MANAGERIAL DILEMMAS

In the Premier League, managers tend to coach a defined team formation and style of play. That is largely because the wealth of clubs at that level means they can sign the players they need to fit their chosen formation.

In the EFL, life is somewhat different and financial restrictions means that managers have to be more adaptable and often don’t have the players that fit their preferred formation. That means that managers have to be more flexible and adapt the formation to suit the players available to them. Those that fail to adapt ultimately lose their job and there are many examples of that in every division of the EFL. Every owner and every manager will say they want to play attractive attacking football but at the end of the day results matter and if a team is not winning on a regular basis, then attendances will fall as will commercial revenues.

One of the hardest things for a manager is to set up his team in a formation that is not his preferred method of play and for too many it goes against the grain to have to compromise and adapt but sometimes short-term change does at least provide the breathing space to build a squad over time to ultimately play in the style the manager wants.

The reality is that if the players at a manager’s disposal don’t fit the style of play, then the ultimate loser is the manager getting the sack and not the players.

GO FOURTH

I think one of the most demotivating jobs in football must be being the fourth official on the touchline. In the modern-day game managers and coaches spend most of their time appealing for almost everything on the touchline, from throw-ins to penalties, and relaying tactical team adjustments seems secondary to that. It often seems that the respective dugouts take it in turns to harangue the fourth official and I particularly dislike them calling on the fourth official for red and yellow cards to be issued as that works both ways for the team you support. Continuously pressurising officials rarely if ever achieves any reversal of decisions made and when it leads to red and yellow cards for those on the touchline it just wastes time and is counterproductive if your team is losing. There is also an irony in the fact that managers more often than not have a fine structure for players where they must pay up if they receive a red or yellow card for dissent in particular. Just a few weeks into the season and we have had the high-profile sending offs of Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel and then at the weekend we had the sustained outburst from Jesse Marsch of Leeds United that led to him being dismissed. The bigger issue is the damage the TV pictures does to grassroots football. When I played football, we had a referee every week but if you go to any grassroots match these days in most games you will see parents refereeing because the abuse from managers and parents means it is just not worth it. There is no doubt that coaches, players and parents are influenced by the behaviour of those in the professional game and the League Managers Association, the Professional Footballers Association, the Premier League, the FA and the EFL need to put the issue of the image of the game on their agenda. Officials are treated with real respect in other sports, and it is about time football made an effort to do the same.

The increase in players diving and rolling around is another issue that should be incorporated into the discussion as it is mostly to try and con the officials into issuing cards. If a player or manager puts his hand up to ask for a fellow player to be booked, then in my view that player or manager should be booked. So many people have said to me that they enjoyed taking their family to the Women’s Euros because we had none of these antics and the matches were played in a friendly and non-aggressive atmosphere. Football needs to sit up and address this issue as there is no doubt it is causing reputational damage to the beautiful game.

HEY BIG SPENDER!

The football transfer window closes next week and doubtless there will be a number of multi-million-pound signings, by Premier League clubs in particular. Chelsea and Manchester United are likely to be the biggest spenders as they strive to reach the standard set in recent seasons by Manchester City and Liverpool.

I know a lot of managers are critical of the fact that four to six games into the season the window remains open and that as a result they could lose key players with no time to secure replacements, and I have sympathy for the view that the transfer window should close before the start of the season.

Many fans will be hoping that the deficiencies they see in their team will be addressed this week but in the lower leagues most fans will be disappointed due to the financial constraints in place at so many clubs.

The cost-of-living crisis and the impending 80% increase in energy bills is going to impact significantly on attendances at matches this season and match day sales will be particularly badly hit. So many football fans are going to have to cut back their spending to pay for energy in the winter months and going to football will be an expense many will sadly be able either to justify or afford. Urgent action is clearly needed by the Government but whatever they do the reality is that these increases are going to be unaffordable by so many people.

Football cannot be expected to solve all of society’s problems and through their community trusts football clubs already do so much for the local communities from which they draw their support, but doubtless we can all expect some cheap shots aimed at football (because of the level of spending and wages in the Premier League in particular) from politicians in the coming months as they look to cloak their own inadequacies.

Having said that, I know most clubs will want to help their fans to still be able to attend matches and a progressive and supportive approach to ticket pricing for at least the remainder of this season should be high on the agenda.