training the players used to come and ask can I see how much today? So the players got extra motivated with the fact that listen I did this much , I did more than you or I did more than I did last time you know, I used to show them these zones red, orange and green. They used to come how many minutes did I stay red zone so they had already set targets for them to reach. So I think it’s very important. And even for example match analysis and all they make up very so.

7. Control

7.a. Do you set any standards and benchmarks in terms of performance and behaviour during training, games and daily routine?

Well bench mark, starting position could be code of conduct you know; I do always implement the code of conduct.

Are you very regimental, if they are late five minutes?

Now I don’t no, I am a little bit flexible about it , a little flexible

But you weren’t? Now you are maybe?

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Not very much, no not very much listen from the very beginning for example in Hibs there was the code of conduct and I spoke about it we put everything on the paper, through my guiding I put them to write on the paper what I wanted to, we agreed, they sign about it . Now when it comes to fines we are in amateurish football not professional football so some huge severe fines they don’t make a lot of sense so in Hibs they used to do like this if you pay to me, that means inside the team the fine will be small, but if you don’t accept to pay then the fine will go through the club that means it will be full amount. It was OK I think it was not bad, you know the players used to come and just give the money so they accepted it. They accepted it. So that was one of the way to bench mark their behaviour.

And in terms of performance you mentioned for example that you had the heart rate monitor so performance on the pitch you could monitor the amount training?

Yes the training but in the match you don’t, in the match you don’t get these things. Unfortunately because ideally if you can do it, it would be perfect, but when needed for example I do statistics for the match so when I need to approach the player and I know the player will tell me no I think that I play good then I approach with the statistics of the match and the statistics would have shown for example number of crosses, number of shots, number of you know and then through these things you can get idea, you know did you perform really good , did you think that you perform tipo if you are a winger OK any cross no cross, any penetration no penetration so what does it mean I played good so with this ....

7.b. How do you deal with cases of misconduct and what disciplinary steps and Procedures do you normally follow in terms of your attitude, reprimands, fines etc..?

Well I do have this code of conduct and sometimes it is important that even the club, but the clubs how can I tell you the clubs are also very amateurish so when it comes to take the stands, take decision they do not really take it. It is difficult to hold them, every club starting position will be back saying listen we need that player can you try to find a way to so discipline somebody its quite difficult.

To get the club to discipline a player?

Yes it is very difficult I get the case for example when you want a league you try to play against Sliema for example and we are losing 1 – 0 and my stopper got a red card. He did hit the other opponent with the head so he got red card and he was three matches suspended and we did not play the league yet, so it was still you know to lose ones it , getting a red card for this kind of behaviour is severe. OK if we won this game, here and there we won, but if we lose this game and then you don’t have him for another three matches it’s a problem. So in case at least for example it was I think the first time that I ask severe punishment, severe that means big money fine but the club no the club said no, the club you know didn’t support so big problem.

7.c. How do you monitor the progress within your team?

But mostly on performance not that much on results. I would say performance and I do a lot of these video analysis. I have nearly from every match I have series of clips

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and then maybe I can compare this game with the last game, or this game with the first game you can compare ...

And once you do these video analysis do you meet with the team and discuss the last game always with the team or no? Do you use it for yourself or do you use it to speak to them individually, the players or?

Well I’ll be honest yes it is impossible to do it every week right, my aim is to do as much as possible and I do it with the team and with the group. Sometimes or as time permitted I used to make reports for every single player you know so I am ready to work even single group and team. In my opinion group work is the best because there is this department and then you can discuss, analyse I think work group is the best way to do this.

7.d. Do you judge improvements merely on results or performance?

Well me personally I think that we coaches we judge him on performance because we always believe that good performance will bring results but outside they will always judge...

And when you judge for example Bjorn do you judge him on whether he did according to your game model? When you define performance, performance in terms of how much he abided by what you instructed him or?

Him specifically he had no technical problems he had more mental problems you know his psychological crisis or whatever so listen each one of them has different type of problems. Somebody does understand, there was a player he technically was very poor, wanted to say a lot but he was very poor so you judge him on what he does technically you try to judge him a bit , you try to improve him a bit so you judge him on all aspects of the game technically and mentally.

7.e. How do you compare the performance of one player with another?

Not within the team.

Do you compare the performance of one player or do you compare his performance with this game?

I don’t like to say to the player I am telling him that I am comparing him with another player to mention the name of the other player because then the other player will come and say listen I think I am better than this one I think so my centre is him so again. How many crosses did you give. So I don’t tell him listen this one gives more crosses I tell him we did not give the crosses so ..... Or maybe you did not train enough during the training session. Yes yes the analysis is mostly based on himself personally not I don’t want to mention the other name then sometimes it happens for example, he comes but the other is playing winger and then I can say listen how many crosses the other one did for example. This what happened now with Gzira, I told them listen the one who played the winger on the other side he told me he is not a winger it’s ok not a problem maybe you think like that but how many crosses did he get he remembered that the other one had crosses, how many shots he remembered that, so I said listen I expect to

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view these things I am not telling him this one was better than you but he understands that this one was better than him.

7.f. How do you recognize and reward improvements in performances and behaviour?

Well I give you one example, for example in Hibs how I did. We, for example Dias is not a defender and he did one and he was always saying I want to defend more but do you see him as a defender, as a fullback, as a winger? He did one fantastic defensive thing, fantastic, so I cut it straight away, I showed it and I asked them what the others are thinking and that all twenty of them said he did good, and then I said no he didn’t do good he did fantastic. When you see a player doing these things for me it’s fantastic you know and then everybody was clapping and he got boosted.

So you like to recognise this performance?

Not only. Not telling me because I think it is a bigger reward when everybody is saying “Wow” what he did was and I notice a couple of games after when we played he tried to copy the same move he did so you know so he was proud of what he did, so I think when rewarding these things the idea really comes from...... not because I might say it is good but then the other one if he thinks is not good then the value is not the same.

So you try to give, to make him recognisable in front of all the team?

Yes yes. The group has to help him.

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APPENDIX 3 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR DARREN ABDILLA – COACH OF A SENIOR TEAM IN THE MALTESE PREMIER LEAGUE

1. Do you consider yourself more of a coach, a selector or a Manager? I consider myself more as a Manager

2. How important do you think Management is in the day to day operations as a coach? I give a lot of weight to Management as it not just leading a squad but manage a club with all the different structures within the club

3. What managerial qualities must a coach have to be a good coach in your opinion?

I believe that man management is the key, and being able to communicate effectively with different members of the club is very important Functions of Management consist of:  Planning  Leading  Organising  Controlling

4. Planning 4.a. How do you Plan for short-term, medium term and long term? Planning starts depending on the objectives of the club in the short, medium and long term. Being able to prioritise is a key. Results - Consistency - Achieving replaces the short-medium-long term.

4.b. How do you converge your vision and philosophy with that of the club?

I try to do so by convincing the club that my vision and philosophy is the way forward. This might involve some tweaking from both sides but definitely should be on the same wave length.

4.c. Before joining a club do you take into consideration the philosophy of the history of the club and whether this is in sync with your own?

Definitely. If they are so apart it's a no-no situation.

4.d. The life span of a football coach is a short one – how does this hinder your long term planning?

Although it is a short one, but still the plans for long term should be there as if they are not than it’s going to be a short span by force.

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4.e. What qualities do you look for in building up a team?

It is of utmost important that there must be the right mixture of young and experienced players, leaders and followers but most of all great attitudes.

4.f. How do you select and manage the team behind the team?

I select the staff if they have my trust, ability and trustworthy.

4.g. How do you periodise your work?

I periodise mainly the whole season but I give much importance on the monthly monocycles, as these may change from the beginning of the season.

5. Organising Organising implies putting plans into action. 5.a. How do you prevent overlapping and confusion of roles? Mainly through job descriptions and regular meetings. 5.b. Place your staff on the image.(organigram) Organigram available. 6. Leadership: Leaders are those who are able to influence others and who possess managerial authority:

6.a. How and when is your leadership evident?

I lead in every aspect of the team. The team is led by my instructions and it is not delegated. I am responsible of the actions of the team 6.b. How do you influence players and technical staff to buy into your vision? Many of the times is by example. If I want something from the staff or the players, I will be the first one to commit myself.

6.c. What sort of relationship do you like to establish with your players – parental, personal, boss?

Bit of everything. But mainly I'm the boss, when they get my respect than its personal.

6.d. What lines of communication do you keep with your players and how do you interact with them – directly or through intermediaries (ex. Assistant coaches)?

I have a very open communication. I speak directly with the players, both as a team and on one to one.

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6.e. What level of autonomy do you like to give to your players – during training sessions, during games, in general (ex. Appointing captains,)?

Very limited. Any formal request should be directed through the team captain unless it is not related within the team.

6.f. You are about to take an important decision regarding team tactics – how much do you consult your assistants, your players and what level of participation do you allow?

I consult a lot with my staff and occasionally with the team captain. Very limited with individual players. With my staff we discuss freely and occasionally I let them choose the team.

6.g. Your players are not happy with the amount of training and would like to reduce the workload how much weight do you give to their opinion?

I reflect on the claims that they are doing and will act accordingly. But definitely I will consider their opinion.

6.h. Change can be stressful and damaging to the group-- how do you handle change within your group?

I try to embrace change. Sometimes it's difficult to accept but I will let time heal the process.

6.i. How do you keep your players and staff motivated from training session to training session and from game to game?

Mainly through reachable goals and objectives which can change from week to week. Also I make sure that the players look forward for the end game of each training session.

I welcome them with open arms. I already use some of the latest technology which makes my work easier and effective.

7. Control

7.a. Do you set any standards and benchmarks in terms of performance and behaviour during training, games and daily routine?

Yes definitely. They all signed code of ethics and rules and regulations of the club.

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7.b. How do you deal with cases of misconduct and what disciplinary steps and procedures do you normally follow in terms of your attitude, reprimands, fines etc..?

If it is treated within the rules and regulations they pay a fine. If they go above board they need to attend in front of the disciplinary board within the club.

7.c. How do you monitor the progress within your team?

Mainly by performance and results.

7.d. Do you judge improvements merely on results or performance?

No, but I give them a lot of weight. 7.e. How do you compare the performance of one player with another? Mainly if they are achieving the objectives which I set to them.

7.f. How do you recognize and reward improvements in performances and behaviour? I praise them in front of everyone and make them aware that I'm satisfied with what they are doing.

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APPENDIX 4 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR MARK MILLER – COACH OF A SENIOR TEAM IN THE MALTESE PREMIER LEAGUE

1. Do you consider yourself more of a coach, a selector or a Manager?

I think it depends on the proof that you are after. I like to see that I am both because I don’t think you can be a coach without management and when I see that, I mean, the organising and the planning of a football team, the selection of the players staff that for me is management. So if you don’t get the management side right you I think will fail as a coach.

2. How important do you think Management is in the day to day operations as a coach?

I put it top of the list seven years multi years it said you can be a coach, a manager or a manager coach and I think in this could be the coach is the pier in the manager second of me personally I think the management side now my is the inevitable the most important and also you are looked at as with your philosophy in management that reflects how the day to day people in their environmental work they have so management is number one for me.

3. What managerial qualities must a coach have to be a good coach in your opinion?

When I think to be good manager you have got to know people and know people well and that means not only by sitting down communicating with them but not just looking at them looking into it is the old saying I think don’t judge the book by its cover, get to know him and then make a judgement and with that judgement is he going to be good for your team, good for your business, if so then you take him if not make a decision.

So in terms of measuring qualities you think that human relationship is the most important thing, the most important salient managerial ehhh ?

It’s one of the important things but you dare to give of planning and your structure on how you do things is very important and you know as a manager if you get them wrong it will just all collapse but the peoples being able to understand people and know which people are good for you I think generally gets you on a good foot and selecting the right people to get that job done for you that you can’t do maybe or you don’t have time to do so I think it goes to that thing that is, is it good to have people better than you or as good as you around you I think it is , I think you have to be man enough and say sometimes you need better people than yourself to help you in your job.

You don’t see them as a threat you see them as?

I don’t see them as a threat because I know how to manage them but if I bring in an assistant for example like Josef his football draw is good and his experience is not, his knowledge is marvellous, his way of bringing things down is excellent and it’s something he enjoys so he does it really well. It’s something that I have grown old of and I don’t have time for that so I put someone in that position to do it and I get his feedback and then I take from his feedback what I need rather than spending three 141

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hours myself when I could be doing other things , so I think the case secret is when you can’t if you can get the right people to do the most important jobs so for example I give an example in Malta we don’t have sixty twelve staff so generally we have an assistant, a goal keeper coach and a physical trainer or physio. We need them for multi task a bit but we must not forget what their job and role is and they must do that well and they must do it well enough so that it can ease my job, make my job easier because I have everything simple and all the information there and beyond they give me information and from their information I will take what I think is most important.

Am I right Mark from what you have said that as time went by through the years you have become more of a manager rather than a coach, with how you use your assistants, before I think you were more hands on nowadays I think you are a bit?

I think now I am also on the coaching field the coaching part is my love beyond the field with the players getting that extra 10/15% from the player but now I can do it in a more relaxed way because I see the picture bigger and I see the keep hands more clearly but I haven’t become just a manager, what I have become is I have learnt to become a better organiser to see things better in a more clear way which I guess this comes in the management character.

Functions of Management consist of:  Planning  Leading  Organising  Control

Planning

4.a. How do you Plan for short-term, medium term and long term?

Well I think anything that you do it takes time so for me the important things I know where I want to get to but I have got to be very quick and realise the first part of that and the first part is the key things that introduce and I bring to the players and the club it’s impossible if I have got ten things I can’t bring them ten things in the beginning so the first two, three things will come in and then the fourth, fifth and sixth things will connect to them and then the next part will connect to them so for example I give you an example of a young player is he good enough is he ready will he help me win games? We don’t know until we play him so you have to be brave enough to play him and see to see if he can being a long term plan and you won’t know if you don’t put him in there, so you have got to be brave and is the young, for example are the young players a big part of your future planning for the football club destruction. In my case yes it always is because I think the other players the foundation form the football club so I want, I give an example, I want to put a young player in, I want to throw him in there, I want to see how he behaves how he reacts how he develops if I see him having problems I’ll bring him out I’ll communicate with him and sit out and then I’ll put him in again I’ll work with him again so it’s a development process. In everything in management its development.

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Mark you mentioned that you give a chance to young players and whatever. Now one of the problems in the life of a football coach is that it is a very short tenure, you know the life of a football coach is becoming shorter and shorter how you do converge or how does this hinder the long term planning when you consider the life span is so short term?

It is always a difficult one and it’s getting the fine balance and I have a saying if he is good enough he is old enough and the coach through his experience has to see that he has to say it’s this one but what you don’t know until you play him. But if you develop him in the right way I think long term he is gonna be on your side because you start him you gave him that believe and he is gonna fight and work hard for you so that when then trench comes therefore he is gonna be in the trenches for you fighting next to you so I think yes I think it’s worth the person here at the beginning when you do get a little bit of tight to work with young players and get them on your side and get them to fight for you cause at the end of the day they will be there for you or there is a bad chance to be there for you when things start to go wrong.

But you mentioned for example that when you were with Valletta and even with Hibs you were doing a lot of things in terms now apart from giving a chance to young players even in terms of set up in terms of planning for the long term even you went to do some coaching sessions with Valletta with the new set up you know don’t you think that ultimately you know that after two years with Valletta you were not there anymore so are you more concerned with the short term with winning the next game rather than looking at the ?

I am always looking I am an optimist I am always looking that I am going to be there for the rest of my life and I have to be like that because I know that tomorrow I can be out with job I know that with look and doing the right thing I can be there for a lifetime depending on the group but if I go to Valletta if I go to Hibs I will try a long term plan absolutely but at the same time I try to get results early but if I ignore the long term at the beginning thats not going to help me in the middle because leaving a group at the end you leave a legacy whether its for one month or for two years and when I say leaving a legacy I think there is not one club which I have left which has been in a bad state they have always been healthy after I have left because I have always tried to bring in and introduce young players I have always tried to bring in the right player the right character the right type of person and even in my short spell at Qormi where I have three months to get the team out of relegation I can honestly see that was the only chance and never even looked really at the youths because that was short short term so and I had no long term plan at the club because I didn’t want to stay on long term at the club although maybe there was an opportunity to do that it was never in my mind but if I go to Valletta it is a big club my vision was right nobody has worked in the nursery with a head coach so I gonna go down there and see what I can do to help and that will help my support when things go wrong.

Excellent answer.

4.b. How do you converge your vision and philosophy with that of the club?

I think you have to get a fine balance for that you have got to respect the club and their culture the club how they play and what they want and what they have been doing and you put your philosophy alongside that and you adapt, you adapt to the two and find the best solution to draw so, example, with Hibs I give you two examples with 143

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Hibs it was always the youth policy they have lost their win the image of the club has changed I think already we start to get it back how I have done that is by getting some good quality players but getting the young ones on board and try to work hard with the young ones. With Valletta it was we win leagues we demand to win every week but we are not playing good football we want good football so it was a case I had to attract players who were exciting who played good football and tried to win games and also I tried to do that to win games but at the same time I tried to make the supporters happy by playing attractive football and bring in trophies as well because Valletta had also won the league twice but they did it by playing bad football they said and they were happy so they brought me in that was another thing one of the expectations of the club the expectations of the club was look we need the coach to take this team to another level as in playing style so I tried to do that. Always have two or three young players from Valletta in the squadron in the team so I did that with for example you know well I did that.

Do I conclude?

Yes there was a couple of other young lads as well but now they did not get on to me at that time they were getting some time so there was two completely different things but it was about being able to adapt and put your ways in but for me you can speak about that when I have three things which for me are very important the most important in any team or club that I go to is first that we have to have respect we have to have a great work ethic and we have to have the right attitudes and then three things I am looking in players in staff .

4.c. Before joining a club do you take into consideration the philosophy of the history of the club and whether this is in sync with your own?

