Whilst we all wait for player links in the window I thought it would be interesting to see what people think is needed to make a good gaffer? Probably the most important person at the club, imo anyway. What marks out those who can be successful? I often read about needing to be a man manager, a manager of personalities. I read that tactical cleverness is crucial. Some say best to be just lucky. Discipline is a big thing it seems? Making players confident? For me a really crucial element is being able to engage the players in a training session day in day out. They can be stale, but you must never let the sessions become like that. As the coach you need to be first on that training pitch, sessions ready, and be a part of it. The sessions need to built around your play, always. Everything must be geared towards the game. I watch quite a few coaches sessions, and have been lucky enough over the years to see pro teams train. It is surprising how some coaches can deliver the sort of session that players seem a bit non plussed by. Designing a session and delivering it is a skill and one that will directly impact your result. I heard a coach on the radio recently saying his team had conceded the same set piece goal twice in a row and even though he had showed them the video they did it again. I had a laugh at that. Thoughts on being a successful gaffer?
If my football manager game is anything to go by. Get the best assistant and coaches you can, allocate them everything and just take the plaudits that come with winning
For me it is a number of things, tactical awareness, man-management, training and development, ability to learn and be proactive, understanding of modern systems of communication, leadership these are just a few but the best managers don't just concentrate on the first team I remember seeing an interview with Klopp a few years ago and he said that when he came to Liverpool he had to look at every position at the club and started by looking at the chef and kitchen staff and he said the question he had to ask was are they the best and can we get better. He started all the improvements at the bottom and then worked up to the first team not the other way round which I think gives a little insight into how top managers think
I think the most successful managers/head coaches, are those that are able to adept over their whole career. Fergy was the best example of this. It was amazing how many rebuilds he did at Utd. Mourinho was up there also, but eventually his methods stopped working, and he couldn't adapt. Wenger was similar to him.
Makes a lot of sense that. Too many managers just think about the first team results. Mind you, not everybody would be confident of getting the time Klopp got. If as a club you appoint someone you believe in then you have to trust them long term to do the job you want. Klopp is a long term coach and I think Mowbray probably is too. He seems to have the trust of the club with young players anyway. Other coaches seem to revel in the short term role, like Mourinho now, go in, win trophies, move on. Maybe there is a place for both but I want the long term approach for us now, we have either made rubbish appointments, or been too quick to get rid.
The way we are setup should give us that kind of stability. At least we have an identy now, so whoever comes in after TM would need to have similar ideals.
Ferguson was a great manager. He was brilliant at getting great coaches and players. I am not sure he did much coaching as the years went on, but he made sure his coaches knew exactly what he expected. Every 3 ir 4 years he would freshen his coaches up as well. He must have been some motivator as well. He and Wenger are all time greats.
Being able to manage people is by far the most important factor IMO. Coaching skills are nice to have, but they can be a bolt on delivered by someone who is better at that aspect, as long as the manager trusts him. If people won't work for you or they don't respect you, all the title and assumed authority in the world will get you nowhere.
Interesting mate. I do agree about managing people. The coaching bit, in my opinion anyway, is more than a bolt on. If I am picking the team, formations and making changes on a matchday I think my players want me to be the lead coach. I think that is a respect thing. They want to know you are leading the prep for the game so that your decisions are joined up with training. At least that is my sense of it. I love watching Pep coach, because he is right in the middle of it, showing what he wants. I once saw Stuart Pearce coach a session and it was outstanding, again he was right in the middle of it demoing what he wanted.
Aye they have to have a sense of what they want if they don't do all the coaching themselves, or none of it in some cases! Tough job at that level up there. I think Allardyce once said something like once you had got everything running your way, the team should hit its standard most games, as long as you were awake to changes needed. But he said that the hardest part was often the managing of the twenty odd young men with wildly differing beeds. One's wife has had a baby, another has kicked him out, one is a gambler, one can't settle, another is struggling with his English, and on and on. Nightmare!
On a serious note, I would have thought man management skills are the most important, knowing who needs an arm around them, who needs a kick up the arse. The ability to get your ideas over in a way that all in the squad understand (I imagine that to be a nightmare with various levels of language, intelligence and attitude) Confidence in your ability without being arrogant and the ability to recognise your weaknesses and employing staff to enhance those areas. I would also say these days the ability to accept and use modern methods as they evolve and develop. I mentioned Thomas Franks interview from the other night, where he said they noticed a couple of weaknesses in Liverpool's defence, so they discussed it with the players, walked through it on the training pitch, then watched the video of the walk through, discussed and improved it ready for the game
All sounds right to me. The modern methods are key in my opinion. You have to be able to take advantage of everything you have got at your disposal. I think it is massive to try to learn as well, and be your own critic. I am involved only at non league level, which is light years from the championship of prem. We still have some ability to do video analysis after games albeit our own cameraman. I do this daft thing where I audio record my own training sessions. I listen back to myself and take notes on where I wasnt very clear, of just plain talking ****e. I also listen again to what the players are saying during sessions as a way to improve things for them. That all said I sometimes like to go old school with them. We have a sports centre with a proper old fashioned 5 a side, indoors, off the walls. Every so often I will book that out for a session and make them play old school 5 a side, rotating on and off. It is a brutal fitness session and a hell of a good technical session too.
