by Carson, Mike
The challenge in football is no different. For football’s managers, the players are the most significant expression of their leadership. One inspired player can lift a team. Remember David Beckham playing for England in the critical World Cup qualifier against Greece in 2001? More than his sublime skill, his sheer energy proved decisive as he covered every inch of the pitch from one penalty area to the other, desperate for victory, an inspiration to his teammates. The individual is key to the team. Equally, a disenchanted player can drag everyone down. With the pressure on and the minutes ticking away, one player dropping his head can hurt the whole team effort. And off the field, football teams like any other kind of team are undermined when cliques form.
Great football managers know how to deal with disappointment and resentment in their team, with cliques and with open revolt. And, as most will tell you, it begins and ends with individual relationships: the one-on-one.
THE MANAGER
Carlo Ancelotti is best known to the English public as a highly successful but short-lived manager of Chelsea, whom he led to the famous English league and cup double in 2010. But that is only a part of his story. His playing career spanned 16 years from 1976 to 1992, during which time he represented his native Italy in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups, and was a mainstay of three great Italian clubs: Parma, Roma where he won a league title and four Italian Cups, and the legendary Milan side of the late 1980s with whom he won two league titles and two European Cups in five years. Since then, his achievements as a manager have surpassed even those great honours. Growing in experience over five years at Reggiana, Parma and Juventus, he struck gold at Milan. Beginning in 2001, he led them to multiple honours, crowned by two Champions League titles in 2003 and 2007. By the time he arrived at Chelsea, his credentials were beyond any doubt. And his appointment to Paris Saint-Germain in 2012 placed him at the cutting edge of one of club football’s biggest growth projects.
His Philosophy
Carlo Ancelotti is a man with a simple philosophy: understand every player. He practically defines the art of one-on-one. This is the foundation of his leadership, and he sticks to it like a terrier. It’s obvious, he says, ‘In football you may have an idea. The only way to bring this idea to life is to explain the idea to other people, and they have to go on the pitch and show this idea. For this the relationship between manager and players has to be the best.’
The Challenges
Football is a strangely territorial business. We, the fans, make it so. We define our club by our commitment. And for many, the club defines us. People look at you differently when you declare which club you support. Similarly, when a player joins a club, he takes on a kind of mantle. The club pays him well, and in return demands not just skill, but loyalty. Fans at clubs around the world hold up banners demanding passion and commitment from their players who they see as ‘one of us’.
Capturing the players’ loyalty
The manager is a key focal point for player loyalty – or player dissatisfaction. And rarely does a manager get to build this from scratch. Except for rare instances of extreme team rebuilding, managers inherit a going concern. They step into a club to take charge of a team-in-being, with its associated track record, its expectations and its attendant maze of relationships. The players on the team – as well as the fans – will invariably represent a wide range of opinions and expectations of the new man, from high hopes (‘he’s exactly what we need and he’ll get us out of jail’) to resentment, based often on change (‘he’s no better than the last one’ or ‘he’ll never match up to his predecessor’).
A defining moment for Ancelotti was his arrival at Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea. José Mourinho had left in September 2007, despite leading Chelsea to successive Premier League titles. In the two seasons that followed, three managers of significant professional stature had taken their turns in what was proving the hottest seat in European football. Neither Avram Grant nor Luis Felipe Scolari survived a full season, and Guus Hiddink, despite huge popularity and an FA Cup trophy, had a prior commitment to Russia. The playing staff that Ancelotti inherited had in the main a deep-seated loyalty to the inspirational Mourinho, and a sense of loss at the departure of Hiddink. Many of the players had loved José Mourinho – and still did. A less secure man than Ancelotti might have tried the ‘new broom’ approach: change everything until the place looks like me. Or he might have decided to transfer-out the big Mourinho fans, to ensure no direct comparisons could be made. Or he might have distanced himself from the day-to-day running of the team, taken on the aura of a demi-god. Instead, Ancelotti chose a different path: he would get in amongst it. He would invest time in his playing staff. He would get to know them as professionals, but also as people. ‘It is not easy to build these relationships – but it is important. I needed to stay on the same level as the players: not above, but not behind. I believe that players are real men with real problems, and I think to have a good relationship is the best way to have results.’ Eight months later, Chelsea were champions of England.
They are people too
Ancelotti makes an excellent point. Players are not just assets – they are human beings. Human beings have emotions, priorities, beliefs, perspectives, needs and fears. Just uncovering these can be a serious task; working with them is another thing entirely.
Take an example from Milan. One usually very successful player was off his game. There was no apparent reason – but Ancelotti knew that something wasn’t quite right. ‘Then he came to me and said, “I have a problem”. The player “had” to go and get married – but he was saying he didn’t want to go! We talked about it, and in the end I said he had to decide what he felt and do that. I was very happy that he could come to me. In the end, he didn’t marry this woman, and we are still friends today.’ Ancelotti made himself approachable, and it worked. Simple advice and availability made the difference.