Well like I said there was an example with Qormi for me that experience was they were bottom of the league two points behind the second bottom team and it was first time goal it was small crew it’s a small club but with a big support base and rock bottom trying to do something it was a completely different new scenario where I have always been at a club who is expected to win get honours and trophies. I went and put myself into another scenario and I did it for two reasons one to challenge myself two to see what it’s like in that environment what type of player is in that environment and if it’s possible to change a player who is in that environment or is it a certain player that puts you into that type of environment and you have to get rid of him you cannot change him. I think it is very important. Can you change a player who is in that environment or is that f***g team in that environment because I like that type of player so I got more in my football career in three months than probably in fifteen years at some stages and funnily enough the coach who was at that team is now my assistant with me at Hibs so how history has a way of working and his knowledge of that football club now and my knowledge of that football club are two heads altogether so we assume what’s stronger because we can put our two experiences at Qormi together and use it in a different environment , so knowledge is massive but experience is the most I have learnt more, I have learnt a lot from coaching courses, travelling the world seeing different coaches Africa, America, Europe, Eastern Europe but the experience from meeting the people and being involved I have learnt so much more so so much more and respect in cultures for example in Africa. I go there the coaches really aggressive to effect the player it’s a culture in Africa, if you are not like that the African player won’t respond. You go to England you go maybe to France you go to Spain, it’s an arm around the player you talk you communicate and they respect that and 144

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they won’t take it in a different context where the player expect that our coach is my best mate now puts his arm around me I am a favourite with him where in Malta the culture is if you also you do that they get relaxed, you got to hit them you got to hit them you got to hit them. When they do something good tell them they done it good that’s not gonna take place but generally they respond to aggressiveness and unfortunately to a good telling off. If you go at half time you be nice and speak sweet words it doesn’t go in, ye al right ye alright, it doesn’t get their attention and that doesn’t mean now you got to go in there in every game and do it but you can speak you can speak you can speak but then eventually you gonna hit but different cultures are massive and known how and also like for example the Brazilian players you have a Brazilian or a Spanish player or you have an English player you have to treat them differently as you know.

4.d. The life span of a football coach is a short one – how does this hinder your long term planning?

4.e. What qualities do you look for in building up a team?

I think so especially at this level, as well because you can’t always get the quality that you want, so you have to look, if you got them 3 things, you’ve got a good chance to have decent side, because I have learnt through things but might not always, get the quality and I think one of the things that, is that at Hibs, we do not have all three at the same time.

And what do you give priority or most important, work ethics, quality or attitude?

If you, look it was a question that it was brought up on the pro licence, if I have an attitude right? I do not think I can develop as a player. I think it is very difficult to develop the player because attitudes are everything. Now there are different types of attitudes you can have an attitude which is you got a big personality and you can be a little bit lazy, laid back in the training but then in the game he’s attitude comes strong, a good attitude so you’ve got to be careful with the word attitude in how you see it. What I mean by attitude, is I mean approach, I mean in delivery and then the other two things the works how hard the player is ready to work and the honesty of the player. I want players to be honest. If they are not honest they are going to have a problem. Even in communication I’d rather if I have a fight in a changing room I would rather they come and confront me and get it out then he keeps it inside and does it somewhere or in any other way. That he challenges me and we trash it out then he keeps it inside and goes other ways and does other ways. That is the type of person I want in the dressing room. I want him to stand up for himself, another thing in the dressing room, yes sometimes players don’t do that, why don’t they stand up and say, you are wrong there coach you are wrong, it is not right what you are saying.

Maybe the more experienced players will do it, like Andre maybe?

Maybe yes, yes, he will probably say something. But to be fair someone like Andre set me examples.

And do you like that when players confront you or you prefer?

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I tell you why I like it because it means they care and they have some pride. I worry about the player who does not respond.

4.f. How do you select and manage the team behind the team?

My team I involve them in everything, I tell them everything, I tell them sometimes even what I am thinking so then they know how to react towards something that I am going to do. In the same way, pulling the rope the other way, so they are prepared they are ready. But sometimes they might not always be ready, sometimes at half time I might explode but I tell them I am going to have a go now and then I tell them afterwards go around but good cop bad cop sort of to speak but regarding their work I expect very high qualities, I want them to be always concentrated on what they are doing, if not I hit them, I tell them what are their weaknesses, as a quality as a person I am very blunt, too blunt as Mansueto says, but I am, it is what I am and sometimes, I think bluntness the person tends to remember you know what I mean, when you hit them with a pointed object they will remember but if it is a blunt object it will go away in a few seconds, so I feel like the culture here you have to be very blunt and straight like I was with Jeffrey on the bench. I told him straight and plain, I said, we are under pressure here, we are fighting for our lives, and I am exhausted and I look at you and I see you on the mobile, I told him you are an absolute joke. Called him every word that could be, but he is not thinking he is not on the same wavelength as my staff, if I think towards concentration, it was the last ten minutes extra time, and Cohen has gone down with a hamstring and the players have to go and warm up to be ready. And have told my physical trainer, what are you doing, not the same planet. Now and they have to be ready, go now immediately in one second they have to be ready. 7 mins 9 mins, we have 9 men now if that person comes off with 9 men, so are they switched on with me , are they in the same planet as me now, no, I don’t think so.

Do you delegate a lot Mark?

With my staff? Yes. With my staff, I delegate a lot but I try to get my staff to delegate for me and by doing that what I mean is, I get the physical trainer and my assistant coach to go round injuries how they feel and feedback and from that I make a decision what I have to do rather than go in and jump in the deep water first, I let them test the water and then I go.

But during the training session for example do you use your assistants, do you let them work, or are you the type that you want to start and finish off the session yourself?

No no I think this is a question, that you’d better ask them I think I do a lot, I think me and Josef have a great relationship cause he likes to work, and I let him do the works. I told them for me if he cannot show, I give you an example, beginning of the season, he told me listen mark, he said, better I let you start and I observe, I said I totally disagree, and he said what do you mean, you totally disagree?

I said it is very important you get these players on board very early and you get their respect very early, so you show them your qualities, very early, we do not have time to wait for 2 to 3 weeks. So I prepare them and then that is how I delegate.

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And when it comes to the training, from before you tell them listen Josef you will be doing the first part, or you will be focusing on attack, how do you plan that out?

We plan the training session and we have more time, we speak about it. So we have a training session and during that training session we very rarely, get to do what was planned the lot of it, now due to unforeseen situations, injuries, pitch weather or we just did not get it the way we wanted it. After the session we will then discuss what happened and then tomorrow we continue and I will propose something and we’ll sit down half an hour before and we’ll see this this sometimes I just throw the paper rip it off and say let’s do this one, what we have done before.

We plan always but sometimes the plan we throw it out and we do something else because we feel the moment what is right like we have everything down to detail but to do that I need to know how many players I am going to have, and if I have got a plan for 16 it is easy, but then all of a sudden I have 40, so I plan the training session to be flexible. I can now go to a training session unplanned and do something with my experience, I know what I want.

With a clear an objective in mind?

Yes, I can do that. I know what I want and I play with it and during the training session I’ll play with it to reach objective I want I play with it and Josef will bounce off me.

Objectives from the last game or from the coming game?

No, we are working on the mid field for example changed on the field.

Based on problem you had last game or the upcoming game?

Both and then something might happen and we’ll just bounce of that and Josef will do something and then I’ll step in and I say ok but what about this, then I step back and Josef goes in, so generally what I am doing is we have a plan, Josef will be the main getting them organised getting them moving and then I step in right these are our objectives, Josef will make the objectives clear but I will make them clearer by coming in. then if I am not happy, then I go in and hit. He has told you what I want you are not doing what I want; this is what I want, so I am just reinforcing Josef just a bit strong.

You use your formal authority?

I use it but I say when you pass a ball you can only stand still after the pass example that is when I will talk, for example or you know when you pass a ball look what happens when you run forward and I’ll say I have done it this week with Johann. I am not going to accept you during training passing the ball and then staying in the same position. You are too good of a player and if I let you do that it is a bad habit and you’ll do it in the game and I said if you continue doing it in training I said, you see him, you see him, let us train like the game, they are doing the things in the game, on the training field so I use an example, I go in and I show them, and I say look when I pass the ball he is there, but when I pass it and run forward he is going to chase me now. He did not like that and now if he chases me, I can drop the ball but if he doesn’t I mean will never know if he doesn’t stand still. So, I am always real, I let things go I let things go but then I gotta go in. It is who I am. 147

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4.g. How do you periodise your work?

I think what we do , we respect the physical elements which is the activation, the strength endurances, speed, the during the week we respect them days, what they have to be and everything we do is really on a Monday we never do 2 endurance days for example we always respect the physical element. We for me we can’t plan a six months perodisation, I can physically more or less but I cannot tactically. One, I do not know what players I am going to have day to day, 2. I do not know what is going to happen week to week, so I have to adapt to every game, so whereas a perfect scenario would be Monday we do defending, Tuesday we do attacking, Wednesday we do transition, Thursday, we do tactical set plays, it does not work like that. 1. What personnel have I got? for example when it is in the national duty I might have more attackers, I might not have enough defenders where I can’t work but we need defenders and I need to work with defenders but we do not have any defenders because of injuries, so then I am stupid to work on defending, so maybe what I would do is work on defending on the forwards pressing so you know for me the periodisation, respect how it should be but always be ready to adapt. And my diary in my soccer periodisation, it is after not before. It is what I have done after the session goes in you understand. Because that is what happened. That is what happened not before. In a perfect training club, that we are preparing.

When you do the evaluation right?

For me, we have been told to do 50 weeks of tactical physical perodisation training sessions, and I honestly think, that is absolutely ridiculous. We can only plan maximum a week ahead for me. This is my thinking on football, I said because, we might go to extra time, so I’ve gone to ten men twice in 3 days , so I should stick to the physical element. Shall I stick to that? Absolutely not, and I have to feel that and I have to see that, I have to change everything, and I keep saying it the word adapt, but when how where? When how where the other is to adapt, for me. But we diarise after the training what I have done, and something Liverpool used to do in the 70’s and 80’s, they went out, before the times and gone behind. They would go out fire aside, and do maybe very rarely even the goal keepers they never do and they come and discuss the weather condition, the diary was after the training session, but in my case I have a plan I move around with that plan and then I write down what happened in the plan, for example me and Josef a 50 week training plan together put everything in and then the day after we changed to what we have done and we normally, the length of time and also we’ve adjusted the exercise accordingly as in the physical element might be recovery or it might be longer time because we need to do it, when I say longer time, as in repetitions so if it is an endurance day we have done 4/8 minutes but hey we need to do more so we have added and then maybe tomorrow we reduce something. So always being flexible.

5. Organising

Organising implies putting plans into action.

5.a. How do you prevent overlapping and confusion of roles?

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So, the Assistant coach is jumped. We’ve sort of slotted in to what, you do that, so that is what you would like to do. I did not tell him to do something, I’ve let him, Jo what do you want to do, and I let him do it. And If he has done it well carry on, if he hasn’t done it well we’ve discussed it and then we’ve either improved it or we said don’t do it.

Same with the physical trainer, we’ve had him do the physical warm ups and I’ve said he is doing the physio, he’s doing the warm up and the physical trainer and I’ve said, I think we got to reduce some of the training so we need to work on the rehab of the players and that means Josef you are going to go in and sometimes I am going to go in and do the warm ups. And even on the knowledgeable side, Karl has a level of knowledge on that, our knowledge is much higher when the football relates, and I did not want to spend a lot of time on the physical side, better on the field doing goal stuff. They always have a role and it was always very clear when something was not done right to correct it and again I use the word adapt , to give the team to the physical trainer and tell him have half an hour with them. Sometimes I say you are not doing anything today, we are doing it. We have a problem I felt with the structure of the warm up cool down but that was after six weeks I said I am not happy with this. I said I am telling you I shouldn’t be telling you but I am telling you (at the physical trainer), “You are not recognising it” I am not recognising it. It is Josef reinforce, he is right, we don’t have a plan there is no plan so he is not on board with me. Normal he goes to work, he’s got his other clients, comes there not focused, comes a bit late, players are waiting for him, he’s not focused on one item so it creates, so do we do it for him, then I can do everything, I have done it, the warm up, training, cool down, I have done it. All the time, managed but is it good? I think not for the players, because they are hearing one voice for the whole majority of the training sessions, day in and day out. I don’t like it now, I think you have to do it if you do not have a choice, they are even more adaptable, when you are torn and the way you manage it. Someday it is fun someday it is really tough, some day it is proper, you’ve got to mix it up, it has to be a bit a cocktail, a mixed cocktail. But ideally you have 3 or 4 players

You spoke a bit about the team manager role, which I believe in your situation at the moment it is a bit but I guess with other clubs you had the team manager there, the day to day operations, it is a very important role, but all throughout you see yourself at the centre of the team in the hierarchy, you see yourself that everything should go through you or do you prefer a more flatter?

On this one I am very clear, right, and I just had a meeting with Ranier, everything to do with football at the football club should come through me, I tell you why, if it effects the players or the playing or the performance it must come through me, so what do I mean by that. So we have no water next week, if we don’t have kit for training if the transport is going to turn up late or we do not have transport, I need to know, another example.

Should you be the first source or should they first tell the team manager and then the team manager tells you.

Well, this is something that I have learnt, you have people to help you with these things now if I am telling someone to arrange the transport, waste in valuable time but if someone is doing it for me and comes to me then says transport is done it has been passed through me and I can tick the box it has been done but I do not have to pick

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up the phone and listen we need this this and this. I have got the team manager doing this but I have got to tick the boxes.

Once it is done not?

Yes yes

So if there is a problem with transport they tell the team manager and the team manager tells you I am taking care of this, not they tell you listen we have a problem with transport and then you tell the team manager to solve it?

Yes, I give another example, it could be for example, with travelling youth and they say to me we are going to Rome, Rome Vienna by coach to there and then I prefer that they tell me look we are going Malta to London, London to Vienna from Malta direct Vienna or we can go Malta Rome. There is only two hours chance, so I have got options, rather than they give me one option and tell me it is this, I’d rather they give me a number of options so that I can make a decision on that. So it means they have done their homework a bit, this is what it is. Well I do not like that but if I got this option this one, this one and this one, that is an example.

If a player has a problem with his rent, accommodation for example, do you insist that he should tell you first, or contact the team manager directly?

I do not think that I should be dealing with that situation but I need to know about it because it affects the player’s performance. Anything that effects performance has to come through me. And example a player might go to the assistant, because he cannot come to me because he is maybe a little bit afraid, my assistant has to come and tells me “We have a problem there” or calls me and he tells me that he has got a problem there.

I do not want to know that his wife shouted at him, or that he has a flat tyre and he is coming late, for training that goes to my assistant and my team manager. I do not want that attitude. But when it affects performance, so we have managers for everything. Good managers get people to manage for them. That is experience.

5.b. Place your staff on the image.(organigram)

They do have the organigram.

6. Leadership Leaders are those who are able to influence others and who possess managerial Authority

6.a. How and when is your leadership evident?

I think leadership is the control of everything. I think you can always tell if you have control because it reflects on performance.

I think that leadership, when I think it really comes out is when things are not going so well. Setbacks, how you respond and deal with setbacks, and I think this deals with the average to poor leaders, dealing with setbacks.

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6.b. How do you influence players and technical staff to buy into your vision?

My passion, my passion for the game, my good knowledge for the game, passion on my football experiences and learning of that aspects of the job for example coaching skills, talking communication, being positive, how important the word positive is and trying to avoid the negatives, to try and find the positive and the negative, it is possible or then just ignore the negative.

The easy thing is to stop and accept that things are wrong or continue the work keep jumping the hurdles infront of us ensure that we have good character and with all the elements against us we are sure of how strong we are and to do that it means something special because it is easy I am not getting paid I am not coming to training, I am not getting paid but I am still going to work my socks off. So they feel bad about not paying me that is would keep saying for many weeks, keep jumping the hurdles, for example trying to get things from the football club every week every day, banging their head against the wall, when I stop banging my head against the wall, I get up and leave the job cause it means I gave up and when you give up on something it means you are not hungry on something, you have given up so my, how I know when I am finished when I stop banging my head against the wall. And for me even more there is a line of how far you should keep on banging your head against the wall. As I said, I need now the club to give me something, to show me their support or that they care, if not the players kill me now, and I am at that threshold. If they do not stop seeing that this this and this , they say the coach is getting something. Flood lights, key for the boardroom, gym, these little details which becomes massive and accumulative.

6.c. What sort of relationship do you like to establish with your players – parental, personal, boss?

In this country I like to be boss like, I like to be able to go to them and have like a real good chat either whether it is football, or it is about something else, be very approachable, but at the same time be able to have that distance, example I know they go to Josef before me and I like that because it means they have a little bit of that, for me and I do not care what everyone says, everyone has a different opinion, they have to have a fear factor.

I was a player, and I slightly feared my coach a little bit he got more from me. He got more from me, because I was that type of player, pushes me and tells me when enough. I should have that distance, because when you are that close you cannot put the hammer down.

And you fear that if you are too close you lose their respect?

I think, I don’t think you lose their respect, but it becomes too comfortable, too relaxed for them, but we have to look at certain characters, so for example, I got Andre Agius, I know he is is going to be there always early, I don’t have to go to Andre Agius, I don’t mean you don’t have to shout at Andre Agius, because and they are always committed. He will make a bad pass, a bad execution, I know that it will be just brushed off and he will go back to his own way again, he challenges to do things right,. But if I got a player who is constantly doing a mistake after a mistake after a mistake, 151

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it is easier if there is a bit of distance. And I think the quality is keep getting that distance. And I’ve gone back to a club where I know all the players and working hard so for example before the game I will have a meeting with every player, if they deserve that shakes down. After the game I don’t do it because I can’t defeat as the same as I can take victory. I am not going to do as a victory as it is easy when I can’t do it when it is a defeat. I am not saying I am right what I do but I can’t do that.

So you don’t like to be seen as one of them?

I’m not yeah, I’m not

Cause there are some coaches, like for example Mourinho there was a time, when he wanted to be one of them, one of the lads, but he, and you joke in training with them, you mingle with them, or no you keep your distance?

No, I’ll have little sentences, where I will break the ice, cause I am capable of doing that, like I pick something like maybe Diesis’ hair, “Who cut that?” “Do you want me to go and pay him?” Example, or else “Next time I do it for you for free”, and they jump and then you see they laugh at that, then you hit someone else.

But you are not going to go and put your arms?

No, I do that as well, I do that at the right time, but we all know that when someone does something and did it well, really well, he knows, I think when someone is doing something really bad, he needs to know and when someone did something bad and didn’t mean to do it that is when maybe he needs help. Example, yesterday, Rudy first game, totally a dreamland, for me disastrous, saw him after the game left him alone and I will go to training today and I will speak to him, about what has happened. The fact that I have gone to him and it might be not what he wants to hear but I have shown that I took care of him, you know so I have recognised there is a problem there, how I deal with it, it depends on the moment.

6.d. What lines of communication do you keep with your players and how do you interact with them – directly or through intermediaries (ex. Assistant coaches)?

