Football Management - Could You Hack It?

Shankly, Dalglish, Keegan, Coppell, Strachan and now Guardiola all managers finding fatique is something that catches up with all men. The demands of the game and just not finding the positive energy to continue. Just how stressful is football management? Is it a case of when you finish playing that you keep feeding yourself so much football that eventually it becomes an illness? Souness, Kinnear, Houllier, Roeder, Allardyce, Redknapp all suffered ill health when managers at their clubs. Manager fitness is now just as vital as player fitness.

My Dad was a park football team manager for nearly 20 years. He ate, slept and shat football!! Then one day he just didn't have that spark about him and out of the blue he jacked it all in. He was a man that religiously watched football. Now he can't bear it. I managed a team on player/coach basis and after one season it killed my love for the game. To this day I cannot explain the day where I just couldn't bear to stand on the pitch with my team-mates or even kick a ball. About 2 months ago me and my Dad went for a walk and were watching some football matches and found ourselves in agreement of how lucky it was we were no longer involved. Past glories we recall do give you that kick of how good it was and then just as you feel like a comeback is on the cards you realise who you are now and why you just can't do it anymore.

It is such a shame that for example in the case of Guardiola who is so young and yet feels so old. Dalglish was another that went sooner than he should've. I do wonder how long Dalglish will last this time. Keegan walked away, came back and the game had moved on. Coppell who works wonders was another manager who would just walk away.

However it is not all doom and gloom. Ferguson, Wenger, Robson, Hodgson, Redknapp and not to mention other counterparts as Hiddink, Capello, Ancelotti, Trappatoni who have all gone the distance and managed to stay in the game and even achieve success. For a manager to be successful, not only must they deliver titles and winning teams, but also stay healthy.

Requires too much patience for most. Don't know why Ferguson still manages after this long!

It's obviously a very stressful job, the thing that I think adds huge amount of stress to it is that as a manager you will always be the scapegoat. Things go badly, it is the manager who is blamed, the manager who is booed, the manager who loses his job.

I would love to be a manager. I reckon I could handle all the comings and goings, my way or the highway it would be. I would be honest in my interviews, no matter what. The fans deserve to know what is happening at a club, they pretty much run the thing anyway. If results went against me I would mix it up and if it didn't come off and I got the boot I wouldn't kick up a fuss. Onwards and upwards as they say

I'm doing my coaching badges over the summer so I'll let you once the season starts

Crimey wrote:It's obviously a very stressful job, the thing that I think adds huge amount of stress to it is that as a manager you will always be the scapegoat. Things go badly, it is the manager who is blamed, the manager who is booed, the manager who loses his job.

But isn't that just it though Crimey? When you are taking on the job you know that ultimately the buck stops with you.

When you look at the managers LKv2 has mentioned in the OP, Ferguson, Wenger, Capello.... you know that the one thing they all have in common is their single mindedness and stubbornness plus they also command respect I assume?

I think the day of the manager is slowly dying out and we are heading towards, if we are not now, head coaches who have minimal control over the football club as a whole which must be a hinderance. I can imagine it must be a total nightmare for a manager/head coach to return for pre-season training to find yourself lumbered with players you don't really want.

Back to the OP. Fair play to VKv2's dad for managing a weekend local side for 20 years. I know a few blokes that have given it a go out of pure love for the game but ended up hating it due to the difficulties it brought.

Thanks FS.

I agree with you that the manager role is a dying art. When you look at Wenger and Ferguson who have their DNA in the club. I think even Guardiola was destined for that route with Barcelona. I just think that financial and commercial success is the more important than success in silverware. It is such a shame that is what the game has come to. It seems that investors and owners want something of them in the changing room or even on the pitch. It seems the role of manager is too much power in the eyes of the money men.

People say this, but then you look at Abramovich at Chelsea, he has been desperate for success and is willing to spend money to get it. Is that because the Champions League will bring more profit to him? Or is he genuinely interested in being successful? I honestly think it's the latter.

Do you believe he will hang around after champions league success?

How much of the trophies Chelsea have won do you think he will claim personally? All of them.

He is not interested in Chelsea being successful, he is only interested in buying it.

The point is, that in a world where people criticise football for only being about making profits, business ventures etc. Abramovich has been desperate for success, it's not important how he is got it, he has taken a club who were always on the periphery of success and turned them into one of Europe's elite, driven by success rather than money. I don't think he can be criticised for his desire for success because I think it's perfectly clear that Chelsea is not going to bring him profits.

Right so a manager that won the double gets the bullet is a blueprint for success?

Do you think Abramovich will sell Chelsea on the cheap? Not a chance.

We shall see just how respected he is when he withdraws from the club.

I'm not saying he has done the perfect job of gaining success, but he is driven by success and trophies rather than money.

Do you think that Abramovich will ever regain the money he has pumped into the club, not a chance!

Roman Abramovich is the best thing to ever happen to Chelsea Football Club.

Wouldn't it be ironic that after outlaying all that he has on managers, in monetary terms, Abramovich manages to stumble upon the holy grail that is the Champions League via a guy that he originally hired as an assistant manager?!