Ancelotti treats each player as an individual, and respects the way they like to operate. ‘All people are different. John Terry is very open, Frank [Lampard], Ashley [Cole] are more conservative and quiet. My relationship with Frank improved during my work there. At the beginning it was more conservative, but at the end it was good. At the end of my time with him, we had dinner together – we had a party together, we had a very good time together. It was very good.’
The football cauldron
Leaders the world over – in business, politics, sport – find their greatest challenges lie in relationships. Building them, maintaining them, growing them, saving them. Most business leaders will tell us that their most pressing and time-consuming challenges are human ones. The main difference in football is that these challenges are frequently lived out under intense public scrutiny. A conversation between José Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo over the player’s contract becomes international news. Carlos Tevez appears to refuse Roberto Mancini’s instruction to warm-up in Germany and it makes headlines in Singapore. Sir Alex decided to leave Beckham out of a crucial match against Leeds in 2000, after the star player had failed to turn up for training on the Friday. With masterful understatement, he comments in his autobiography Managing My Life that, ‘Because of the hype that constantly surrounds David, my decision to leave him in the stands became a bit of a drama.’ It is difficult to nurture relationships in a goldfish bowl.
For Ancelotti, the tougher relationships work when the manager is fully supported by the club. ‘It is very difficult. Sometimes a player causes problems for his manager. But if he doesn’t understand what his manager needs, then he knows he cannot play at the top level. We managers have a possibility to leave players out. But if you take a strong decision you have to have the support of the club. If you don’t have that support you are dead. If you make a mistake, you have to have the support of the club and until the last day you have to be the number one. The players know if there is no good relationship between manager and president or owner. It’s very easy to break the dressing room. I had a good example when I was at Juventus. I felt t
hat I was really the number one, and the club had a lot of trust in me. Eventually they sacked me because I wasn’t good enough. This was OK, but until the last day, there was no problem. The players knew this very well. This is the key to keeping good relations when times are tough.’ The board’s actions and statements can either accumulate or relieve pressure for a leader. The same is true of almost any governing body in business or sport, and a resilient leader will be prepared for it. With their every decision being scrutinised from all angles, support from the board gives managers a stronger platform on which to build their one-to-one relationships with players.
The world around is changing
Leading footballers is increasingly difficult. The generation gap between most managers and their players is no new thing – indeed it exists for leaders and their teams in most walks of life. But the automatic respect that age commanded in the days of Shankly, Busby and Mercer is no longer there. Leaders have values and behaviours that their players don’t necessarily share. Neil Warnock illustrates the issue perfectly: ‘When I get off a bus – Premier League or Championship – players will go into the dressing room, big earphones on, music blaring, walk past the crowds. I get off last and when I get off I take my own pen out and I go round the bus and for 20 to 30 minutes I sign autographs. I’m happy doing that, rather than going into the dressing room and listening to that head-banging music which I’ve no time for. I’d rather talk to people.’
Without deliberate mentoring, footballers are unlikely to model something better than the society in which they live. Sir Alex Ferguson points to societal changes that have reduced resilience in players. ‘The human beings that we deal with now are more fragile than they ever were. They are cocooned – brought up differently. They are often protected by parents who live their lives through the success of their kids. Then we have kids and parents wanting more and more, so they turn to agents much earlier. We are seeing more and more agents getting involved in a footballer’s career at 16 or 17 years of age. I know there are some cases where they have an influence at maybe 14 or 15 – even direct access without parents, which is not allowed. So I found that when they got to me they were certainly more fragile because they are cocooned in a different way.’
Tony Pulis echoes this observation and its impact on professional football: ‘From when I first started out in management to where I am now, the characteristics of society have changed enormously – and my own leadership approach has evolved accordingly. I spend a lot more time now speaking individually with players. When I first started and I had to say something to a player in front of the rest of the team, then I would just say it without flinching, even if it was detrimental. Today 90 per cent of the times when I need to sort out an issue with a player, I will take a player out of the group situation and talk to him individually. I think players – possibly reflecting society in general – take things more personally than they did 20 years ago, and it’s important as a leader to adjust your skill set accordingly.’ The art of one-on-one, according to Pulis, is now more important than ever.
Solution Part One: Understand Your People
When it comes to understanding people, Ancelotti is a master. He is warm, generous and compassionate. ‘I believe that every experience can form your character. Your relationship with your parents shapes you as a person because your parents are your most important teachers. They form your character and, as a manager, it is important to have character.’
This runs deep for Ancelotti. He grew up on a farm in rural Italy – a safe and nurturing childhood, much loved by his parents. ‘My family were very quiet and calm, I grew up with a very good family, small family: mother, father, sister, grandmother and grandfather. It was very good; I understood a lot of things. My father never shouted; he was very quiet and calm. I had a beautiful childhood.’ The result is a centred leader who – for the most part – exudes calm. And this calm is at least part of the reason why his players will run through fire for him.