Do you interact with them directly or through intermediaries, through your assistant?

Like I said, it is like all the other things. I try to get some feedback from the staff, and then I’ll decide how I am going to deal with it, like Karl, things which bug me, players asking him “What we are going to do ?”, “Are we going to have a day off?” They are asking me “Is it better to train at 2p.m. then 4p.m.?” and I will listen, but then I will say, “It is what is best for everyone not what is best for the individuals”. It is a certain group who wants to get at that time, cause they got to take their wives shopping or something like this. I know but then I got players who cannot come in the morning and I tell them, clearly if there is a player who cannot be here at the time, I cannot train, he is part of the club and he needs to be here, so I cannot do that. But Karl will come back and he will give me feedback and sometimes I’ll do the complete opposite, just to show them authority and at times I give them what they want. So it will be a weekend, let us have it off. And then I use that weekend three weeks later, “Hey I gave you a 152

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weekend off you remember, let us forget about it” So I always remember what I have done and what I give. But my staff they are told, for example I will tell Karl, “You are a good postman I didn’t know you will get a job at the post office”, and then by doing that it will click. If I see someone I do not say stop sending messages, I do not say that I’m not telling them not to send it but I am not a postman. So that is how I deal with it. He is recognising because I know he is trying to be strong with the players, I know that he will turn round and say “Boys at 2o clock I spoke to the coach”, so he’s looking powerful not me, so sometimes I have given him that power so he looks a bit powerful.

6.e. What level of autonomy do you like to give to your players – during training sessions, during games, in general (ex. Appointing captains) ?

For example when it comes to appointing a captain and taking important decisions, do you give them the chance to take a decision themselves, or no they can just voice their concern or whatever or you just do not even want to hear what they are going to say? No, I want their opinion, and I have spoken about that when I get aggressive with them, I want them to stand up and it will be something I will address today infact, “Why don’t you stand up on your feet?” that is why I told you I expect your opinion, and the great thing with the coaches, expect questions but be ready how you are going to answer them. And it is how you answer them which will tell you how you are going to move on and how they are going to deal with the next time.

We discuss things so never never not let them ask questions, and always ask them if they have any questions about anything and if you maybe feel there is a player who wants but he is not sure cause he is shy, you go and tell him, “I felt like you were going to ask me a question, what was it?”

What I do not accept is that a player responds on the football field, I do not know if you ever see me there was an instance last Sunday with Johann, he hasn’t challenged, Paul’s gone but he turned round, and said he didn’t tackle. I said “I am speaking with you and I am telling you about your job and the last thing is do not speak to me when you are on the pitch, do not react.” I said, “I decide I do everything, that means one you try to down me in front of the public right?”, I said “I can do it to you because I am the boss but you can’t talk back to me. In the changing room you can, after the game you can, but never ever on the field. “

“Never on the field can you respond, because it looks like I do not have authority. I am losing the authority.”

But during the training you accept it?

If you think about it, on the field players are starting, these are the players that you do not want, cause this will accumulate, this one will do it, and this one will do it. And it happened with Andre Agius very early shown his authority, I just grabbed him and said “Eh it is one way, you do not speak to the players badly if it is going to happen”, I said “Second if you do that, I am the boss here and not you.” I said “But you use it in the right way, and correct it, otherwise me and you we are finished.” Cracked it very early even the fact that we are going to start a training session and Failla he said first early days he said “Are we going to start?” And I’ve said, and I just did it in front 153

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of everyone. “Let me tell you when we start, when I decide to start”, I said, “You might have to go and meet your wife at this time, I don’t care, I have to do what I have to do, and we start when I say”. Very clear. They were dictating everything before at the club, and I’ve told Josef, “Now what we do not do now and control, it will start creeping back again and it will start creeping back again when things go wrong.” I said “You have got to see that very early and knock it on the head because they are always challenging your authority, they are always trying to get away with things, was trying to escape very clear”. Jorginho last week, in the end I got Cohen and I got Soares, I told them last week, “You do not have your car, you are totally right” I said, “It is a problem but we are trying to solve it”, I spoke to Ranier, but he said “You are injured, you are sick, you are not coming” and I said “I am fed up now”, I said “You are either with us with this team, you either fight with us or otherwise …”, and I said “I spoke to Ranier and I told Soares so that you make sure what is coming is from my lips and they are the leaders”, so I brought them in as an example.

Mark, there is no way you will do like Mourinho did for example Mourinho, when he appointed the captain, I do not know if you heard the story, he was on the aeroplane and his idea was to put Frank Lampard, when they were on plane going to play first tournament, the players wanted John Terry, would you give them that level of autonomy or would have decided no, it is Andrea Agius the captain and that will stay.

I think Mourinho was correct, they wanted John Terry because they see him as more leader, the qualities on the field and off were probably Lampard, was good off and on but not exceptionally like John Terry and it is a case of if I am in battle, who would I want next to me in the trenches?

And sometimes I select players on that , I want my Andrea, I want my Soares, because I know when I am going to roll my sleeves up they are going to be next to me, so for me they are captain materials, now we have an instance at our club, it is called seniority the captaincy, with people who have been in the football club so we got Cohen then we got Failla and I think they use a captaincy correctly, then now I have Bjorn, there is Choco but Choco is always out and Bjorn took the captaincy yesterday, I think it is about the 4th time. It won’t happen again, because he is not responsible and by me now he will become captain one day but he has to learn, by learning I have to take it away from him, I have to take something away from him, he can’t have it because he can’t be a captain, whereas I would give it to Jurgen, young but his example and his work at the training is exemplary to everybody so for me if I do not have a character, then I have to have a player who shows by his own example and that his way of doing things is a reflection of what I believe in, how he is doing things is a reflection on what I want out on the field so if everyone is doing what he is doing I am going to win most battles.

6.f. You are about to take an important decision regarding team tactics – how much do you consult your assistants, your players and what level of participation do you allow?

Apart Where you ever composed to management, did you take any courses in management, or whatever, or knowledge or you just read did you acquire it or you learnt it?

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I have done nothing, I’ve just from my experience in life, and watching other managers work and seeing what is being effective for them and using them things through experience of life, When I was as a young boy I was always a person that mix with all the people. I always had older people as my friends and in general I always had people more intelligent than me. I won’t say that I had a great education, I came from a coal miners’ family, my mum had three jobs, she worked hard, football was always my life, so I just fought everyday to do football, to be involved in football, at 24 I have done my first coaching badge. Probably I was quite difficult with the other coaches, I was a pain cause I always had my opinion on what should be done and they had their opinion, and I don’t think there was a coach I didn’t argue with. Once I threw all my books at one coach literally, he got on my nerves, and infact the Assistant coach on that team is now one of my best mates. Nowadays PSE, he is the owner of PSE. And we have a fantastic relationship, we get on really well, now he rings me every week, I was in Portugal with him now, so it is amazing how…

And the fact that you were a player before did that help you in your coaching, in management or you do not agree with the fact that you have to be a good player to be a good coach cause obviously there are coaches who have never been players?

They bring this up and I just don’t. A player will always say that as such, and a coach who has never been a player will always say the other way round. It depends, I just think that any knowledge or experience that you can get will help you be better.

A manager who has been a manager in a company he is going to have a better knowledge of management than me, but in a football environment would that work? It is like, I like to give this example: If I am a hotel manager, he has worked as making the beds, he has worked in the kitchen, he has worked in the reception and if he hasn’t then it is hard for him to be a great manager, and we know great people like Richard Branston, who has worked with his people doing the job so he knows what it feels like and he understands. I was trying to get me out my ID card last week and I got to see this guy behind the desk and I was watching how he was dealing, when I was younger I wouldn’t even bother, and say look at this one but now I see how he is dealing with a situation. Big cues of people and everyone had different problems and I was seeing how he was dealing with them day in day out. And I am looking at him, something funny happened actually but how could I do that, could I do it and if I could it how would I do it.

Continued according to question:

So you are about to take an important decision regarding team tactics – how much do you consult your assistants, your players and what level of participation do you allow for example we are playing against Valletta alright, and I want to change from a 4 3 3 to a 3 52 would you consult your assistants before and do you consult the players before to see if they feel comfortable playing in this system, or for example the way you press?

We would consult everybody and …

Consult before the training session, before the game?

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Well if we are thinking for example; Mosta now, ok we had this game and the fear with it, but we start discussing how we are going to play because I don’t know, how many players I am going to have.

When you say start discussing you and the coach, the assistants not the players?

No, me and the coach and then we take it to the players and we ask their opinion and we’ll all agree.

During the training, during the session we discuss, we agree, “What do you think we play 4 4 2 diamond, like with Sliema?”. We kept it like that cause of the personnel, we hit play like that we think it was a good system for us and they enjoy it. They like it but obviously the weaknesses, that is the flank, double up on the flank but then the strength is you have more players in the middle and we have two strikers cause we like to have two strikers and we consult but also what I think is most important we are able to convince I think that is important to convince, to sell to buy into it that is the best way.

6.g. Your players are not happy with the amount of training and would like to reduce the workload how much weight do you give to their opinion?

I’ll be flexible in that, I do not think it is, one, you have an idea, you look at it, you try it out, but I always go in, when I pick my team, I always look at my team, what can I do with it before I make my changes and that experience like yesterday I said we do not have a left back, Dunstin is not comfortable there, best walk we go at the moment apart from Jon Connor, do not want to put Jon Connor in a situation like this. This is how it is, we can go to 352 with this system although we will start as a 4, why, because Dias can push, we shuffle around, we got our three defenders, I saw the action is that ok, so you get the players to buy into if you don’t, I think there is a point, where you have to say Josef, not happening this, let us go back to what we know. Like now we play with the back 4, we have been solid as a rock do we change the personnel and put Dias back up front on the wing, well I think he is effective but he is being drained as a full back. I was going to take him out once, I put Timmy there, and pushed Dias up and my assistant came and he said for a little bit about Dias and said, ok let us see how it is we put Timmy in front of him, or we put Timmy on the left. We left Timmy out in fact in the end, he didn’t play, then he came in instead of Failla but you listen. Who knows what’s right if you win you’re right, if you lose. We did things in games, I put Johann up front last game, he scored, cause I didn’t have any other player there, he went and he scored,. He’s further up the field but if I start the game with him as a striker it wouldn’t work you know, you know how it is. Football is a crazy old game and the one thing that I think. In football there is no right way, always about how you get down, how you try to adapt to a situation and quickly you can adapt. Nothing has been successful this season, because we have trained adaptability, if it is possible that is what I think we have done but, it is my opinion.

6.h. Change can be stressful and damaging to the group-- how do you handle change within your group?

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I will not make a change simply because the reason is change. We need to change because there is an objective to be reached but I won’t just wake up in the morning and say we need to change. There will a lot of thought put behind it and again I have got to give reasons to my team and players and staff why I am changing because people, I give you an example, people will question, and we should train 3 times a week in the morning. And I’d say ok I can do that but is this going to make it better? Well they’ll be fitter, coach, and I’ll say they’d be more tired. Not if we train better coach in a proper way and build up slowly and I’d say ok but what about. Are we going to change twice on the same surface? Which is not good? Do you know the age of our foreigners? 31, 35 ? Is that better or worse? I’ll look into that and I’ll go deep, I haven’t done any more training sessions. I don’t want and then I’ll say when I do it, is when we’ll have the grass and I’ll do it because there is a reason behind it.

6.i. How do you keep your players and staff motivated from training session to training session and from game to game?

Well it is important that the training sessions are game related. They are motivational and sessions are always competitive with a point system or some sort of competition in it. I think though if you’ve pick and selected good and correct players are normally competitive, so they like competition. I always worry about when I do competitions the players do not take it seriously. That shows me something that there is not right in that player.

Well what helps, we try to get and also for me these things mainly

So you don’t see technology as a threat you see it

No what I see it is I see for me how I look at it, it is another way for me too control the players and I mean that in two ways, I mean one to give me data and 2. To give me evidence.

7. Control 7.a. Do you set any standards and benchmarks in terms of performance and behaviour during training, games and daily routine?

Well that’s where I think the coach sets up a standard because it is what he accepts and what he doesn’t accept. Mansueto, my assistant, very early he said I can’t believe how competitive the training sessions are and how high intense they are and I told him you get that one with a type of players quality of play. But, two, with your high standards what is accepted even when it is a bad day don’t let the low standards get into the face, get into the and I am very good at that. I am very good at seeing where the standards aren’t we’re reaching where I want and not accepting them.

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7.b. How do you deal with cases of misconduct and what disciplinary steps and procedures do you normally follow in terms of your attitude, reprimands, fines etc.?

In this everybody has a code of ethics and now maybe I’m wrong I don’t have a code of ethics I don’t have any rules, when it comes to football. And the reason being is, one, when I was a player, I hated people telling me that I had to do this, do this, do this, and do this. I think if a player is late I’ll ask him why is he late? If he is late twice, then I say it is over, it is not going to happen again and I set my rules by setting my standards, I’ll set your behaviours like I already told you on the pitch if someone back answers I hit them so hard that someone else will think about twice about doing it, I don’t fine unless it is really really something terrible and I want to hurt the player and generally I don’t want them at the club anymore because I don’t think fining a player will solve a situation, in my opinion I think sit and talk to them, telling him, I can fine him, and I will fine him if it happens again, but hopefully it does not get to that, so what I am saying is I try to avoid the ultimatum, really I am trying to avoid the ultimatum and I think also I get trust in my players, the word trust comes back I get a little bit of trust and I tell you and I’ll use it in the dressing room. There are no rules here no fines but you decide, you decide how you want to behave and what is acceptable to you as a team. If you think a player should be fined then we’ll fine him, but remember when you’ll fine him and you’ll do it. It will happen to you so we will set the standards when it happens but I am not going to write things down because I trust you that is how it is you can’t do this you can’t do this and you can’t do that, but we will find, over time, what you can’t do because I am trusting you to behave properly and behave in a proper manner. For example a young player will come, with an earring, “Take it off you can’t come with an earring to my training sessions”. He didn’t know ‘oh’ if he comes again I send him home look you are not training today, I told you once so that will be it.

So once you decide to fine a player normally it will be the end of his time with you right because it is the ultimatum the final step?

If there is a fine, if I have to fine him, then me and you will really have a big problem, I said because you either do it deliberately or you are stupid and I am sure that no fines by now I have never done it, I have never done it in any club and things are alright up to now, and that is my trust in my authority. That is my trust in my authority, and for me what is the biggest fine? Dropping a player, dropping a player, put them out the squad, put them on the bench, for me that has more effect then table monitoring him.

7.c. How do you monitor the progress within your team?

On the plain side, well we have a game model, how we do things, and I think the game model structures the side, what generally the defenders do, when they get the ball; what the midfield does when he receives the ball. What are the wingers doing? So on a week to week’s performance that is what we are analysing. So, let me give you an example; when we are defending, the midfield have to do this so when we analyse it and they are not doing it, we’ll ask the players what happened there? We have practised this, performed it, but then in the game you are not doing it, so having a game model, having a game, having a structure to how you play gives you control.

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7.d. Do you judge improvements merely on results or performance?

For me performance, what is a good performance getting 3 points or losing 4-3 playing well. I can see we are playing bad today but I am happy because you managed to get a result playing poorly. On the other side we have lost 4-3, we played magnificently, but we’ve conceded four goals and lost the game, so where is my mentality, where is my defendant so for me to judge performance it is always results.

7.e. How do you compare the performance of one player with another?

I don’t judge a person with another person, they are all individuals and they all have different levels but I would expect, is that individual person is trying to improve, his certain aspects of his game but also implementing the game model and if I see the player going away from the game model that player sit down and talk to him, if he complies great if he doesn’t then we put someone else in there who does comply to the game model.

7.f. How do you recognize and reward improvements in performances and behaviour?

When we have a game on so example I am a winger we have the ball you have widths.

I understand the game model is your benchmark right?

Yes, and so when we have a benchmark, certain things are expected from the winger, so full back gets the ball, the winger should be on the line, full backs, on the line, the winger should be inside example. I give an example, it is the way I play the game, example the winger for me he should be on the line, and he should be able to go behind defence and be able to come short and be able to defend, so we have the striker doing this, he does this he does this, if he is not doing that, that’s how I judge him, he can be now getting the ball dribbling the full back, getting the cross in right, and we are saying that looks good, but we’ve been practising where to cross, and our players they have been taught, to do that, when he is there, to do that, and opposite and yesterday three great crosses but for me they weren’t, they weren’t in the area where we have practised.

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APPENDIX 5 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR OLIVER SPITERI – COACH OF A SENIOR TEAM IN THE MALTESE PREMIER LEAGUE

1. Do you consider yourself more of a coach, a selector or a Manager? Three of them actually in my case. Manager because I manage a lot of things vis a vis the club with the consent of the president, what we do is very similar t the English system, we have a budget obviously, we do the homework with with the budget, we see the players that we really need. And then obviously we speak with the president we give him everything, we get over the budget almost always but then it is up to the president to decide. The president is always in the picture, also with some numbers of the staff. As a coach, yes, because we prepare everything we prepare the training sessions, we prepare the games with the help of the staff, always made by me.

Out of the 3 which one do you consider is the most important, you being a manager or you being a coach, what is the priority? At the beginning of the season you have to be a good manager, because if you don’t manage well your players and your financial budget you can end up with a 4 month problem until January transfer window and even if you do not manage well the January transfer window you have a problem all throughout the season. It is very important especially in the first 3-4 weeks, the new team, the jigsaw puzzle of the new team. I believe that a coach is also important because coaching is not only on the pitch. You have to keep up in the dressing room to prepare well for all the games, you have to delegate. You have to have good staff around you that it can also help you but it is important that when you are leading from infront or from the back, you need the help, I consider also your staff, discretion communicating with your staff is also part of the coach.

2. How important do you think Management is in the day to day operations as a coach? It is very important and management, to manage the players is not easy, you have to first of all the time management is very important, also besides managing the players you have to have a very good schedule of how the players, of who are the players, you have to know the players immediately. So you have to have a good management feedback also so it is a very high percentage.

3. What managerial qualities must a coach have to be a good coach in your opinion? Well he has to know his players and he has to know the background of the game, I think it is very very important. Being a good coach it does not mean only to win the league or to win the cup but you are developing something during those years, you know the lifespan of a coach today is not long so you have to be very cautious. As i told you i believe alot in leadership, leadership in the dressing room. And a good coach today in my opinion, as it is very managerial, his leadership style, it is important that the communication between the players and the communication with the staff, the communication with the chairman and the board of directors is very very important. So for me a good coach has to have a very good leadership in the dressing room and also for the image of the club so it is very very important.

