Great Managers vs Good Managers

The irony of modern football is that players get paid ridiculous amount of money for a transfer, their wages total up to almost half of the budget of a developing country, and when the team wins a trophy they get all the credit. However, when the team does no good, the first person to be questioned is the Manager/Coach, and he ends up getting the axe.
This season we have seen numerous coaches get the axe or quit the job, AVB, Dalglish, Guardiola, Mick McCarthy, Alex McLeish, Steve Bruce etc.
Today, we shall look football from a different perspective, hence, we shall focus on the Manager's job and what defines a great Manager/Coach. Is it the spending power, the no nonsense attitude, the silent approach or the anti media attitude.

Whilst many soccer fans believe that the financial power available to a manager makes him one of the best, or perhaps one of the successful ones, the EPL has proved that this is untrue.. Swansea's boss has managed to build his team with the cost of one of Andy Carroll's legs and yet attain 11th position in the league, just separated by goal difference with West Brom at 10th. The same applies to Norwich manager who has maintained a good record in their debut season in the EPL while Sunderland have done a great job as well. The highlight however has been Everton's David Moyes who has been working on a tight budget for 10 years now and yet maintain top league positions. Despite Man City winning the Premier League, it is quite clearly seen that the amount of money they spent didn't guarantee them success as easily as they thought. For a team who spent almost 400m and manage to win the league title on goal difference may not be the greatest achievement ever, however, that doesn't seem to concern the City fans, as long as its won, its won! On the other hand we have the likes of QPR, who spent large amount of money in the January transfer window, yet managed to just about fight relegation.

One of the reasons why AVB was sacked was because he used his broomstick in the wrong way. He tried sweeping heavy materials with his broom stick, hence eventually losing out. Every manager has the hunger to see changes soon, however, AVB was expecting them a bit too soon. He tried kicking out the old players not thinking that they would be of huge importance in the coming games. Patience in attaining success is always a virtue, and this is what defines Arsene Wenger. He has always been patient with his youth team who play one of the best football in England despite failing to win a trophy for 7 years now. Maybe its because he lacks experience in his squad, but one thing's for sure, when it comes to patience and building stars for the future, Arsene is the man!

The owners of the club play a huge role in the success and stability of the club, however, it is very unfortunate to see that there only exist a handful of great owners who offer the required support to the Managers and the players. Clubs like Aston Villa, Chelsea, Norwich, have had their managers sacked whilst they never offered them the support and or the time to settle with the team. The decision by Wolves to sack McCarthy was awful and so was that of appointing Alex McLeish as Villa boss. It is sad to see that Benitez had one of the toughest times with the owners of Liverpool during his time, but Kenny had the best of owners. The decision by the club to sack him wasn't received well by the supporters, he probably deserved a bit more time. Mark Hughes was quoted saying that the main reason he left Fulham was because the owner was reluctant to spend money; he was happy as long as the team is in the EPL. It is owners as such who are the reason to the decline of football and high profile managers, however, all of this goes unnoticed.

The media has been one of the reasons as to why managers face a lot of pressure and sometimes loose out the job because of their retaliation, however, if there's one man who could make the media bewildered was Jose Mourinho. He would make comments that would leave the media speechless, although they would try to create something from nothing; he would never ever bow down to them. He is one manager, the media love and hate at the same time. He makes their work harder by posing brain storming questions in his press conferences, but sometimes makes it even easier when he puts in a comment or two that makes the media go wild. Perhaps this was one of the reasons he was successful in England, although it should be remembered that he had a strong spending power.

All these are however external forces to a Managerial job, they vary from place to place and may be better at many clubs, however, I personally believe that a great Manager is defined by his personality and ability, both on and off the pitch as a leader, mentor, teacher, parent and a manager. He is the guardian of the players, and he shall lead the way he wishes them to follow.

When you talk about personality, it refers to the Manager's set of principles that govern his decision making process. Great managers stick to their words, principles and values, and do not allow any nonsense or pardon when its something that's against their principles. In short, a great manager is a "Man of his words."
This is what has defined \Sir Alex Ferguson's 25 years at Manchester United, his ability to make decisions that might seem unfair to many, but if it is against his principles and values, he shall take the necessary measures. Eric Cantona was banned for three months by United before the FA imposed an additional six months for kicking a Crystal Palace fan. It didn't end here, he managed to kick out Roy Keane because he abused the youth players, even though many argue that it was a wrong decision by Fergie.Wayne Rooney was left out against Blackburn in New Year's eve, which saw United crumble to a 3-2 defeat, which could be one of the reasons of United's failure to win the trophy. Sir Alex's principles and values have been of great value in the 25 years in his club, highlighting the importance of discipline. His counterpart however, has been the opposite. Mancini said Tevez shall not play for City again, nor will Balotelli, but when the ship was sinking, Mancini called the servces of Tevez and Balotelli. This may have won City the title, but it has certainly made him a loser when it comes to his personality and him being "a man of his words." Not only that, but many a times there were disputes in the dressing room and the training ground showing the lack of man management in him. Yes, it is never easy to handle a dressing room full of stars, but, Jose Mourinho did that at Madrid. It's not only Sir Alex who has made bold decisions as such, Arsene Wenger has made huge decisions in the past as well. When Gallas, Adebayor and Toure tried creating a rift in the dressing room, he got rid of them immediately. Who wouldn't want to keep hold of their stars? but, hey, when it comes to principles- you've to be firm as a rock. This is what has defined Wenger and Sir Alex's managerial supremacy in the past decade!

There has never been a perfect manager, everyone is bound to make mistakes. Whilst Sir Alex has made horrible gambles on his side selections, Wenger lets go his stars easily, Liverpool have had Benitez sell of Alonso in the worst situation ever, Chelsea have had their own problems to sort with AVB and now Di Matteo.

Much can be said about Managers, and many reasons may be presented/brought forward describing the reasons to their success, I don't deny them, but I believe that the most influential factor remains to be the Manager's personality and his ability to make bold decisions.

Cheerio!

PS: My apologies for the one month dormancy, was tied up with a lot of work!
Happy Reading :)