The Daily Mail's Take on T4YP...

How managers are driven up the wall by football's Mad MenBy Matt Lawton, Ian Ladyman, Neil Moxley and Colin Young

Last updated at 10:30 PM on 5th March 2012

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The Four Year Plan, shown by the BBC on Sunday, was a fly-on-the-wall documentary lifting the lid on behaviour in the boardroom. It turned into football’s Mad Men, revealing behind-the-scenes workings at QPR under a previous regime, including when they hired five managers in one season.

So we asked some for their experiences of crazy boardroom capers...
Behind the scenes: The Four Year Plan shed light on life at QPR
DAVE BASSETTI had been at Wimbledon six years and was perfectly happy. Until Sam Hammam said he wanted the right to pick the team in 1987.
Sam and I had always got on well and dragged Wimbledon up through the leagues together. But I was due to sign a new contract and he told me he wanted a clause in it saying that he had veto over my team selection.
There’s no way that I was having that so I left at the end of the season and moved to Watford. As a manager you just have to have ultimate authority over team affairs. If you lose that then you are finished.
The problem is that some owners get jealous. Sam used to ask me why the supporters sang: ‘There’s only one Dave Bassett’ when it was he who had stumped up the money to buy John Fashanu etc. I just told him that was the way it was. Managers get the grief and glory and owners and chairmen get to smoke the big cigars.

Interfering: Sam Hammam (centre) wanted to have a say in team selection
BARRY FRYInterfering chairmen? I could write a book on it — in fact, I already have! Every Friday afternoon (at Barnet) I used to go to Stan Flashman’s house for my wages, but he would only pay me if I told him the team and he agreed with it! If he disagreed, he wouldn’t pay me until after the game. If the team lost, he wouldn’t pay me at all! It sounds funny now, but it wasn’t. He must have sacked me 37 times.
Then there was Keith Cheeseman at Dunstable Town. One day he came to me, just before Christmas, and said: ‘Right Barry, I’m having a big party. I want you to invite all the lads, all the lads’ families and any close friends. I need the names and addresses so I can send out the invites.’

So, believing every word, I raced around getting all these addresses for this party. Anyway, weeks went by and we thought he had forgotten about it. Nothing of the sort. What he had done was taken out loans in every name and was tried for embezzlement after fraudulently receiving nearly £300,000. He was jailed for six years in 1977.
So, the lads at QPR might think they are eccentric. but believe me, they have nothing on some I’ve come across!

In control: Stan Flashman decided whether or not Barry Fry was paid
DAVID O'LEARYI’ve generally enjoyed a good relationship with my chairmen but I have had strange requests. I once got a call asking me if I was aware a lot of broccoli was going to waste in the players’ canteen. And I was also asked to make sure the lights were out before I left the training ground each night.

On another occasion I was quizzed on a petrol receipt from Watford Gap services. What was I doing there? I explained I’d been in London to watch Arsenal, ahead of the game we had against them the following weekend.

MICK WADSWORTHYou will excuse me for not naming this chairman but he was the sort of person who would walk into my office, start talking and say ‘to be honest with you Mick’ which you knew was the start of a lie.

One Christmas I’d had to pay the YTS lads out of my own money, the players’ wages were late because they were being paid out of the gate money and my car had been taken because the club couldn’t pay the service. I went into his office, had a right go at him and let my anger out.

He just sat there very calmly and said: ‘Never forget Mick, we know where you live.’

Threat: Mick Wadsworth had his fair share of run-ins with chairmen
CHRIS KAMARA
In the week before Bradford were due to play Notts County at Wembley in the second division play-off final, the players held a meeting with the chairman over bonuses. As they went through their demands I watched the chairman change colour. By the time we got to the issue of money, he was ready to blow.
‘Forget it, I’ll play the youth team at Wembley, you’re all sacked,’ he shouted. He got up, walked past, and without pausing raised two fingers to the entire squad. What they didn’t know was that this was Geoffrey (Richmond)’s way of doing business. I found him in the corridor, calmed him down and explained the players just wanted to play at Wembley and go up.
I said: ‘Just go three-quarters of the way and we’ll get a result.’ We went back in and he agreed to a compromise, but only after having another go at them.

Personal touch: Paulo Sousa was one of the managers sacked by QPR
Revealed: Egos and tantrumsIn 96 compelling minutes, Sunday night’s fly-on-the-wall documentary ripped away the veneer of a modern football club and presented a Machiavellian world of footballing backbiting.
The main protagonists — co-owner Flavio Briatore and chairman Gianni Paladini — reveal themselves as scheming egotists amid the exaggerated emotions and pressurised atmosphere at QPR.
Throughout, managers are ‘idiots’ who are abused and disposed of on a whim. An explosive Briatore tries to orchestrate the match from the stand, sending messages to the dugout, demanding changes. He argues with fans and delivers the delicious ultimatum: ‘Tell me who booed me or I will sell the club.’ Paladini is the ruthless hatchet-man, twisting words and situations to suit his needs.
Ruthless: QPR's owners went through five managers in one season
Amid the craziness, there are shards of humour. Jim Magilton describes himself as better looking than Iain Dowie but not as handsome as Paulo Sousa as he is handed the manager’s job.
Neil Warnock then arrives at what is by then a seriously dysfunctional club and manages to turn QPR into a coherent force capable of promotion. The final scenes show them celebrating reaching the Premier League. Vice-chairman Amit Bhatia does reveal a genuine compassion for the football club as he steers QPR through the chaos.
This terrific piece of television could have passed for a high-quality drama series, but it was real people in a real football club. Remarkable.


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