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Functions of Management consist of :  Planning  Leading  Organising  Controlling 4. Planning 4.a. How do you Plan for short-term, medium term and long term? So, the planning, well to be honest the short term is also, always, the last one i try to. We always try to plan in the long term. Obviously sometimes you have injuries, during the first part of the season and the January transfer window you can fix something there but usually we make, we have, we always do a long term plan.

Obviously then when it comes to training, you have the long term plan there but then you have to use the short term plan. We work alot on meso cycles we do some also every month we do some tests and we take these tests very serioulsy and then we can also when it comes to training especially we do assessements then and then we add or increase or to adjust or to adapt with the situations during that time/period.

4.b. How do you converge your vision and philosophy with that of the club?

So, luckily when Peter Cipriott, spoke to me the first time then I met the president they came to talk to me because we had a small club, where I worked before. Before Balzan I worked with Vittoriosa. So, basically when they made the homework they knew my character very well. Obviously they knew my character, I met him and I knew what they wanted, I think the philosophy and the vision was immediately, I think an impact immediately. Of course nobody thought that we would arrive where we are today especially in the first year. And I think it was also thanks to the vision of the committee and the President Mr Anton Tagliaferro had, and obviously also my vision and so we started building on that but I believe if a coach has a different philosophy of the club at the end you never reach the goal.

4.c. Before joining a club do you take into consideration the philosophy of the history of the club and whether this is in sync with your own?

Definitely I am that type of person that I do not go for names, I go for concrete matters. I think Balzan for example in this case, was although it is 80 years old but lately, Balzan these last 6/7 years they are going as a club the image is always getting better so yes the first thing that I did was to see how is the situation of the club obviously becaseu as I said, if I have my philosophy and knowing my character I have to find a challenge but this challenge has to be supported by the committee and the president, by the president himself but yes definitely I underline , so I have to do my homework well because after all I want ot be happy where I am.

4.d. The life span of a football coach is a short one – how does this hinder your long term planning?

No, no because I always believe that , I will always win the next game, so I cannot plan on a short term planning , that is why I told you before we always believe and we always do the long term plan. It is true unfortunately the life of a coach is short and this is not only in Malta but this is everywhere now. So and I think it is a big mistake,

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in my opinion that a coach plans a vision of a club for one month . I believe you have to have a vision where also the players can get on the same wavelength like you are. I think this can produce and motivate even more the players. So I think, this is how I believe that I always try to do the next game, that my job will always stay, it stays as long as possible.

4.e. What qualities do you look for in building up a team?

What we do is, usually, first of all we assess the player, the first thing we think is ‘Does he fit in our dressing room?’ That is our main concern, obviously when we short list the players, if we want a mid fielder with certain characteristics. We say we want a good technical player with a diagonal eyes, or with good vision, so we select the player, we choose 3 or 4 players and then we start with the character, if he feels good, gets into our jigsaw puzzle into the dressing room , his motivation, his age, because we always want to have a good balance in the team, young and old a good mixture, so these are the characteristics that we use, but most important thing besides his technical abilities.

4.f. How do you select and manage the team behind the team?

Well my technical staff, my Assistant Coach, who has been with me now already for 6 years, we have been playing together, also we played together, 15 years ago, so we have, he knows my character very well, he knows my vision always we try to, he is also the coach of under 19’s, so he always tries to transmit also, the system of play on the under 19’s even the training, we talk alot with the physical trainer about with him and infact the physical trainer also have sessions with him, most of the time. So, it is important, we also have the goalkeeper’s coach, which is fundamental for us as well, so he is always there and we involve him alot especially the first 30 minutes, of every training session, he is always involved, with the goal keepers when then he is involved with the whole squad with the different types of characterictics the particular goal keeper required for the particular type of training, for example a short goal keeper.

And are you the type that you delegate alot?

We also have the physio therapist,who is also a very important member of staff for us, he is always there, communicating with us, he is a very important member of the staff.

The physical trainer mostly he does the physical part, for example we have training sessions where we split up the team in 3 groups one of them i take them myself one of them take them jean paul and one of them take them the physical trainer Valentino. We rotate them so all the players are having the same equal management from the members of the staff so no i delegate alot. Also, when we are working tactically one of them is taking the midfielders the other one is taking the defenders, I take the strikers or we change, it is not always the same, but yes, they are mostly involved.

4.g. How do you periodise your work?

Yes, we start always from a year plan, then we go for the mesocycle and then we split them into theweekly cycle, and obviously we split it into two macro cycles because 162

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sometimes you have to change because of your opponent and sometimes you have two games in a week. So, we found it that it is more easier and more simplier to work like that. But we do the yearly plan, we do the monthly plan and then the monthly plan we split it into the weekly plan and then obviously if we see, because as i told you we do alot of tests, physical, maybe we have something tactical with which the last two games, we saw that it was not working. We adapt to change some few things so adaption is always there.

5. Organising Organising implies putting plans into action. 5.a. How do you prevent overlapping and confusion of roles?

No, what we do is, usually, in the morning we discuss alot what we are going to do and we also evaluate the training of the day before in the morning. To be honest with you we never have confusion, I mean as I told you with Jean Paul we have been working for 6 years, so he knows when he has to jump in and he knows when to withdraw back and obviously on the other hand when we are working on the physical side I just supervise and I leave Valentino to work. He knows that when we are doing the tactical part he has to step a bit back, but obviiously also I give him a role where because he has alot of experience in the game and when he sees some tactical things he should and he must talk to the back 4.

For example: The team manager does everything go through you, everything goes through you or do you

No, the team manager is involved in the logistics, the travelling, injuries whatever but always where there is the injury the medical team the physiotherapist and the doctor know everything basically. We have also another person, Mr Vella Bardon who is in charge of the medical team, and we liaise together.

But do you define the roles?

Yes,

You tell them for example the Doctor is in charge of the Medical Department

We do that on the Agenda and in the beginning of the season, everyone knows his job, obviously sometimes during the season you change, sometimes you have two injuries with which you can cope and sometimes you finish up with 6 and that is alot on the plate. These are very minor things again experience, taught us now how to work better but we have a very good communication system and things get very very smooth.

5.b. Place your staff on the image.(organigram)

They do have an organigram.

6. Leadership Leaders are those who are able to influence others and who possess managerial Authority

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6.a. How and when is your leadership evident?

First of all, I believe, that when you know your players, your players will get to know you. So they know where is the transparent line and that transparent line has to be kept always a distance. This applies for me and obviously applies for them. When I say for me, for the staff, obviously also for the players. So, that is my style of leadership. When there is a conflict in the dressing room if it is of a minor issue, we leave the players who are leaders themselves, to settle the problem,always under the supervision of the assistant coach. And if not, then, the Assistant Coach will try to solve it and report everything to me and then I will give a direct authority if things get out of hand between the players but so far this did not happen, but they know the rules, the code of ethics in the dressing room, they know that there are fines, which they are there in the dressing room, which they sign at the beginning of the season. The fines are for us for the players, and has nothing to do with the board of the disciplinary because that is outside. I put in charge 3 players before the season starts and see that everything is right. If there is something wrong in the dressing room they have to report it, one of them , 99% will be always the captain.

When does your leadership manifest itself, is it based on authority

It depends I do not consider myself that I have a stamp, not all the players are the same, You like to put yourself on a pedestal?

No sometimes, I am also a fatherly figure head, some players you need to be a father, some players you need to be direct with them the german style. You have to adapt. I try to keep my players, I trust my players and i treat them like gentlemen and so I expect the same back. Obviously sometimes they happen because this is football and clashes you have in the dressing room, although we are lucky because the clashes that we had they always minor clashes. But then yes, I show them authority. When it comes to the training if something is going wrong or by negligence then yes, I shall show my authority. If something is going on because of other things I will have patience, and obviously when it comes to the game, then it depends on the sothe approach of the game when I see that the players that if their approach is not the one I want then I can be an very strict about it.

6.b. How do you influence players and technical staff to buy into your vision?

Well actually when we try to set our goals, that is important, that you have to be realistic with the players and the first thing that I learnt is never to bluff with the players because the players are not stupid and never try to lie to your players because as I said before you have to respect them as otherwise you loose all the authority, all the power that you have in the dressing room. So this is something which I think that the players they know and that this besides influencing the players it also can motivate them to abide by the rules of the dressing room and as i said the Technical staff we’ve been working alot together they know my vision, they know the club’s vision which is very very important so I think that the technical staff I mean, with the way we work, with the way we prepare ourselves and they are involved because we involve alot the players even when we make, when we show vidoes of the games of the opponents or of our last game, we involve them alot so I think also the players know what we really want from them and what we really are looking to improve cause after all we always want to improve. You try to be better than yesterday. 164

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6.c. What sort of relationship do you like to establish with your players – parental, personal, boss?

What sort of relationship do you like to establish with your players – parental, personal, boss. Well as I told you before, not all the players are the same. Yes, a friend but there is always the transparent line, sometimes,

So it is a personal relationship?

Yes, but as I said a personal relation, for example when a person lost his place, you see him down a bit, he needs to be cuddled a bit, not all the players are the same, he has to feel my presence I believe that and I try to give him my presence. Although he is not playing these are I think human aspects which a coach should consider?

Personal issues?

Yes, we try to help them with my staff also with the team manager involved. Yes, we had problems like this even last year as I said they are human beings, and everyone has his own problems and we help them as well. To be honest the players they expect that and I believe that is also important that the relation is built when they have an injury a long term injury. We really make them feel our presence there, so the relationship with the players I think it is very strong cause a player when he is injured, he lost his motivation, he is down, maybe he has problems at home. Maybe he has pressure also at home because now he cannot play so we when time matters we are there.

And you see yourself as one of them, or you want them to see you as their…?

No, it is like I always believe it is like your father. If I had to take my father he always made us believe, with my father he was like my playing companion, because he works of course, so when he used to come home he had 2/3 hours with me and so during those 3 hours we do not fight but we play.

So, I always keep that example, but always knowing deep down that he is my father and I like to work like that.

6.d. What lines of communication do you keep with your players and how do you interact with them – directly or through intermediaries (ex. Assistant coaches)?

Usually with the relation that we have we speak directly to the players, there are some issues where the ass coach will be involved or the goal keeper’s coach will be involved. Not the physical trainer more the Assistant coach and the Goal Keepers Coach but when I believe when you have to talk to a player you talk to them face to face, direct.

6.e. What level of autonomy do you like to give to your players – during training sessions, during games, in general (ex. Appointing captains) ?

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No first of all about the captains Balzan FC they have the policy the most kept player for the club is normally the captain. It is the club’s policy which I will never change, because it is a club’s policy but I believe that when you have a good strong dressing room, the code of ethics the players they make the captain themselves. Although maybe the captain is not the player who is the best leader, they will be other leaders that know that they are not the captains so they know they have to step a bit back to leave the captain in charge but on the other hand I also know that the captain with the other leaders of the dressing room they are working together hand in hand so these things I leave them more, because as I said this is a club policy which I have to stick with it.

And in terms of autonomy do you let your players, or is it very regimental they have to follow your instructions.

I only, sometimes you have to do it but not very often, but you speak a lot with the players, obviously I think the more information to day is very important, especially because the players, the level of the players is a bit higher, so yes we speak, but obviously the largest decision is taken by me, all the full responsibility is taken by me but yes we discuss with players.

6.f. You are about to take an important decision regarding team tactics – how much do you consult your assistants, your players and what level of participation do you allow?

First we discuss with the staff, obviously with the players it is not always healthy, you have to be careful when it comes to tactical part, ‘Why?’, because if you are changing from 442 to 532 it could be you are sending a negative message to the players, that you are afraid of them or because you have a problem and you want to fix there so that is, you have to be very very careful when you speak with tactics as a team selection with the players. If it’s a drill, if it’s a movement, if it’s a corner, if it’s a set piece, yes, I think and we do it, but, when it comes to the selection for the team tactics, or to prepare, we speak more with the staff. I mean, that is very important. Obviously, again, you speak, you sleep over it, then you change, then you sleep again, then you change it again, and you change again sometimes, because the responsibility is yours. You are the one that is at stake, so you have to take, I think, the more information possible and see what is best for the team, sometimes it can work and sometimes it doesn’t, but yes, we discuss.

If you want to change the way, you want to press the opponents and the players are not happy with it, you change it. You are open for discussion.

Yes, it does not mean I will change it but yes, we had that issue. They told Coach it is better if we press the team against a 3 5 2 and I wanted to press with the strikers I wanted to press the stoppers and not the full back so I wanted to leave the 1 against 1, the game I think it was against Hibs.

No, Hibs do not play like that

Yes, you are right, but so it was against Hibs the year before, and the players told me and then we explained we discussed, at the end of the day, then the players they said yes, it is true but then we were winning so then we changed during the game to way the players said. We try them both in the training. 166

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So, we train them both systems, and the system of the players we use it during the game but we were winning 1-0, it was giving us more cover at the back then before.

6.g. Your players are not happy with the amount of training and would like to reduce the workload how much weight do you give to their opinion?

It depends, the time of the season, the period of time of the season, but I was a player, you were a player, the players love to play with the ball not to run, so but to be honest with you I adjust not more than 20/30%. So if you discuss with your physical trainer, and you are sure of the workload and they come to complain you know how the players are sometimes, you still go ahead with your training?

Yes

Do you try to justify, do you try to give an explanation?

Yes, yes, I always try to give an explanation.

Or you tell them, I know what I am doing, and that’s it?

Usually and this is I think a trick, but obviously the experience, taught me this, that when, the players are tired and you have more than one player or two, ok, you stop the session, and you make a game, so and then, if you see, that during the game you see them running, so in case instead of you start with the part, you start with the whole.

But sometimes it happens especially in the pre-season, so and you see them running so it means that they are tired. If their body language, shows they are not tired, so we start with the whole and then do the part after.

But, you like to give justifications

Yes yes, not justifications

6.h. Change can be stressful and damaging to the group-- how do you handle change within your group?

First of all even when we train, the day before the game, I also tell the players a limit, for example, I tell them we start at 4p.m., if we are going to play at 6p.m. obviously, so I discuss a lot with the players, for example the double session but again once you have a routine and the players, one, you see once you set up a routine the players will never change it.

But if you want to change something, how do you do it?

I discuss with the players first, I discuss with the staff first, but if it is an option, yes I discuss with them, but if I have to do it, I have to do it.

But the players, I never had problems with such issues to be honest but, again we discuss with the players about, for example the morning session. In summer we start 167

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at 8 a.m., now in winter we are starting at 9.15a.m. so they can rest a bit more from the training session of the previous evening and obviously it is not hot so .

6.i. How do you keep your players and staff motivated from training session to training session and from game to game?

Well this is a very important question. I mean, first of all I believe a lot that before the game day I know what they are doing, they know what they are going to do, they know the goals, so, and also motivation by speaking and communicating with them, you know, I always try confidence, during intermission and we work a lot of interval training so the intensity is always high. And that is a motivational thing for the player. And the only thing that I address to my staff is to keep the players on a high tempo. The training has to be high tempo otherwise. This is my philosophy, it can be good, it can be wrong but this is what I believe and this is what motivates the players and the players they love it.

As a club the heart rate monitors are something we really really love to have, not yet. In the preseason we work with the heart rate and the watches but we have about 12/14.

The match analysis, we do them ourselves so and even that aspect, I try to do it myself because as I said you see the game in a perspective, so in order to prepare well for the training I want to know the opponents before, what they did wrong on the last game. In the recovery we cannot complain, we have the ice baths, also we have a gym where we can go to, also with the pool so

But you are the type Oliver that you do not look at technology as a treat but as an opportunity?

No no, an opportunity definitely.

7. Controlling

7.a. Do you set any standards and benchmarks in terms of Performance and behaviour during training, games and daily routine?

No, the players, yes, as I said the players we try to motivate them and keep the training interesting. I believe that once you have the training interesting you won’t have problems with the players.

In terms of bench marks and code of ethics.

The code of ethics which are very important, there is a bit, when we put it in for the first time 3 years ago because I do not think there was one in the dressing room but there was no code of ethics in the dressing room, so when we went and the first two weeks and the players were going uff uff uff but then the players, I mean now they 168

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tell, if there is something that it is breached, so we can fine them, cause at the end the petty cash, we just go and have fun ourselves or go have breakfast all together or to eat, so the money is spent between us obviously but I think that the players really really stick. I can tell you that lately these last three months I think nobody was fined so we are short of money so especially with the mobiles, they are very careful to switch it off because otherwise there is a fine.

So you expect a certain level of professionalism from your players, you emphasise that a lot?

Yes, but today I do not emphasise it. It is the 3 players, or the other members of the players which they emphasise it because they know that they will be fined.

The leaders inside the dressing room?

No, the three, because when every season starts I give 3 names, which one of them, 99% will be the captain and the other two players who are in charge of the money collecting, of who keeping what. They are the 3 supervisors, but then it ends up that the other players are more supervisors then,, so that if they breach of a rule they will report them too.

It is a matter of a fun game between them as well.

We do that as a form of respect, we have also in our dressing room, we have a kitchenette, so they clean the cups, we can’t complain in this case. The players they are ok, but again, after all it is their second house, so we have to take care of it.

7.b. How do you deal with cases of misconduct and what disciplinary steps and procedures do you normally follow in terms of your attitude, reprimands, fines etc.?

So, as I said, we have fines and fines in the dressing room, if a foul which a player for example he is substituted and he makes scenes ect.. he has fines by us, then we report also to the disciplinary board, we actually have 2 disciplinary boards, lately we had a game against Tarxien where we had three players suspended so obviously they went to the disciplinary board, and at the disciplinary board because it was a problem which happened after the game and which was bigger than our code of ethics, so automatically it went to the Disciplinary board, the disciplinary board which is made from the committee people heard everything, it was passed to the other disciplinary board, which independent from the board, which is made up of professional people and they took the information and they gave the penalty themselves.

7.c. How do you monitor the progress within your team?

Well we do , individually we do tests but when it comes to the physical demand, yes we do the test and obviously when it is something tactical or match or you are out of match practice or are a having a bad patch cause this happens as well, as I said typical to monitor because sometimes, you see a player during the week, you say oh he is going to win me the game, then when it comes to those 90 minutes, he is completely out, and then you put someone which you.

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The players play what they show during the training but sometimes players who do not perform during the training and they perform during the game and vice versa. So this is I think the selection, keep it in mind with experience, but obviously if a player does not train or does not perform during training he won’t. He will have a problem to be even selected, not to play with the first eleven.