The loyalty challenge
In the bestselling book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, management expert Stephen Covey quotes St Francis of Assisi’s famous principle: ‘Seek first to understand and then to be understood.’ And it’s not hard to see why investing in understanding people grows loyalty. But where to begin? People, after all, are complex. One good place to start is with a player’s strengths – understanding where they lie, focusing on them and using them to the greatest possible effect. Neil Warnock’s philosophy is to make average players good and make good players great. In fact, he regards it as something of a personal challenge: ‘I enjoy getting the best out of people where other people say don’t touch them with a barge pole. When everyone tells me, “They can’t do this, they can’t do that,” I look at what they can do. I also look at who they are – their temperaments and personalities. I like creating a team of different characters. When I first started at Scarborough in 1986, we were betting certainties to be relegated – supposed to be the worst team in the league. I took about 20 players up to Scarborough to show them the set-up. All of them were free transfers, all cast-offs – but I just felt that every one of them had something to offer. They all had plusses. I think you can get carried away looking at what they’re not good at, but I think if you can work on what someone is good at you have more opportunity of progressing than you have if you focus on their faults.’
It is not always easy to see gold when everyone else is trying to dissuade you. But the rewards can be huge. Warnock continues: ‘When I was at Sheffield United, I was looking for a wide player. I had seen Michael Brown at Portsmouth. He was on the books at Manchester City and had a bad-lad reputation. He was on loan at Portsmouth, who wanted to send him back because they didn’t like his attitude in training. He didn’t play out wide at Portsmouth, he played up and down. We went down there to watch him, and playing in front of me I saw his attitude. He was like a little terrier – I just liked something about the lad. City didn’t want him, Portsmouth didn’t want him, so I took him on loan and then I signed him in the summer about two months later. In the end I think he scored 23 goals and got us to the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the League Cup.’ By understanding a player who wasn’t even on his own staff and then by focusing on his strengths, Warnock had done what he believes in. The player had become greater than he himself would have believed possible. ‘In the end he got a move to Tottenham and became a multi-millionaire. It pleases me when he’d been cast out, not going to go anywhere and then I make a star out of him.’ Warnock teaches us a good lesson here. A leader should be prepared to back his own judgement, even in the face of contradictory advice from those close to him.
Understanding a player can be very fulfilling for the manager. And Warnock believes it generates loyalty: ‘Brown’s back with me here at Leeds United, playing his socks off.’ But it doesn’t stop at understanding. It also takes acceptance. Acceptance is about taking the player at face value – not damning him out of sight for perceived limitations or weaknesses. This may involve giving him a chance that perhaps many feel he doesn’t deserve. It is also about openness: football managers who are prepared to be proved wrong have a greater chance of succeeding. Walter Smith concurs with this observation. ‘One noticeable aspect that you observe as a manager when you join a new club is the reaction you get from some players. Players can certainly turn around a preconceived view that a manager may previously have held about them from a distance. A new manager can sometimes invoke a very positive reaction from a player that exceeds expectation.’
Players as people
Seeking to understand the person beneath the behaviour is a critical act of leadership. Sam Allardyce is committed to it: ‘Most of the problems for a footballer who goes off his game lie outside the training camp – they don’t generally lie inside if you’ve got it right. Ian Green was the manager who taught me this as a player. Looking back on it now, he was a real man manager, a real motivator. It was his personality and his knowledge of when and where an
d what to do ... We all thought, “How does he know that?” and we put it down to his experience. He would ask what was happening at home. Are you not sleeping? Little things, but important.’
So point one for a leader is to make yourself aware of what’s going on – to spot the symptoms and have the courage to delve deeper. Point two then is to address the individual challenge. How to do this though depends again on understanding. Ancelotti is committed to this; he invests time in understanding every personality he is dealing with: ‘In Milan, I had a report to help me understand what kind of player I was seeing, for each player. It was very interesting. So when they make a mistake yes, you have to speak to them individually. But also you have to understand what kind of communication players like because there are some players who don’t like to be spoken to in front of the others, there are others that don’t have a problem with you speaking in front of the others. Sometimes you have to speak in front of the others so the others can understand. This is a leadership challenge. But it’s important to know which type of communication to use with each different player. There are players that are focused on what you say, but there are other players, for example, that like to be touched – a hand on the arm – when you are talking to stay focused. Others are not so bothered about touch. You have to understand each one, to get the most out of him.’
Football managers like Ian Green or Ancelotti add to their raft of skills the all-important art of listening. They understand that to listen fully requires considerable effort and application. Empathetic leaders don’t just catch what is said – they listen for what is not said, and actively search for underlying meaning, scanning conversations, facial expressions and body language for clues. The result is that players like the young Sam Allardyce feel they have been taken seriously – and they respect their manager all the more.
