Lentwood
Full Member
I decided to start this thread for a couple of reasons;
1) There appears to be some confusion across the board on what a modern football manager does and does not do
2) I am keen to expand my own knowledge about how individual clubs are structured and what responsibilities the 'Head Coach', '1st Team Manager' etc....have and do not have
Now, in relation to the latter, Point.1, there are a large percentage of posters prevalent on the Manchester United forum who do not understand what a modern 'Head Coach' does. This is evidenced by statements such as the following which are common;
A) Manager X was useless, his signings were terrible
B) Manager X is useless, our players don't look coherent and we attack/defend badly as a unit
C) Manager X was such an idiot for giving Player X a new contract/giving Player X £400K per week
I freely admit I am not the most knowledgeable person on this subject (hence Point.2), however, I do know that modern football management is nothing like football management in the 90s (or even early/mid noughties) and many of the criteria many people use to judge a managers performance actually may have very little to do with their day-to-day role
For example, take A) - I am fairly certain that modern managers have very little time to sit down and watch thousands of hours of footage of the French 2nd division to try and pick up a bargain. I would imagine that at United, the manager offers opinions on which positions need to be strengthened and what 'type' of player they would ideally like. It is then 100% down to the Scouting network to identify candidates which once refined, I am sure the manager has some, but not total, input on who we ultimately decide to put in a offer for. At that stage, I imagine the manager has absolutely zero authority on how much we actually pay. Ed and the Commercial team will have a figure and regardless of what the manager thinks, the success or failure of the transfer will depend on the other team being amendable to that figure.
The RedCafe consensus - United manager sits in his office clicking around on YouTube and phoning agents to thrash out deals whilst smoking a cigar and drinking a pina colada
For example B) - I imagine that the manager has a team of coaches to whom they dictate a style and high-level 'tactical identity' that they would like coached into their players. I imagine the manager, along with the match-day analysts, highlight areas to work on based on previous performances or footage of upcoming opponents. Beyond that, I highly doubt that the manager does much on the training pitch other than maybe pop his head in from time-to-time to get a general 'feel' for morale and to motivate the players.
The RedCafe consensus - Ole turns up to training in all his gear, takes Rashford and Martial to one-side, summons Lindelof and Smalling, puts the ball down, nutmegs them both and smashes it passed De Gea into the top corner, winks, says 'that's how you do it lads' and walks off to drink pina colada's/smoke cigars whilst watching Gremio vs Flamengo live stream on Bet365
For example C) - I just don't think the manager has ANY impact here at all, especially at Utd. This is evidenced by Smalling signing a new deal the day after Jose left....if it needed to be evidenced at all. I am not saying this is a bad thing necessarily, just an observation
The RedCafe consensus - Utd manager sits in sheepskin coat and haggles with Mino Raiola for hours over goal bonuses akin to the footage of Barry Fry haggling with an agent in that 'There's only one Barry Fry' documentary on the Internet. At one point, they play a game of cards to determine whether Player X gets £250K or £350K per week.
So....beyond, or in addition to, the above, my question to the forum is;
'What does a modern football do and what do they not do'?
1) There appears to be some confusion across the board on what a modern football manager does and does not do
2) I am keen to expand my own knowledge about how individual clubs are structured and what responsibilities the 'Head Coach', '1st Team Manager' etc....have and do not have
Now, in relation to the latter, Point.1, there are a large percentage of posters prevalent on the Manchester United forum who do not understand what a modern 'Head Coach' does. This is evidenced by statements such as the following which are common;
A) Manager X was useless, his signings were terrible
B) Manager X is useless, our players don't look coherent and we attack/defend badly as a unit
C) Manager X was such an idiot for giving Player X a new contract/giving Player X £400K per week
I freely admit I am not the most knowledgeable person on this subject (hence Point.2), however, I do know that modern football management is nothing like football management in the 90s (or even early/mid noughties) and many of the criteria many people use to judge a managers performance actually may have very little to do with their day-to-day role
For example, take A) - I am fairly certain that modern managers have very little time to sit down and watch thousands of hours of footage of the French 2nd division to try and pick up a bargain. I would imagine that at United, the manager offers opinions on which positions need to be strengthened and what 'type' of player they would ideally like. It is then 100% down to the Scouting network to identify candidates which once refined, I am sure the manager has some, but not total, input on who we ultimately decide to put in a offer for. At that stage, I imagine the manager has absolutely zero authority on how much we actually pay. Ed and the Commercial team will have a figure and regardless of what the manager thinks, the success or failure of the transfer will depend on the other team being amendable to that figure.
The RedCafe consensus - United manager sits in his office clicking around on YouTube and phoning agents to thrash out deals whilst smoking a cigar and drinking a pina colada
For example B) - I imagine that the manager has a team of coaches to whom they dictate a style and high-level 'tactical identity' that they would like coached into their players. I imagine the manager, along with the match-day analysts, highlight areas to work on based on previous performances or footage of upcoming opponents. Beyond that, I highly doubt that the manager does much on the training pitch other than maybe pop his head in from time-to-time to get a general 'feel' for morale and to motivate the players.
The RedCafe consensus - Ole turns up to training in all his gear, takes Rashford and Martial to one-side, summons Lindelof and Smalling, puts the ball down, nutmegs them both and smashes it passed De Gea into the top corner, winks, says 'that's how you do it lads' and walks off to drink pina colada's/smoke cigars whilst watching Gremio vs Flamengo live stream on Bet365
For example C) - I just don't think the manager has ANY impact here at all, especially at Utd. This is evidenced by Smalling signing a new deal the day after Jose left....if it needed to be evidenced at all. I am not saying this is a bad thing necessarily, just an observation
The RedCafe consensus - Utd manager sits in sheepskin coat and haggles with Mino Raiola for hours over goal bonuses akin to the footage of Barry Fry haggling with an agent in that 'There's only one Barry Fry' documentary on the Internet. At one point, they play a game of cards to determine whether Player X gets £250K or £350K per week.
So....beyond, or in addition to, the above, my question to the forum is;
'What does a modern football do and what do they not do'?