7.d. Do you judge improvements merely on results or performance? I am not a coach that believes that you should never change the winning team. I am not that type of coach. I believe if you have all the players, ready for the game, you do not have the first 11 or the winning team or the loosing team, they must all be ready, we keep everyone the same training, we keep everyone motivated, to everyone the same, not only the eleven winning players or the seat team, so I pretend that when you are called to play you are just there ready to deliver, this is what we do.

7.f. How do you recognize and reward improvements in performances and behaviour?

How do you recognise and reward improvements in performance and behaviour. Well, financial rewards, I do not give them myself, I mean we try to bring to build a hungry team. Most of our players, Maltese players, they had been put aside from other clubs, even the national team players, so we try to motivate this situation and in my opinion and I always say to the players, that is I think one of our commandments in the dressing room that , no price is greater than pride, if you do not have your pride, so when it comes to the reward of improvement for me it is, I give them an extra day off, when I know that there is something important, because you know in the dressing room, they speak the players they speak so I try to help them for example if they have a problem, if they want to get a bonus we try to help them, the financial part is not under my jurisdiction, but when it comes to the off days, sometimes I tell them if you win today, I give you two days, depending obviously on the fixtures, but I try to they love, it they know that I do it and I keep my word, and the financial aspect, the bonus at the end of the season that is also something that motivates every player.

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APPENDIX 6 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR WINSTON MUSCAT – COACH OF A SENIOR TEAM IN THE MALTESE PREMIER LEAGUE

1. Do you consider yourself more of a coach, a selector or a Manager?

I consider myself as a football coach since my passion is to work throughout the week on the pitch and the game in the weekend, but obviously in football coaching you have to be selector too choose the right people in their roles (tech staff) and players that fits within your philosophy and team structure. You have to handle all your personnel and that’s were Management is important as well. But after all it’s all about coaching and the passion of the game is something that stimulates me to be in football.

2. How important do you think Management is in the day to day Operations as a coach?

Management is part of the coaching and in my opinion we spend more time in managing our administrators, staff and players without even noticing. It is important since you as a coach have to lead your group of people who are working with you to implement your philosophy and mentality. I think that in football management is all about making decisions based on who plays, where they play and the duration. Coaching is more focused on taking the players and making them the best player they can be so then you have to manage and utilize their skill to win matches. During coaching I focus on individuals and groups more so than in game preparation and during the game it’s all about management, looking for certain tactical and overall changes to make to win a match.

3. What managerial qualities must a coach have to be a good coach in your opinion?

Commitment – to be dedicated and make sacrifices to prepare in detail from all aspects and driving your group with the same mentality.

Observation - need to observe, examine and note the group dynamics. If problems between members develop, a coach can be ready to help work out differences. Good observation and response to individuals within the process is as important as the group as a whole.

Respect –you must respect each individual as you pretend to be respected….reinforce respectful attitude between the whole group.

Communication – Good communication well create trust and vital understanding on all sides. It is essential that during communication with players you don’t give answers but help individuals involved to find the answers by themselves. Accept and let players to share ideas to feel responsible. In these situations you need to be good listener.

Honesty – you have to build trust between all level within the club’s organization and I think this is the key to success. Honesty is the fundamental element through your

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group’s structure. As a coach you need to tell those they are guiding the truth and work out the outcomes together.

Inspiration – As a coach you should do your utmost to inspire people around you to participate and perform at their best levels. Encouraging all your staff and players is a huge part of a team’s success.

Functions of Management consist of :  Planning  Leading  Organising  Controlling

2. Planning

4.a. How do you Plan for short-term, medium term and long term?

Planning long term depending on the duration of my contract and the club’s objectives. Medium term I plan for the coming season. Short term depending on games outcomes and player’s performances

4.b. How do you converge your vision and philosophy with that of the club?

Yes I do but by time I will start implementing mine as well without doing big changes and finding the right time and moment

4.c. Before joining a club do you take into consideration the philosophy of the history of the club and whether this is in sync with your own?

Yes I always do but I always make sure that before decision is taken I am going to fit in this club

4.d. The life span of a football coach is a short one – how does this hinder your long term planning?

I always prepare my long term planning because I feel that this is my duty and then we see whatever can happen.

4.e. What qualities do you look for in building up a team?

The level –capability of each individual Character – must be positive and helpful and coming from a healthy background Honesty – a person that I can really trust

4.f. How do you select and manage the team behind the team?

Looking for persons of integrity and I have to be sure that they will be loyal to me and being supportive throughout our journey. Giving specific roles to each individual and doing staff meeting on regular basis. If someone do something that I didn’t like I will 172

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speak to him one to one and give an explanation how I think is the best way forward and also let the individual express his idea.

4.g. How do you periodise your work?

6 weeks pre-season programme (Physical & Tactical) During the season Monthly Meso-cycle (Physical) Micro cycle (from game to game) I do this from the Physical aspect but I always prepare my team on the three moments of the game - Team in Possession – Team not in Possession – Positive and Negative Transition

3. Organising Organising implies putting plans into action.

5.a. How do you prevent overlapping and confusion of roles?

By giving clear and specific roles from the first staff meeting and discuss issues in front of everyone so all of them know their roles and others.

5.b. Place your staff on the image.(organigram)

Within our financial limitations in my last club I work I had this structure:

Coach - GK Coach & Ass Coach – Ass Coach (Match Analysis) Physio Therapist & Physical Trainer –Team Manager – Kit Manager

4. Leadership Leaders are those who are able to influence others and who possess managerial Authority

6.a. How and when is your leadership evident?

I will always try to lead by example and show enthusiasm to lead my group to be enthusiastic too. I will try too to listen more what are their feelings. I think that in situations and moments where I feel that I have to drive my group by letting the group find solutions by themselves.

6.b. How do you influence players and technical staff to buy into your vision?

First thing I show and discuss with my staff about my vision and listen to their ideas too and if we agree then I will discuss with my players in groups and individuals. I will involve as well my staff in these discussions

6.c. What sort of relationship do you like to establish with your players – parental, personal, boss?

I always like that apart from being their coach to be a friend and drive my players to feel in a comfort zone in discussing with me their roles in football and in their personal lives. 173

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6.d. What lines of communication do you keep with your players and how do you interact with them – directly or through intermediaries (ex. Assistant coaches)?

Any type of communication and try to listen and analyse their thoughts ….I always push my staff to get feedback and try to open discussions with my players.

6.e. What level of autonomy do you like to give to your players – during training sessions, during games, in general (ex. Appointing captains) ? I prefer to use sort of guided discovery with my players and get feedback even from players with vast experience. The captain I select must have leadership skills and ask him about the group’s feeling and ideas.

6.f. You are about to take an important decision regarding team tactics – how much do you consult your assistants, your players and what level of participation do you allow?

I present my ideas and why I think that this is the ideal …then I discuss this with my staff and my players. Obviously it’s always my final decision but if I feel that the group is not sure I consider every option because it’s important that my players feel secure in our tactical decisions.

6.g. Your players are not happy with the amount of training and would like to reduce the workload how much weight do you give to their opinion?

Depends on the situation but definitely I will consider to understand what the players are feeling and yes if needed I will do as the players are saying.

6.h. Change can be stressful and damaging to the group-- how do you handle change within your group?

I will try to convince my players that this is just an adjustment and I’m trying to find better solutions on our way forward…giving detailed explanations and why we should try this

6.i. How do you keep your players and staff motivated from training session to training session and from game to game? By giving new challenges and explain everyone what we need to get from every session and creating different scenarios from game to game.

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I always study if this is ideal for my team and not doing it for just the sake of doing it. It’s always ideal to improve from this aspect but the secret is that you have to convince your players that we are going to implement new ideas because this is going to help us for certain reasons.

5. Control 7.a. Do you set any standards and benchmarks in terms of performance and behaviour during training, games and daily routine?

Yes I always do but I like to keep it within my staff for a short period of time then I will start giving challenges to my players.

7.b. How do you deal with cases of misconduct and what disciplinary steps and procedures do you normally follow in terms of your attitude, reprimands, fines etc.?

First I always look at the individual and try to find the reason for what he did ….then I always discuss with my staff and if needed with the club’s president and see what the player will learn and what we are going to benefit from this decision.

7.c. How do you monitor the progress within your team?

By performances and presenting different challenges.

7.d. Do you judge improvements merely on results or performance?

Performances.

7.e. How do you compare the performance of one player with another?

I never do that …each individual has his own history

7.f. How do you recognize and reward improvements in performances and Behaviour?

By monitoring and giving praise …show the player where he was and where he is

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APPENDIX 7 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR JOHN BUTTIGIEG – COACH OF A SENIOR TEAM IN THE MALTESE PREMIER LEAGUE

1. Do you consider yourself more of a coach, a selector or a Manager? More as a coach I like the ground and I do not like the office, I don’t like anything. I prefer that my work is at the ground.

2. How important do you think Management is in the day to day operations as a coach? It is very important and how we were talking about earlier, for Maltese amateur clubs it’s important that you have good management, when I say management in Malta a lot of the clubs have volunteers. However, if they are people who are ready to do their work and their bit and everyone does their bit then you can go forward. Who takes care of the kits, small things, who’s going to take care of the players, foreign players, who’s going to get them and who’s picking them up from the airport. These are many problems that if you don’t have someone taking care of them you will suffer. Are you the manager John? Do you feel that you need to manage these things? I don’t feel that I need to manage these things like the foreign players. My work should only be on the technical side but often you have to ask and get involved if in case something pops up. For example if you have an injured player, we don’t as of yet have the perfect structure of what an injured player has to do, we have certain difficulties such as not having our own doctor not only us but no one has. It’s rare to see a doctor sitting down on the bench during a match. So we have these problems, so you have to go and help and see to these problems and to see if the player is being taken care of or not. They need to have a structure, the management is very important so that the club becomes easier to run and the coaches, not only me can focus on this part of football.

3. What managerial qualities must a coach have to be a good coach in your Opinion? It is difficult to say it is not always the same; there are some who give attention to certain things and others to other things. Obviously you must have as good a relation as possible with everyone. When I say with everyone I mean those who run the club. When we talk about Malta we talk about the president and someone else, with the coaches and his staff and ultimately with the players. Those who come here and train are the most important part of the football club. Sometimes there are others who get involved. We use the ground with the younger people. So if you have a good relationship with the one who opens the ground, who switches on the lights, is also important. Often they also help by giving feedback.

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Functions of Management consist of:  Planning  Leading  Organising  Controlling

4. Planning

4.a. How do you Plan for short-term, medium term and long term? It depends on where you are and how long you would have been. Effectively you need to plan all three of them. The short term is the most important that you need to plan, then the medium and after you hope the long term will occur. However, it doesn’t only depend on you. You can say that I want to get a young player of 19 years every year, follow him and work on him. It also depends on the club supporting you and if they have the intention to do these things and if the club can do them, because very often you would want to do them but because of finances you cannot do them. This means that you always have to plan day to day on the team. This means injured players, players that often stop and need players that need to be changed and the medium term. I see the long term as a bigger problem in Malta because we don’t as of yet have the structure of long term planning. I think it’s from both our side as coaches and from the administration side. So the point of departure is not the long term and then it is divided……….. Ideally it should be like that but the football the long term plan should be done by the club and not the coach because the coach has to find a structure good enough and look into and adjust it, I think that the club has to do it because even the players he gets it is useless for me to tell him get that player and then after three month leaves. He has to be ideal for the Sliema Wanderers, for Hamrun, or whoever so that he is ideal for them and of an advantage to them and not the coach gets the player, meaning the structure has to be from the club how he is going to manage , the people he is getting with him because a player who is signing with him most often he is signing for a long period so it means there are lots of things but I think there are lots of things which should be divided between the two but it should be more the administration what direction it should take.

4.b. How do you converge your vision and philosophy with that of the club?

Sometimes it is difficult, with communication I continually have people here, when I say I have people here most often I talk with the president and with another person and with my staff with whom we are not always in agreement but we are almost on the same lines. We want players who are as much as possible serious and responsible and then therefore we start slowly slowly to be able to develop you understand. This club has problems like any other club but how they are being tackled nowadays I think we are entering the correct world, this does not mean that we shall definitely win but things have to be done as they should and this I believe that it is a good sign , that is it is very important you must have a good relation , as much as possible good with the one who is leading.

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4.c. Before joining a club do you take into consideration the philosophy of the history of the club and whether this is in sync with your own?

No I take into consideration who is leading, who the people are, meaning who are the people , what they have in mind, what they want from me, obviously we talk about the technical part and also about the other parts, the vision of the club and the most important the persons whom you want to lead, meaning also the environment meaning it makes a big difference in my opinion, There is a certain environment, certain people who are leading are actually in the maltese football scenario who in my opinion should not be there. Therefore we should give these people the most importance meaning I am not going into a club where there are people who honestly do not have the least idea of football and they want to lead football meaning I give this importance...... But if you for example have a vision, I dont know, that you nurture the young , that you start giving importance to the young of the club or that you end up with the first three and the club who supports you would not have the same vision, what do you do, you do not go or you try, the most important thAt you check who there would be and you try to arrive there? I do not want that I always win, i want that this team moves forward step by step that is it does not mean tht if there is a young team I do not join him , no on the other hand I try to go because when you go with a young team who would for example be playing in the second division his ambition would definitely not be to win but I think it would be to try to save itself, to try and construct a team, the important thing that things are done well immaterial if i join a team that wants to compete for honours or if in my opinion it is much more the same meaning things must be done the correct way and the people are respectable. 4.d. The life span of a football coach is a short one – how does this hinder your long term planning?

That of a coach gets more difficult? I, just the same , must think , because like this I see football it is not only mine, Sliema will not be only mine, which means if I am investing in the young today, it could be that later on Sliema will look just the same for another coach to be contracted , I am employed by the club. But won’t you benefitting from this? Absolutely but it would be of great satisfaction to me that I would have nurtured this youngster myself not because I myself would have played him because for me it does not make any difference, if there had been someone else he would have played him. I play the one that is good but I think we should give chance the promising youngsters not because you would have young kids but those who would be good enough. But I would not regret it not even if i had to stop , the important thing is that things are done well and that young one would have been given the opportunity because he deserves it so that means it does not make definitely any difference. That you plan for long term even though you are...... I’m planning long term because you cannot plan on short plan only, you get foreign players only all with a one year contract , for example here we have a problem with the Maltese players, we have too little. How the league is today you put in the list of 178

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eighteen seven only and we have a big problem meaning we are thinking of increasing the Maltese. It is difficult to get the Maltese with us, it is not easy but that is my aim and of the club as well but I do not keep thinking of what might happen in the future.

4.e. What qualities do you look for in building up a team?

When I go with a club the first thing I see is the players that the clue has, meaning those are the player I cannot say, these are not good, I need to work with those players that is giving them absolute trust even though there are some of them are not of quality but I need to stay working with them because these are employees of the club. When the time comes that

When you say quality do you look at mostly the character or the technical quality is the most important for you?

We are here for football that is yes you look at the technical quality but the character as well makes the difference, the personality of the players especially here in Malta we talk with everybody and I think there are no players of that great quality that make the difference you understand I prefer to have a little less quality but a respectable player.

4.f. How do you select and manage the team behind the team? Here for example I did not choose, they were already here and obviously I came and accepted that they are with me because I know the kind of youngsters that they are and one of them played with me, I coached him as well that is I already knew him. If I thought that he was not ideal I would have said we need to get another one instead of him meaning the same thing like when I am selecting the club, the seriousness of the people obviously their capabilities even these things are ideal to have your staff, here in Malta it is very difficult in the sense that as the coaches move a lot there are small clubs that cannot afford to take a goalkeeper coach, physical trainer and these difficult things to get on together, three or foud people but there are who succeed to do it but I think that the important thing is that they are respectable people and who think on your same waveback. How do you imagine them John that is how would you tell them what they would have to do , you work hand in hand with them, whatever? Actually I have a player who used to play with the National Team with a great experience that is I give him free hand on his own , I do not tell him what to do exactly , you understand , almost very often I tell him to do a session himself on attack for example he used to play attacker so surely he is better than me and I leave him more free but obviously the last decision someone has to take it. You have to guide him , you have to tell him on what he has to play if on the attack? I give him guidance but I leave him free and then we talk afterwards both when I do the session myself and even himself so that as much as possible we will be better for the following session. We do mistakes all the time and sometimes we say what we did but the important thing is that after ten minutes we always talk in the dressing

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room while we are showering and we say today we could have done that. We always change one and we do that so that as much as possible we make better the situation.

4.g. How do you periodise your work?

And when do you plan on the day of the training session meaning or on the following morning?

For example the preseason we had a programme of six weeks, seven weeks we know where to play all the time, that was what was planned and then due to the fact that we play almost every week we have practically the same programme depending on whether we play on Saturday or Sunday that means there is a programme that on the morrow we always do a recovery, the following day we are off and we train regularly like this , we do change a bit but if we have problems, I dont know like they are not keeping the ball well on the back so we work some more that week on this. Lastly when we do not play against certain adversories we still prepare the team to play for them also in this manner but more or less Then in the morning maybe you tell him listen for example do a preparation session on attack and this one? But I would also be advised two days before for example this week we are able to prepare before so that we would know for example today recovery, tomorrow off, Wednesday we would know alreadywhat to do, then Thursday and Friday we see the condition of the players and on Saturday there is that preparation of before .... OK so it means and regarding periodisation you start with, basically what happens , you start from the full programme during the year, then month by month and you divide it accordingly or? For me those are very difficult words, that is they do make sense but difficult to follow very difficult. Very difficult because you have to see the condition of the players how it is all the time which means we divide it, we input it , we try to lead on the lines but very often we have to change, depending often also on the weather because here it is very windy, it rains , you have a session in mind, that is there are many things but as I told you we always work almost the same. There will be sessions where we work more on the physical part, another session would be more on the technique and another session on tactics. OK, would the training be much conditioned from the last match and from the coming match? Not many small things but if we are playing against a team who is playing with two in front we adjust accordingly but the principles remain always the same basic things, as much as possible we have regulations, when I say we have regulations they will not be, we do not have secrets that we need to do them always, that is we always follow them, and then we change a few small things if perhaps we play with two in front of the defence or one according to how he will play or think how the adversory is going to play because sometimes we think that he will play like this and not like that. And according to what would have happened in the previous match perhaps you arrange, you adjust if something would not have succeeded? Undountedly, undoubtedly. 180

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5. Organising Organising implies putting plans into action. 5.a. How do you prevent overlapping and confusion of roles? Very often since he is also the physical trainer who takes care of the warm up part when it is not the technical part , it means that there he already knows that he has to do it, you understand he takes the part of the speed before the match, the part of tactics is divided between two , sometimes I take the defence players and he takes the attackers, then we change them, that is there are the very simple roles and we advise the goal keeper coach in advance how many goal keepers he will have available with him or with us and the team manager knows his role in the sense that we do not have staff of ...... But you define, what you tell them the roles prior to the season, you tell them you are going to work like this and this? We adjust and change that means every day but practically those are the roles everyone knows what to do and we always try to make better

5.b. Place your staff on the image.(organigram) John how are you in your staff, that is there is you as the coach like you are in the middle, then you have your assistant coach, goalkeepers coach….

Then we have two kit managers, one who takes care of the kits, he prepares all the kits so the players here they get absolutely nothing with them and then he again prepares for the morrow. The other one is always with us on the pitch that is he looks after the water, the balls, takes care of the markers and all those things plus that we have the team manager who looks after the certificates, work permits and many other bureautic work, and he also keeps relation as much as possible with the players, payments, communication problems and these things that can crop up from day to day, injuries and these things. We have a physio who comes two to three times a week and during the match we have a masseur who also comes twice a week, but these are parttimers who are not always there. That is where we have the biggest problem in the medical part, we do not have structure, we try to phone up David because he is the best but he cannot always help us. But we do not have a structure

But you are always in the middle? You always know everything? Not bureaucratic but enough to know about them.

6. Leadership Leaders are those who are able to influence others and who possess managerial Authority

6.a. How and when is your leadership evident? You do not want, they practically would know, they would know the leader of the team, when we say the leader of certain divisions. We give them responsibility , we give them guidelines , difficulties in which they could find themselves, after all they would be on the pitch and very difficult that you change the situation. You can turn around small things but they have to take the important decisions. And this is where we give them confidence and we tell them and we urge them to take decisions even if it is a 181

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wrong one. Ater all they have to be on the pitch, it is useless for example to tell them mark the number 5 if the number 5 did not go up for the corner, what will you do? That is we have to give them the options and the ideas so that they solve the problem more easily but obviously everyone knows what his role is. There are players who are 18 years of age and there are ones who play in the national team these recent years. As such we are really united, sometimes you have a problem and have to face it and you have to show him that everyone has his guiding lines. I cannot overlap this line and the player cannot overlap the line, as such we never had a problem. That is it is more of an authorative leadership or more participating? Participating, useless ourselves even if we are watching a dvd and we analyse a match it is useless that I keep talking, this is not what I want, I want to listen to them, to see that they think, sometimes they are right but in the end we are here to help each other. In the end if the assistant coach says something they have to listen to him. There is communication. And you have to take the decision because ultimately there is only one leader.

6.b. How do you influence players and technical staff to buy into your vision? You want to impose certain conditions in your training that if you want the ball to be always on the ground there is a certain training that is certain ideas we include them as regulations. We build up a match and whistle for a foul for example, certain things they are bound to do them but there are others where we leave them free. I cannot tell him don’t don’t score , if he overpasses five and dribbles I cannot tell him play three touch, that is there has to be mix of two. A bit flexible? For sure, how can I tell a midfielder you play three touch, he gets the ball and overpasses five and he scores what shall I tell him. I have to explain to him the difficulties and the mistakes that he can do if he risks in that part of the ground but as much as I can I leave them fee. 6.c. What sort of relationship do you like to establish with your players – parental, personal, boss? One of them, I was a player, that is I have a bit of advantage, on this that I can, I know how difficult it is to play, how difficult it is play a new position, and when you lose how easy it is to win. I know the difficulties and try as much as possible to be one of them, and we give them only guidelines, help, all the time how they should behave, even how they train, how they speak, how they behave, today there is social media there is another problem and you have to pay attention in everything, how they reply and all these things. It means you do not mind that they see you as a friend more than you know you are their friend, and you joke with them on the ground and you go in with them? They have a line where they can arrive at, and they know them, me they never call me by my name, that it does not make any difference but no one calls you automatically, for example I used to coach often young children, I used to tell them to call me by my name, but there will be certain parents and they tell them no, and we tell them that we told them that for us it does not matter – relationship. Now if a young boy calls me coach, on many occasions the other coaches get angry with them , that 182

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for me is a mistake , for me the young boy knows when he should call you coach and when he should call you John. And this type of relation the same even when you were coach of the national team? Yes, very much similar, there there is a little bit more, how shall I tell you, not seriousness because seriousness stays everywhere, there is more responsibility, they are much harder as long as the players follow the things and do the things well I do not have any problem.

6.d. What lines of communication do you keep with your players and how do you interact with them – directly or through intermediaries (ex. Assistant coaches)?

It depends who the player is, generally we talk eye to eye, we talk on social media, when I receive a message I do not reply, I answer it here, it means I do not like to go in, if he sends a message I am not going to message back, not because it should not be like that ok. I thank him ok, but as much as possible we are eye to eye. There are players to whom I talk in front of the others , there are others with whom you have to use your head as time passes, you have to talk to them on their own because they can be offended and are more touchy, they get offended. There are others who the Assistant Coach talks to them, or they go to the Assistant Coach, no problem, they feel more comfortable talking to the Assistant Coach, it is of no problem, as much as possible we keep everything and we see. But you promote this open communication? Yes very often the players do not talk, they remain quiet, they watch the match but we should not do it, they must talk. What do you think we ask two on this action, what do you think player with another player will not do it, we do not do it with discipline we do it so that they learn from each other, if he was responsible to take that position he must take it.

6.e. What level of autonomy do you like to give to your players – during training sessions, during games, in general (ex. Appointing captains) ?

Let me give you an example I don’t know if you know the case but Mourinho when he chose the captain of Chelsea he had chosen that Frank Lampard would be the captain but they were going for the first friendly game, they were on the aeroplane and basically there was this discussion and the players said, they spoke amongst them and they said that they would prefer to have John Terry because they found him more of a leader. Mourinho was ready to listen to what they had to say and in fact John Terry came the captain of Chelsea. Would you take that into consideration or would you have made up your mind that listen he is going to be that’s my way and no discussion?

I see no difficulty in the sense that here in Malta there are ideas that the majority of the clubs make Captain that player who would have been playing the most but very often would not be the ideal thing. It has its own difficulties, there will be other players who can be captains or not. I think that certain things you can leave but there are other things which you cannot.

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And you have to take the decision and they have to abide by it? I cannot accept, sometimes we made ideas, write what regulations you would like, if they say we come twenty minutes late it is not a problem, I will not accept , there are certain things that , there are certain principles that are a must for you. If for example they tell me we will listen to the music before the match nowadays you have to adapt so long as there is seriousness and they prepare themselves well for the match meaning there are certain things which you leave and there are others you have to decide. If let’s say everyone with the bus one cannot decide and tell me I will come with the car, meaning there are things and things.

6.f. You are about to take an important decision regarding team tactics – how much do you consult your assistants, your players and what level of participation do you allow?

By showing them on the pitch, there you get into the part why they are finding it difficult, you show them every part; you explain why they are finding certain difficulties, these things. Through discussion? During training and if you see that they are not comfortable you do not do it? It is useless I do something when they are not ready to play. No I do not do it, they have to play, certain things have to take time. Those who would have been playing matches with four for a certain number of years is difficult to play with three, but as much as possible you have to keep the same principles, you start with the small things and you introduce it little by little, that means we sometimes train with five or with four on the back, but we keep the same principles so that we, if we should come to need that system, we do it, but if they keep insisting telling us listen coach we are finding difficulty. You have to be able to listen.

6.g. Your players are not happy with the amount of training and would like to reduce the workload how much weight do you give to their opinion?

We stop them immediately. For example we say in the morning sometimes when we see the players are tired, they start talking, sometimes we would be giving them 1800 metres but when we see them after 1200 metres they are suffering we stop it and do not give it to them. You do not see it as a sign of weakness the fact that everytime you give in? No absolutely, we know how difficult it is, the players listen to us and they do everything but when they are in difficulty it is useless to keep pushing them. That is I know coaches who were, they were required to do 8000 – 8 km, they start to do them, they are seeing the players struggling and you immediately realise and they continue. What would you have gained from it? Risk of injuries, you will have players with injuries.

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6.h. Change can be stressful and damaging to the group-- how do you handle change within your group?

As much as possible I would not change anything for the players. It must be something with which I do not absolutely agree, here we do not go by bus. I asked them why don’t you go by bus is it not better that you go altogether. They answered that here in order to part if the match was to start at 2.00pm we would have to be here at 11.00am, there is no parking and we would have to go round and round in order to park and we go back with the bus, so when you think what difference does it make we meet at the ground, that is you have to see if they really are right. And in the case that you are right and you really want to do it, but how do you tell them just this is how it has to be done or captain or ...... I tell him that we slowly have to do it but I tell him that we have to change it. There is a problem here in Malta, because as soon as we go into the dressing room, for me the way we lead the football in Malta is faulty, they all come into the dressing room those who are playing. Here in Malta only the eighteen stop you. In order to keep the bond of the team so if I am playing and also if I am not playing that I want to do myself because for even if something had to come up. During warm up I tell them get the kit with you, we have a problem with the administration. You have to ask a special request every time through the captain? That’s it, there anyone can enter into the dressing room, I am responsible, we have this problem. Sometimes there will be a player who comes a bit late and not in his tracksuit and those kind of things. And I insist that it should be done, you are employed by the club and you have to come so when you are called and also when you are not called. If you are suspended, you come or not. We have young ones of eighteen years of age on that occasion he did not come for the match, he is not called and he did not come , he cannot do this do you understand what I am telling you. For example something like this you try to promote through the captain or in front of everyone , I tell them all , I tell them these are the rules, and they say listen we cannot change it. We have to think it over whether we should change it.

6.i. How do you keep your players and staff motivated from training session to training session and from game to game?

As much as possible the training has to be inclusive which is liked by the players, you have to be organised, and you have to know what you are doing. The big problem is if you go on the pitch and you are not prepared and prepared not for the session but how you are going to change the session. How you are changing the numbers, how you are keeping them motivated, obviously the wins will help immensely which means when you are going well it is easier, but even if you are going badly it is important that all of us believe that we are doing the things well, we believe that if we continue to work in that manner at one time or other we are going to break. You understand, ultimately you have to accept also that if you are going to play against teams which are better than you, and they are truly better, you cannot win them, so it means we have to work harder, we have to challenge them even more, meaning that with the next game we try to reach their level. It is not so easy, but obviously you need the players with you otherwise. I was a player if I want to destroy a session I can destroy it in half a minute. This means that you have to give the players their importance, you

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have to bring the players on your side so that as much as possible the others will follow you. Nowadays you know technology is important I was with the National Team and so you know there are a lot of technical advantages. We did not have anything, really......

No they can be helpful especially the analysis of the game, it is very important, on the physical part they are very important but you need the people to do them, meaning you know what to buy but you have to read them, you know it means you need to work hard if you do not have staff, a person on them it is useless. John you do not have a physical trainer? We do not have, we have a physical trainer but useless, afterwards you have to get them into the machine, you have the see the results which means. In your time you did not have Pagani? There is who made them but in the National, but in the clubs no one has them. Maybe there are two clubs which have the monitors but then what do you do with them, you have to read the results. But they are helpful, there are certain things which I think are not but I come from an era somewhat old, the statistics of passes are just to make passes, there are those who keep them, but what is a pass, a pass of a metre is good or bad. Who is going to decide what a pass is good or bad. Like possession for example, 68% possession or 32% passes? What does it mean, it means in my opinion football is not numbers. It means you have ten corners and I have one and I won, ultimately we cannot count it as a number.

7. Controlling

7.a. Do you set any standards and benchmarks in terms of performance and behaviour during training, games and daily routine?

Regarding behaviour there are rules you have to follow them, they are very simple which the players know and they sign the paper at the beginning of the season. You introduced these or the club? The club had already; we changed some things or adjusted some things. There are others which you yourself have to tackle personally every day. You know what I am telling you, we do not use them as much as possible until something outstanding happens. But you have to keep insisting every day, for example today they came for training at 3.55pm and no one goes out on the pitch meaning we tell them every day when you are there go out and start doing something on your own so that as much as possible.... you have to keep repeating, insisting every day.

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Do you have certain standards, for example level of intensity in training? Undoubtedly it is important, in case we stop and explain again we need this intensity or we change the system. For example let’s say we want two touch or we extend the pitch meaning we adjust according to the targets that we have. Many a time we have in mind that we are going to do something and it will not be working out and we have to change, or we divide ourselves in groups for example we change without any hassles, there is where you have to be the most prepared not the session.

7.b. How do you deal with cases of misconduct and what disciplinary steps and procedures do you normally follow in terms of your attitude, reprimands, fines etc.?

We follow the code of ethics, they are there, I would have seen him and I would be accepting also myself. And as much as possible when it is something very serious fortunately the club follows them, the club does not like these things. Fortunately we did not have a lot of these meaning we had almost none, we had some sent outs but you must remember also you must understand that the player will be nervous. The system of the ground is not easy, as much as possible we speak to them so that the situation does not repeat itself. We warn him the first time but then there is a limit to everything.

7.c. How do you monitor the progress within your team?

That is also difficult, we talk about it every day we say that player is playing better, difficult, subjective. We are three and we altogether agree, we talk to them but very subjective. Everyone has his own opinion but very difficult.

7.d. Do you judge improvements merely on results or performance? No on the performance and on the result, we consider them both, without result we cannot perform but we must give the players trust that if we are going to have performance the result will come, better if we have good performance we will have more chances, but it does not always happen like this therefore it is not always easy. After every match I think it is also difficult.

7.e. How do you compare the performance of one player with another?

Many times I have to watch again the match I would not have seen it. During the match I would have seen it one way and after I see another thing, you get a different impression. For example let’s say we would have played badly when we would not have played well. Then we talk. They would watch the game also or they remember it? We do the clips and we watch it with the players, as much as possible we do that system. You mean the previous match you watch it again always with the players? We always watch the previous game we do not watch all of it we see the clips, we see 25 clips, depending how many important things there would be, and we keep those. For example very often there would be five we take a film of two of them because they would be the same mistake.

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For example you ask of a player that during the match he does this, this and that, now you see the match and you say look he did them or did not do them? NO because you cannot do this with football, maybe if we had to play without the ball meaning it is useless I tell you open there but if the ball comes, and you do not have space where to open, it is useless that means you have to be realistic also. The principles that we show them the basic mistakes so that as much as possible these mistakes are not repeated. You do not have to say anything they would know the mistakes.

7.f. How do you recognize and reward improvements in performances and Behaviour?

We do not give rewards, the greatest reward for a player is to play more, we give them more trust and he plays more. Ultimately I play those whom I think is best for that match. Obviously there will be moments where between one player and another I know really that a player would be passing through a bad patch, I would still at that moment prefer him to play but in the end I play him who is the best. Often we changed a foreigner with an eighteen year old one, but I would take him out because I would think that that player could be of more trouble to the opponent than the other player. But rewards are not difficult. You mean you praise him? They would know, that is we talk with them but they when they start playing well they feel well, it is more when they are playing badly that is when we come in and we try to help them in the sense when you are playing it is almost easier to play well, and who is playing badly we have to help him more. No? On performance and on the result after all.

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APPENDIX 8 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF MR PAUL ZAMMIT – COACH OF A SENIOR TEAM IN THE MALTESE PREMIER LEAGUE

1. Do you consider yourself more of a coach, a selector or a Manager?

In the beginning when I started coaching, I felt I was more of a trainer and a coach. Along the years, I was considering myself more as a manager.

Cause you went up a higher level? No no only that, I was looking at the squad in a different way, I was looking at planning in a different way, and I felt that I was not only a coach. I did not take a long time to realise that I am not the trainer during weekdays, and the coach on weekends, I also had to be a manager.

2. How important do you think Management is in the day to day operations as a coach?

In our work without a doubt, coaching involves a major element of management. In my opinion, Man Management can determine a lot of factors. Due to the local football situation, it also involves an element of management within administration departments too. The guide of the football coach in Malta towards the administration plays a very important role. It depends on the type of support that the administration gives. Especially in the local situation, since we are not full time professionals, the function of the coach is elementary, it is very very important. It always depends on the kind of backing one has. How to manage is fundamental. If the skills of a good manager especially in the premier level one, are not present, one will encounter major problems.

3. What managerial qualities must a coach have to be a good coach in your opinion?

One of the most important managerial qualities is Man Management, to be a man who is capable to achieve what one wants to achieve, or at least get the best out of each person not only the squad but all the people involved around him, that is one of the best qualities. One who has managerial positions in football has to listen a lot and evaluate what you listen. Contact and communication with your people is very important not only the football players but to be clear in the direction one wants to achieve is very very important. One should be firm in his beliefs and remain strong in my principles

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Functions of Management consist of:  Planning  Leading  Organising  Controlling

4. Planning 4.a. How do you Plan for short-term, medium term and long term?

When I go to a new club to me, at first I do not look at the squad, I look at the team behind it, the set up and the structure and first I start the works there, I start working on this situation, where I have my ideas on the set up a Maltese team should have and I start planning there first.

Afterwards the planning goes on to what type of squad I require. But from then the planning for the whole season So first I plan there, and then I plan the squad. I plan for a whole year, the identity I want to give to the team and I have a physical plan, then it is divided into meso cycles approximately 4 to 6 weeks depending on the type of games, then sub divided into weekly and daily and I do not do this for the training only but for everything in general.

4.b. How do you converge your vision and philosophy with that of the club?

Let me tell, first of all I see what is important to me, in my opinion I cannot work with any club. I do not think I can work with a club whose vision is very different from mine; I do not think I can work like that. Those clubs that I think they share my same vision, from the preliminary meetings I will know if I can make it or not. But it is important that the club that I am working with, will be working in parallel together, the reason being is that from my experience when you work for a long time with the same club, you start realising that along the period it could be that the vision starts diverting and that is where a coach’s managerial skills come into effect. This is when one has to get back the vision in line and this can happen from time to time, especially when things are not doing well. But overall yes, I consider the vision of the club and it has to be in parallel with my vision.

4.c. Before joining a club do you take into consideration the philosophy of the history of the club and whether this is in sync with your own?

In my opinion, it is very important that the vision of the club is a vision that I want to work with. I do not think that I can start working with any club especially if their vision is different. I start rating before joining a club and I know if I can make it or no. It is important for me that the vision of the club matches my vision because the club and I have to work in parallel.

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Normally I spend a long period with a club and therefore throughout the time I am with the club and there are instances when vision starts changing too, and here it takes managerial skills to straighten the vision. Of course a reason where a vision starts to change is when results are not coming. It is very important that the vision of the club and that of a coach remains parallel. I believe a coach is in a managerial position and during the same season I believe I can learn everyday too. That means that although the vision is clear there were occasions where time taught me to change the vision. Usually we make a long term plan especially when we need to work on youth development, this does not affect my vision, they do ask me this question a number of times, I am very happy to see that a lot of work that I have done keeps on going. As I already mentioned it is very important, especially in Malta, you cannot always do what you wish to do. If there are people already there and I cannot work with them I do not start. It is hard to take your team, if I had to choose I will move the whole team with me and it is almost never possible. I try and do as much as possible; it is a very important function. Coaching without doubt is the type of work where it involves a substantial amount of management. In our work management plays a very important role. Man Management can determine a lot.

4.d. The life span of a football coach is a short one – how does this hinder your long term planning?

Yes, alot of people ask me but personally it does not affect me, but i know that if i joined a new club and i have a plan ahead of me which is long term, for example, i have a plan to work on youth development, that does not affect my vision. I think, although a lot of people ask me but up to now it does not affect me, meaning what i want to do , i do it. Up to now i have experienced occasions were I was really happy to see that alot of work that i would have done can keep on going. No it does not affect me at all.

4.e. What qualities do you look for in building up a team?

4.f. How do you select and manage the team behind the team?

No, let me tell you, infact i mentioned it even before, that before i start somewhere one of the things that i see at preliminary stages is the team behind the team, sometimes you cannot do what you really wish to do, so I try to benefit from the people i find already in the set up, but to be honest if there are people that i really cannot work with without any hard feelings i speak up from the beginning. But it is also difficult to take your staff since in the local arena most of the times by the time the coach finishes with a club, the Assistant Coach might have signed already with another club. The culture in Malta, alot of times is especially when a coach ends his term with a club; it could be that the Assistant Coach made arrangements with another club already, the physical trainer too. It is a bit more difficult. If I had to choose I would opt to go with the whole team. I believe that is the way forward, I believe that a head 191

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coach should have his own team. That is what i wish to have my own team, however due to how football is managed in Malta it is not always possible. On the contrary it is never possible, because it is really difficult; however I do my best so that the team behind the team is one that I want to work with. For me it has a very important function.

4.g. How do you periodise your work?

Yes, yes, yes, infact that is why I told you that is what I think. Now it is my 14th year in coaching at the highest level here in Malta. When I look back 14 years ago I can tell you I made a whole evolution in my life in the way that I work and the way I work now. I can tell you that I kept on changing up to recent years. I try to keep abreast but that is not enough. And I do not try because for example because the football in Holland is played in one way I have to work the same way. I take what is suitable for our local circumstances. If I was coaching in another country I would look at it differently but planning for me remains very important. As I told you the first thing that I look at is the structure, the set up etc., but when it comes to football yes, I start periodisation that covers the whole year, and I plan what I need to do during the year, example I want to give an identity to the team, I would like to have these tactics, physically I want my team to be in a way, then I break it down to a monthly period, most of times I break it into 6 weekly periods, then I zoom into the particular week to start preparing for the game. However the most important thing I look at in my opinion, and I keep on changing every year, I tell you even this year I have found very interesting although I did not want or I did not think I would for example grow to like the type of periodisation that you adopted for example and now I ended up like it. Without wanting, or without saying anything I started finding myself in a situation where I am comfortable to work like that, because I am a person who likes to evolve and I am not the type of person who sticks to a particular situation which was successful and I say this is it, I never stop evolving. From the last season to this season you have the same goal, maybe to win the league or a trophy, and the goal is set by the committe or by yourself? No let me tell you, when I went back to Valletta, we had drafted a set of objectives because of the moment; the moment was not a good one. With Valletta upon my return I did not find players, my objectives had to go the basics that is we had to build a new squad, because our name is Valletta, we have to remain competitive and not just the name even the kind of players appointed because when you, I repeat, it is true that last year we won the league but it was a difficult situation for the club however circumstances brought us to actually win the league however my plan was devised on three years, one year building on the previous one and primarily it was not the case, we never started with the intention to win the league, not that we did not want that, we want to win the league every year but I never started with the principle to win the league. I started believing in first we had to build the right squad that matches the identity of the team. I wanted a squad with a mix of young element because I want to think and this is one of my objectives that the team of Valletta needs to have a good foundation of good young players who can give Valletta a certain amount of years because I highly believe in continuity. In fact of the things, other things aside, one of the things I had mentioned last year, to tell you the truth, two journalists called me today and I told them, for example the introduction of 7 foreign players, I had said that there are teams in Malta who will have to start afresh season after season and that is exactly what happened.

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I have seen teams that last year had a very good season but the season finished and they finished too and had to start from the beginning. That is this thing about objectives, Valletta and B’Kara from the administration side they start listen we want to win the league , win the trophy and true , but I look at it more how I am going to arrive to do it how to arrive there, the rest comes on its own. Like this I arrive well and most probably that comes on its own. I am more concerned how I will arrive up there. Therefore there are many details but it depends a lot from the coach what he has in mind. Understand me because I am that type of coach, but there are coaches , I started also from when I was a player, coaches that the most important thing for them was to have good players at that moment and then that’s it. I do not know the next year we see what happens, I work more long term, now if we do not get the result and I end up that the club decides that he does not need my services, it does not matter - no regrets, because that work that I would have done I am sure they will any how find a club.

5. Organising Organising implies putting plans into action.

5.a. How do you prevent overlapping and confusion of roles?

Let me tell you if you are not careful you will surely have overlapping. Therefore without any arrogance, I am telling you this without arrogance but everything has to start from within it. That is and I am telling you this, so that really, there will not be overlapping, I am a person who delegates a lot. That is I will be the person that I will tell to the team manager, yes listen we let him go on the programme because for example he is young , yes this one will go on the programme today, no not this one will go today, today this one will not be interviewed, now these are minor things. Yes the goal keepers coach I will tell him, the goal keepers, the physical trainer, I want to mean everything starts from within it, even like sessions, even I have for example a physical trainer in whom I have great confidence, really good but still I want to give him the loading. I give him the loading; I give him the objective and tell him today we have to work like this. Yes yes for example, if he wants… with the ball or without ball, I will do those with the ball and I will tell him what I would be doing for example do this distance and with this time. I will tell him how much he needs to work and then so that he does it in that manner but I will tell him exactly.

That means they start from within it, even if they buy equipment , he starts from within it and then I will delegate but everything I do , I do that it starts from within, otherwise there will definitely be who tries to go across each other. Not because its me but I like to shoulder total responsibility because this is how I prefer, I prefer that if something good or bad happens, the responsibility would be totally mine, because often things happened that I would not want , well I don’t know, often mistakes were made and not like I work because the assistant coach that is how he sent me, no you have to say , I want to tell you, do not tell the team manager, that you have a problem with the car and you came an hour late for training, you have to tell me. And then I but it has to start from within. But yes I believe not to be overlapping. I shoulder a lot of responsibility, using this system you take a lot of responsibility but I prefer that it starts from within and I prefer that I would know all things. Do not tell me because I had the problem with the passport and I went to tell the team manager and I do not know about it, the team manager will solve it for you but I have to know about it. Do not tell me afterwards, and then I go and tell the team manager, or I the least tell you

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listen tell the team manager about it, or phone up the president about it, but yes I want to be the first one to know about it.

I went, for example I experienced it with Valletta mostly, that the team manager was, not now even ten years ago, I know the team manager used to come before the training because he sent me at 1.00pm this one has this, no I want to know do not send him please. In fact Jerry always tells me you removed a burden, for me the important thing , first they tell me , it starts from within but I delegate, otherwise I feel that I would not know all the situation.

6. Leadership Leaders are those who are able to influence others and who possess managerial authority

6.a. How and when is your leadership evident?

Let me tell you about leadership, first thing that occurs to me, that during the years that is why I told you I evolved a lot, even the way how to show leadership changed a lot. It changed a lot, a lot a lot. Perhaps before I used to show my leadership through, because with my work I work a lot , and you see me working a lot, nowadays although I will be working I would be working in silence and my leadership would be showing through the respect that I try that the others would have towards me. I believe that if you succeed in gaining the respect towards you from the people who are working with you, and especially the players, I think that there the life of a coach would be a bit easier if you succeed in getting that respect, once that you lose that respect it’s time to move one, and it happened to me. That is I had an experience when I was with Valletta the first time I noticed, I have been four years with Valletta, the first time and in the last year I noticed that that respect started to be lost on account of things that I knew, I knew what was happening, but once this was lost this might not be a good leader, you have had it. That is it, it is time to move if you want to continue do not continue where you are. Because either you or the group who is working with you, now I am either taking the whole group or I am taking you, but I believe that, the quality of a leader is vast, meaning there are those who show their leadership skills through this attitude who you are because there are coaches in the world that their leadership skills are somewhat regimental. Here even perhaps because of the country, I changed through the years, first of all do not forget my transition from a player to a coach was done quickly , I think that in the first years I remained a player , that is what I think when I go back. I remained a player even in training, I used to involve myself, work like a player. ‘’ You were one of them’’. Exactly I feel that I remained a player. But then I started to detach myself a lot more. I started to look at a wider perspective much more even in training sessions, often in fact one of the many things I talked about with Gilbert in the beginning of the season. Because I was the same I had started the same, I experienced a lot Gilbert and he has to be involved in this, this and this and I used to tell Gilbert step back, you have to look at it this way and don’t start from that edge, that edge, that edge. Start at an edge and concentrate on that edge on that problem. In fact the other week he mentioned to me because he improved a lot, we helped each other but I kept noticing. I mentioned Gilbert to you because he was like me he was still a player and I am exactly like that. Today totally different, much different, everybody knows that when 194

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we come one to one especially I like to be very open with the players. Even when we are together I like to be very open. I think in order to work well, I think that in order that you show leadership, I think they have to know you very well. They have to get used to the idea that you have respect towards them, towards each and every one of them, he who he is, whether kit manager, whether the captain of the team. There has to be that but the respect has to be given back. If you do not have this according to me you can have theoretically a good leader but in practice you are not.

6.b. How do you influence players and technical staff to buy into your vision?

And by good leader you mean exemplary?

No I do not think so, for me leadership in a team, in order to be the leader you have to be capable that your ideas, in all you have to make the people in front of you to follow you. That is what I believe, that is that a person has a lot of ideas that is, and he is not capable that the people dependent on him follow him; you can have as many ideas as you can but they will not work. For me a good leader is not only with example, example is important but I think that your attitude, the approach towards work and not the approach towards the game only, or the training session, the attitude, the approach towards all the work that you would want for me is most important, but that thing and that is why I mentioned to you, you have to gain respect because if you do not gain that respect these therefore will not follow you. This is felt in every company, you can have as many people as you want and you can ask of them what you want, and you can give them deadlines, and you have to do this and you have to do this, if you are not capable to gain the respect and they believe, because this is important that they believe in what they are doing. For example I have noticed in football that all the successes that I passed through them they all have been because we succeeded in believing in what we are really doing but we succeeded. Once I was in seasons where we were doing things, the things were good, but I do not think that we had succeeded, or that we had succeeded in making them believe enough, once that you make them believe , once that you gain that respect then you have succeeded. Therefore leadership, that you are the leader comes along on its own, you understand not you try to impose because that is why I told you there is his type, listen here it is all up to me, for example I know of a German club, and you do not have any chance the players are like workers, listen you are there I am here if you want come and talk to me about football, do this and this and that’s it. That is the style, the mentality of a country but here in Malta I think if you succeed in gaining the respect, not only here in Malta but everywhere but here the style is different.

6.c. What sort of relationship do you like to establish with your players – parental, personal, boss?

To me life has taught me, even because I am a teacher, I have noticed that you cannot consider everyone to be the same. I never go down to the level where the people who are with me or especially my players think of me as their friend. I never went down to that. But I want them to look at me that I am a person that if there is a problem I am ready to help. I am there but not on friendship level, in the professional level that we are working together. But this does not work out the same with everyone. For example, I like always, it is true that I have one team but I have 25 individuals who each of them has his own needs, and each of them has his way of how to tackle him. There are those who I notice I need to use this manner and there are others that I need to use another manner how to tackle him. And that is something that I feel it is 195

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very important, that is the first thing that I try to do I want to know the players well. When I say players, I want to know my technical staff well; I want to know my administration well because I do not deal the same with everyone.

6.d. What lines of communication do you keep with your players and how do you interact with them – directly or through intermediaries (ex. Assistant coaches)?

Although technology today has become well, but I feel that direct communication is the most effective communication. There is a communication that is only information which passes from technology of today but I do not like to use it, I like the direct communication also to show my players something, for example I do not prefer to send it to him but I prefer that we sit.

6.e. What level of autonomy do you like to give to your players – during training sessions, during games, in general (ex. appointing captains)?

Let me give you an example I don’t know if you know the case but Mourinho when he chose the captain of Chelsea he had chosen that Frank Lampard would be the captain but they were going for the first friendly game, they were on the aeroplane and basically there was this discussion and the players said, they spoke amongst them and they said that they would prefer to have John Terry because they found him more of a leader. Mourinho was ready to listen to what they had to say and in fact John Terry came the captain of Chelsea. Would you take that into consideration or would you have made up your mind that listen he is going to be that’s my way and no discussion?

No, I am not that type. If in my opinion I believe in something it is because I would have made sound work, that's why I told you I hear a lot. And it could be that I get to know not from those who really want to tell me but from those who talk because the wall has ears, I listen and listen and listen and I observe yes. Then I arrive to the conclusion, and most often you have to work a lot so that your decision is accepted, plain sailing. That means this is how I work.

6.f. You are about to take an important decision regarding team tactics – how much do you consult your assistants, your players and what level of participation do you allow?

I mentioned to you often to gain respect, if there are two ways, if you are a person and just it is your way and they have to work your way you have consequences. Now on the other hand if you tell a player, “Eh central defender, you are not feeling comfortable”, and you change it you will have other consequences. I would reach a balance and the balance is that I convince, first thing, before I start, as such the consultation that I convince both my players as well as the staff with me that this is a tactic system that I am going to use because of this, this and this. First, I try to convince but I convince not with words but with the attitude, with the training session, session after session after session, and I say listen especially to the assistant coach, I would be, or something that involves the defence for example I want to tell the goalkeepers' coach and I would have already told him listen it would be that I am thinking about this and start to work at it. I do not try to convince with words I try to convince with my attitude in the manner that I am doing the session. Very often up to 196

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now this has succeeded more than If I say for this game I think we shall play two lines of four 'Gilbert ta ?' For example, rather than putting it down like this I start to say I am thinking that it could be that we change the midfielder and I make the two lines here , I will look at the sessions that I am doing here , these drills we do them like this and we start to see it working. In order to convince, then there is another thing; I see another thing that is why it is important that you gain respect. Because if a coach does not gain this respect it could be that he would be doing something good. The player does not have respect thinking that this is not good and this does not work eh that means. If the player says this is not good, it will not work out even though it is good meaning therefore first respect is important , because if they understand , I am not talking about myself, if they believe that the coach helps tactically , you understand you will see what the coach is thinking , yes because I believe a lot in the situation , that if your mind tells you that this will work out it will work out, if it says it will not , from the experience that I have it will not. They will not feel comfortable meaning sometimes, and I passed through experiences where for example I had to change drastically the tactic in the half time of a match really important when you are 'do or die' games that is, we pass through or not the European Trophy or in the decider for example, a decider I will never forget, a decider in half time he started to cry not because they come to tell me themselves. Very often I realize, but let me say another thing that is beside myself, whoever there is certainly at that time boom like this, we made a season playing 352 meaning a season 352, if I come to a decider point whoever is winning the league, it had not happened for quite a long time this decider I do not know how many years, we are losing 1 – 0, Kenneth Sciberras crying. Those crying at that moment I took hold of the technical staff and told them, now do not be offended, go out so I talk to you. At that time I convinced them that if with Hibs we are playing in the back four, we will have the midfield compact with three, two very fast wingers, Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza, I put the foreigner at the other side, I’m telling you a season playing 352, circumstances looked like that, they at the time realized that the coach is helping them, we went out and the match was won like that. That is I could have messed it up meaning it happened the same to me at Farouk islands, it happened to me meaning we are saying qualification of 300,000, at half time I go in, I took hold of John and he told me I am very often at the side, I told him we change it, we changed it, “so we are ready to hear" yes but very often because I realize that the players would want to have it out all the time with the coach. As I have already told you. I make myself known , you have to know me , I do not permit that someone tells me because it is better like this , you think about your job and I think about mine. I mean that is why this has happened to me before , that is why I told you , at the start it is important that I make them understand who I am and I understand who you are. That is it does not matter I will take the responsibility but don't tell me because they are passing a lot by the right and that is Valletta before me . Before I went , the last years were truly hard for Valletta because there were certain players who used to think that they could lead the team but a certain drastic decisions had to be taken before the season started , I had to take them, it does not matter 1234 they ended up , the foreigners all finished . However with one of the foreigners I made things clear, listen that is why I told you without any arrogance listen I do not like your style, I do not work like that, if things are remaining like this we will have definitely a problem, understand but I did it straight from the beginning without arrogance without his name. Therefore once you get this respect you can take decisions ok drastic ones but the clue of it all is that you make the ones around you believe that what you are doing is for the benefit of all. You will not always succeed but very often if you have a good command of the team then you will succeed at least believe, you will not

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succeed in changing the result but you succeed that they are believing in you. That is all. Told you.

6.g. Your players are not happy with the amount of training and would like to reduce the workload how much weight do you give to their opinion?

Yes in fact this happens often, Jacques especially in the teams that participate in Europe. We started training in May so you can imagine these, for example we passed half of the first round worn out eh because it is normal that you have to increase the graph on account of Europe then you have to lower it but then the repercussions would be great. This means that I knew that we were going to pass through. Once that you start to explain to them they try to transmit a message through the physical trainer, I am tired I am unhappy. I like that once I listen, but without opening much I explain to them. That's why I told you I am very open. Yes I explain, at the moment we are working for four weeks and there will be three weeks out of them we start going up and up, we need it because what we do now we will enjoy, but I made a mistake, I prepare them , listen there might be certain matches where you feel as if you are going for the match 'heavy', yes it could be then obviously you often have repercussions of injuries so you start saying listen because is it because of this, because I have a lot of that but I try to be open. I tell the players exactly listen this is what we shall do , yes it is very normal that you feel like this because they still take it against you , listen they are tired that many a few because we do not run , I heard it from everywhere you know how, he will come to tell you listen because last year with the coach you know how they do, with the other coach we were not trained, we did not resist the whole match , so you try to explain to them what you are doing. Today as coaches we have more tools to work with. For example we with Valletta we work with GPS that is most of the training sessions. Therefor before every training session I explain to them what is happening, why we are working, on what we will work on the morrow when we have the results, here you have to go up a bit, we expected to be better. We show them, I believe that you have to show a player without too many words you have to show him why you are working, why you are technically working like that, why tactically we are doing this, what is the relevant of the match that we have to play. There is a relevancy between the match that we are playing and the training.

6.h. Change can be stressful and damaging to the group-- how do you handle change within your group?

Yes I tell you again I listen a lot and observe a lot, I notice the situation as it is, if there is need especially which for me are senior players, there I speak to them one by one yes , I talk with them so that I show them what my line of thinking is. I will see what kind of feedback I will have but I will never talk with a player to have a direct answer, in order to have an opinion, a vision of what he is thinking, yes but not to have an answer, I do not want that if we had to bring an example should we keep on training doing a double session on Tuesdays. I am not expecting yes or no, I am expecting that the players feel well or anyway not a lot the players, I await the his observation only, I hear it I scrutinize it but I would not be expecting answers because often there would be things really personal , I don't know I often spoke with central defenders that you know today I don't know just an example the two central defenders must really be compatible , there would be who would not feel comfortable with this , but I do not talk with him so that he tells me listen I do not feel comfortable with this one. But to understand that he does not feel more comfortable with this one but he feels more 198

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comfortable with this one because this one is faster so he covers me more. I would want and observation of feeling, what you are feeling but then I still decide. It could be I decide the other way or I try to convince you. This is how we are doing it, I tell you again not with words, and then when I see it cannot work any longer this cannot continue. I am not going to put my team in a bad situation because my vision is really that. I look at this but I would not be expecting direct answers. Listen I do not feel comfortable with Jacques - can I the feel you are feeling how you are feeling it?

6.i. How do you keep your players and staff motivated from training session to training session and from game to game?

On the situation of motivation, I believe no coach on his own can keep the team motivated. There are so many things I do not believe those who say listen he is a good motivator, yes but what do you mean, he charges them before the match, what does this mean, motivator what do you mean by that. According to me to keep a player motivated there are so many things that they have to work together to keep a player motivated that you cannot do it on your own, you cannot, I do not feel that I can motivate a team on my own, I cannot. I believe that from the coaching point of view I have to stay, I can motivate the player because it is his situation, looking at the training it is challenging, we are preparing. A challenging game from that aspect yes and I cannot work on my own. I can never do it; I am not a one man band. Definitely no, we definitely need the help of everyone to keep a player really motivated. Now I will repeat every individual is an individual. There is he who gets motivated by certain circumstances, there are others who need other than circumstances to get motivated because for him football perhaps for him he has been playing for years now, maybe he is a person who knows he is in the country, he is one of the best or else you need to motivate him differently from someone who has just joined the team. I need motivating Johnny Caruana differently than Louis Cremona, very differently. But if I am not capable of motivating Jonathan Caruana I do not think that we will touch successes, meaning if I am not capable at least with football. But there are other things tied to the club, the structure eh, this player cannot come there, even the foreigners, so you if they are not, if this foreigner would have come here, another country, different ambience, different mentality, different culture, if I do not try to put him at ease, ‘adagio’, so that he is comfortable, he is looking at football like something not like and yes I will play with Valletta, but perhaps there are other things that you can achieve. Even I up to now I was even lucky, that is, especially towards the end of the league you start motivating on winning, you motivate, listen next step is Europe, the window can be large, but I do not think anyone can do it. He could be the best coach in the world, you the best motivator in the world because I it’s what I think. I cannot do it on my own definitely, definitely.

Yes, let me tell you, I cannot consider myself, that is a man with an outstanding hand, but I was always open by involving because I believe like any other thing in life if you use this well you have its advantages, if you try to use it on its own it has then its disadvantages. That is like everything else. But I think that technology can help you a lot in your work in coaching like when you cage training sessions, how many you do so you show visually certain situations in training. The advantage I had for example 199

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with B’Kara that in the dressing room I had the monitor, and I could say listen look at this, it is three actions, 1, 2, 3 because my session is based on the midfield 1, 2, 3 of our midfield in our last game, look 1, 2, 3 are you seeing it, can you look at these mistakes or these are the honours ‘pregi’. So then when we go out we work, so they even before going out, that is technology can help you a lot and for me a coach has to be open for all that can be done in technology but in order to use it as he thinks and that which is good, meaning like an orange, an orange is good one a day but not because that orange is good I take 6 or 10. Even technology it cannot be everything.

Cause you have to keep the human touch as well, the human element.

Exactly, yes that is why I tell you about certain situations I prefer even if I have to show a player not to send it to him; you tell me it could not be good, it could be yes, it could be right. I send it to him he sleeps on it and the morrow comes but I like that because most often do not forget that the player of football, we cannot forget that in spite of the fact that we would have certain visions of the game the player is in the ground. That is certain things we think that he would not be feeling them, but the player would be feeling them. That is for example I do not see it, that I go and tell the player because you shot the ball badly here, I do not see that it makes sense because a player feels. Now we cannot loose these chances. A player feels it, what could you have done better perhaps I tell him but here you see you got yourself closed a lot. Tomorrow I will sit with Steve Borg to show him how excessively he closed in, to show him how much Mark Scerri came on his own. If you had not closed in so much and for John Caruana, something like this yes I show it to him. And you discuss with him? Yes I discuss, I know what he will tell me, I was thinking that Alan would turn so I was with him and I want to explain to him that while the ball is travelling, you could also travel, if he turns you could go, so your position therefore opened, but you have to show a player perhaps what he could have done better than there where there was the mistake. That is therefore why I am telling you you have to use technology to your advantage, but out there of game analysis, but there are other things that in technology like that about the gps, the loading of the training and the volume there today can really be done. And you were always very receptive to them? Yes yes, I for example I use part of my staff so that even in half time I have shots of the game yes. Because before the match I say listen today I want to concentrate on how compact we are for example. When they are spot, where they are. I wanted them to drop in the middle; we are third we gall to the middle, third or not. So take this shot for me, and come in half time. That means I use

7. Controlling 7.a. Do you set any standards and benchmarks in terms of performance and behaviour during training, games and daily routine?

I mention it a lot much as I believe in it that for me it is everything. I mention to you again the respect, I always tell the players. In the beginning of the season firstly when we sign the contract I always insisted to the club that there is a code of discipline. A meeting with all the players whom we have organised and we have to have our own 200

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code of discipline not like that. That means it is normal, but the code of discipline has to be explained meaning you know that of, let me bring a clear example, when you have been given an unnecessary red card, so then the consequence is this. You have to know it, from the start you have to know it. And that is why at the beginning of the season I do a lot of work, because without trying to make a big fuss on the rules because I tell you again that my greatest regulation, and my players certainly would mention it to you, I tell them, are you looking at how many papers there are here, are you looking at these. As far as I am concerned, my only regulation is respect towards you, and towards others who are living together. For me that is the greatest one, now then I tell you again, we have unnecessary reds, you have the code of discipline, I want to abide by it. Because I have gone through clubs so fearful, this club fines the player €50 for a red card and another who fines him €350. Why are you doing this, so I for example and this is a very clear example, I work with percentage. Do not tell me how much but I work always with percentage, so let us say unnecessary red card costs, so a player got an unnecessary red car, if he has a fine it should be percentage wise 20% of the monthly salary, it should not be €200. So if this player gains €200 and you charge him €200 and the other one has €4000 I take from him €200. Are you understanding me? Not monetary. I believe very much in this. If you made an unnecessary red card and is charged €200 and then I have the one, poor thing, who has €500 a month and I charge him €200 the same. It is only fair, but these I do them in the beginning without much ado. I do not want to stress on these but in the beginning I believe very much, that is why I told you , in the beginning I want to show who I am with them and I want to know who they are with me, therefore in the beginning I try to make a lot of ground work on these things so that during the season we talk the least about them because I believe that discipline does not come with enforcement only but it comes that if you have respect and you believe in what you are doing, very often discipline does not come like in a class. Therefore I told you that the class has taught me a lot. The class has taught me that sometimes he who is rebellious when I brought him with me we did not have a problem at all. If I tried to rebel with him I have lost him, he lost and I lost, meaning not with all you can do the same but in the beginning in order to have control with everyone I make it clear listen and the less they are the better I do not want compositions, listen these are. This is our code of ethics, ok, but these then during the season that is why I told you, that I show during the season with my attitude, the players will notice what I want exactly. Jacques let me bring you an example really really open and it used to exist in Valletta. For example during my training sessions, before the players there used to be a lot of swearing. I with my approach, by stepping back as soon as and often things happened, where I instead of shouting I said stop it and like that non one shouts. It does not matter but here we must be careful how we talk.

7.b. How do you deal with cases of misconduct and what disciplinary steps and procedures do you normally follow in terms of your attitude, reprimands, fines etc.?

But there will be situations where I feel that on that occasion I have to show a bit of fist, therefore in spite of the fact very often I am looking it could be that there are days, as such I take them unawares, where they say there is something the matter with him today the coach, by raising your voice or by my attitude, listen now go to the net and do not talk for the time being. But without a lot, but sometimes I give signs, because I believe that if I establish this base and everyone knows where he is with me, therefore there is no need for control, no need to be imposed upon them, no do not do that. 201

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For example, someone comes late do you shout immediately? Nowadays they know that I do not like when a player comes exactly on time or late, nowadays when a player really gets in a traffic jam he would phone me so I know. But there were occasions when for example a player came late and I started the training I do not talk to him in front of everyone. And I let him wait for me, and sometimes there would be occasions when they already started with the physical trainer and I give in, and he notices but I let him for the beginning but he would say I am in trouble today. I go next to him and he says you are not telling me anything and there would be the other players. This happens even after the matches yes. Were there instances during the game that a substitution was not accepted? I can for example mention to you a case last year of Karin Nafti. I saw it because I was there. I did not talk, I went to training I did not say anything, we made the usual meeting before the training, we talked a little, we talked about the game, during the meeting I, like thunder it was they did not expect it boom I said that the only thing which I did not like, is the lack of respect that Karin Nafti showed towards me and his fellow players. That was it he was at a loss what to say. He got lost and now this one is not going to be afraid of me eh, meaning he would not mind but he got lost. He started to talk to me in Maltese, he told me I have respect, at that moment I felt, I told him let me tell you, I had made it clear with you already in the beginning that here you are part of the team and today it can be like this and tomorrow it can be like this, what I feel is my responsibility, clearly. I talked in a very relaxed manner, he was very much agitated, but then his actions wanted to show without much shouting, I felt that if I had lost the following match I would have lost the league. Enough but, I when I take a decision, up to now, I always was, I was never afraid of it, come what may. I think like that and that was what had to be done. The following match with Balzan Karin Nafti did not play, we were lucky and we won, but not even if we had lost, if I was thinking that my decision is that, the decision is that, and last year for example I did it with Priso. He had started in November not playing a lot, he had gone to talk to the president, because in January I have a team from abroad, and the president came to talk to me and I told him he could have come to talk to me if he had a problem yes, and I let another game, another game, another game and this one was always not playing. Then I talked to him and I told him I feel that if you already have another team , and I took a great risk that he stays in the VIP, but if my decision is this not even if I lose him. I think that if that is your decision it does a lot of good to the team, the team started to notice that it was for the good of all, that is why I told you that your actions, your approach and your attitude ‘jispilljaw’ that is why ‘jispilljawlek’ the control. That you are firm in your actions and without a lot you have to be fair, firm. Let me tell you fair most often is subjective. Not everyone is going to feel it is fair, the player himself will not feel it is fair. That means the player himself, we mentioned the case of Karin, a good boy, he wants to talk in football, I used to see him myself when I was with Birkirkara, he would remove his shirt when he is called out. In the beginning I warned him, and he did it once, he did not stay with me, many say how did these remove him? Listen I like to keep myself on pins and needles, you should never be the name that you are named you have to be on pins and needles eh. It happened to me the same and it is happening to me the same, I have a goal keeper. Just be responsible for your actions. I know we have two very good goal keepers now it is up to you. At the

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moment he is dying eh, I remain working with him normally. Your action brought you where it brought you, not the coach, take care. And I always try to show them this, that many things is your performance, you have to pay the price, but without much shouting and noise, For example these three matches I did not shout and the films of the PBS and they did not show but I got another filming and I showed it to him, and I told him that is you, can you see yourself, you are saying you did not tell him anything and I am telling you that you punched him. Another player was really close to you and you punched him, are you seeing that you punched him. At that moment the player froze and that is why technology is important without much shouting. Did you fine him? I from the club’s side, But let me tell you, I will tell you again, and this is another one that is why I am much afraid, that is why I told you that in order to motivate a player you have to have, coz let me tell you I passed from situations where I needed to fine XX, the club issues a paper that they fined him and they would not have fined him anything. So here they would think that they are fooling me, when in fact it is not like that, before I used to make a big issue about it, I used to fight with the president. So now I am taking it differently. I told you now it is in your hands but I do take the necessary actions.

7.c. How do you monitor the progress within your team? First of all you how do you rate the performance of the player. I tell you that not every player has ratings; the performance rating would be the same. Because of the fact No.1. in the beginning of the season of the player , I like without trying to make them evident, I try to make standards , which this year you, we have to improve physically definitely, we have to improve tactically , we have to arrive up to there. Even with the senior players, no in the beginning of the season I set objectives. I do not know Lou Ellen, I would like you to be like that individually, I would like that your game is changed a lot and becomes like this, the simple midfielder who passes and that is it, we start to think how to support the game more, how to move ahead, will press more the adversary when I play the ball, from week to week. I like to meet with them individually, without doing compositions, I say you have to do that I try to give him the realistic situation, for example now we have arrived at a very good stage, physically very good , I try like I say even the contrary. This year you have physically weakened. But then when you come to the match day, I rate the performance of the player tactically with the roles and jobs which he had to do. These were the roles and jobs, there are the individual talents that the player it is a 9/10 match for him so. If I would know especially that his level is up to here, I would be expecting up to there but I, tactically, mentally and physiologically would be making it out.

7.d. Do you judge improvements merely on results or performance?

The previous week I do the game globally but on match day, eh, I go individually, this was your job, roles yes. And I say listen this he did well and that we could have done this better.

7.e. How do you compare the performance of one player with another? You tell them collectively in front of everyone or?

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If there would be the period that there are talks where I need to talk a lot in general, there would be talks that I need to do in the positive as well as in the negative, that is I feel that I should show the player a negative thing in front of everyone, yes I need because I have to pass a message, yes coaching has taught me a lot how to pass messages between the lines, and because in front of me I do not think there are stupid people in the football. But they are people capable of understanding so sometimes I want to pass a message between the lines, but when I want to pass a direct message, without much panic I pass it direct and say it direct but most of the time individually, I talk a lot individually and the player would be waiting for this.

7.f. How do you recognize and reward improvements in performances and Behaviour?

Even from the negative side, often I had players for example during his time with us surprised, very happy for example very happy with Michael Mifsud, he was not always on top of his form meaning even in the negative it is not the first time that I went and after that two days passed and I explained that I am not happy and I told him the reason and what I would like to see more. But he is a person who played a lot and played in foreign countries and records on records, so that I think that up to now I have succeeded, there is correct communication especially he did a long period without being with the first eleven. And he knows why he was always the type of communication but even when he was called in, I expect that when someone like that is called in, I change something no and this one often did not change it but what he deserves he gets even at club level and also at national team level, when I think that he would have made something. Because I like that even when especially my players play international games I like to give them a bit of feedback even before, I like to know how they are getting along, I like to talk to them after the match you understand, because most often I think they need it that they talk with the coach of the club because not everybody is passing through the same challenges but national not everyone is the same. There are those who are not playing, there are those who are playing, there are those who think that the coach on account of that and that. That is I passed through this not only with ~Valletta, B’Kara where I was, everywhere, the player needs , let me tell you again, but there has to be reciprocal respect, therefore one of the most important things for me, I come to such a position, and the respect is not that you are friends with them. Respect is that they look at you as the person who is leading and controlling but they look at you also as the person who can assist them in many circumstances, or at least that you can motivate them in many circumstances.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alastair Campbell – WINNERS (2016) – Penguin Random House UK

Bill Walsh with Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh – The Score Takes Care of Itself – My Philosophy of Leadership (2009) – Penguin Group

Elmar Neveling - Jurgen Klopp, The Biography (2016) - Penguin Random House UK

Guillem Balague – Pep Guardiola , Another way of winning; The Biography(2012) – Orion Books

Hodder & Stoughton – Alex Ferguson Leading with Sir Michael Moritz (2015)

James H. Donnelly, Jr., James L. Gibson, John M. Ivancevich Fundamentals of Management, 10th ed. – Mc Graw Hill Companies

John Wooden and Steve Jaminson – Wooden, John R. – Wooden on Leadership 1st edition (2005)

Luis Lourenco, - Jose Mourinho, Special Leadership (2014) - Prime Books Lda

Martin Samuel – Harry Redknapp, My Autobiography (2013) – Ebury Press

Mike Carson – The Manager, Inside the Minds of Football’s Leaders - Bloomsbury Publishing (2014)

Patrick Barclay – Mourinho, Further Anatomy of a Winner (2012) - Orion Books Ltd

Rakich, Jonathan S., Beaufort B. Longest, Jr., and Kurt Darr. – Managing Organizations and Systems, 4th ed.

Robert W. Keidel – Game Plans, Sports Strategies for Business (2006) - Beard Books, Washington, D.C.

Sue Bridgewater – Football Management (2010) - Warwick Business School, Palgrave Macmillan

Xavier Rivoire - Arsene Wenger, The Biography, Aurum Press (2007)

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Publications:

The Coming of the New Organization by Peter F. Drucker – Harvard Business Review, January 1998 Issue

Sir Alex Ferguson: Managing Manchester United by Anita Elberse and Tom Dye - Harvard Business Review, September 20, 2012

Internet Sites:

http://news.bb.co.uk.l/hi/business/8278449 http://www.creativeboom.com/tips/10-ways-to-lead-your-team-like-jose-mourinho- leads-chelsea/

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