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Food
For Thought? Managers & Their Media Personality |
5th June 2005
I've often thought that a manager can be judged a lot on their media
personality and that a great deal of understanding and knowledge about
them can be had just from this aspect of their job alone, a great
deal in my opinion. If you look at certain managers and how they come
across in their respective interviews and press conferences, you'll
often see that the image being presented, is often the image that
their respective teams perform to out on the pitch.
Lets look at Kevin Keegan, first. A very passionate man who
wore his heart on his sleeve. Very charismatic and infectious. Open,
honest and highly entertaining. He is a reporters dream. A commentators
best friend. He has given the game some of the most memorable pre
and post match interviews of all time. Who will ever forget his Sky
rant? Who will ever forget the moment he took on fans outside of St.
James' park after he sold Andy Cole to Man Utd?
His teams, certainly Newcastle, performed out on the pitch as he did
off it in front of a camera or a reporters pen. The great entertainer.
The gung-ho, open and adventurous and emotional heart on the sleeve
character.
What about Keegan's former foe Sir Alex Ferguson? He dominates
his press conferences and will put down any comments he feels is unjustified
as quickly as his side would crush an opponent. He is always in control
and he dictates the flow. He's a bully, aggressive and operates with
a killer instinct. Fall foul of Fergie and it's the sword for you.
Many reporters and a whole media organisation have been banned from
Old Trafford. He also likes to toy with the media and others.
When Manchester United dominated the early Premiership years, they
would bully teams and show more aggression than the rest through Roy
Keane, Bryan Robson, Paul Scholes, Paul Ince, Brian McClair, Mark
Hughes and so on and so on. They would torture teams and take them
to the cleaners too, toying with them. Relentless and dominating they
were. They too performed in the image of their manager.
Kenny Dalglish? Dour but straight and very blunt. His
Blackburn side were that type of team. They gave nothing away but
were very effective.
Ruud Gullit? Very cool and technical. He liked to talk
about the technical side of the game and his Chelsea side were certainly
a cool and technically gifted side. Ruud was also very aloof and at
Newcastle especially, that's how his side often performed. One minute
open and expressive, the next, well I just never understood what that
team were trying to do half the time.
Sir Bobby Robson? A showman, cuddly and loveable. Respectable,
gentle and over emotional. Sir Bobby was a bit of everything and so
was his United side. A circus team at times, very entertaining and
loveable. But a bit of a soft touch and in the end, a bit too long
in the tooth.
Arsene Wenger? Very articulate, cosmopolitan (4 different
languages), studious and precise. Timid, yet spirited. His side is
an exact caricature of his media personality.
Jose Mourinho? Sharp as a knife, direct as an arrow
and extremely confident. With Mourinho you feel his whole press conferences
are pre-planned, somewhat stage managed and conducted like a game
of chess. His team is super confident, sharp and lively, direct and
so well organised and planned, they too are a direct image of their
manager.
Just look at Alan Curbishley and his team. Curbs is a calm,
easy going, fairly mundane, quiet bloke who doesn't force his views
on anyone and goes about his business in a quiet manner - just like
Charlton.
George Graham was a pragmatist, almost teacher like
in his press conferences and his team were very much the same.
Martin Jol is bubbly, a nice guy, easy to listen to and friendly
- that's exactly how Spurs play. Bubbly, lively, easy on the eye.
Terry Venables talks a good game, is bit of a character,
sophisticated yet rough. An impression of being something he really
isn't. That's how his England team played. They looked good but never
quite got there. They often gave the impression that they were sophisticated
and smooth yet underneath, they were a bit of a fake like El Tel,
really.
Glen Hoddle, complex, aloof and strange - just like
his England and Spurs sides.
Gerrard Houllier, quiet, unassuming, a bit deep and
introverted. Again, that's how Liverpool played. Did they ever come
out of their shell? Not very often.
Mick McCarthy is very straight and honest, dull but
passionate. Boring but can entertain. Everything his Sunderland side
are.
Martin O'Neill is shrewd, calculated and doesn't give
much away with simple yes and no type answers. Celtic were like that.
Shrewd in that they wouldn't go for the jugular very often - they
settled for what they had. O'Neill is like that. Why tell the media
more than what they need to know? Why go all out to score an extra
goal when you're already winning 3-0? Celtic were also very calculated.
They knew when to attack and when to sit back and defend. They often
played to percentages and so does O'Neill with the media. He'll digest
a question, strip the spin and give a simple answer.
Sam Allardyce, is in your face, rough, larger than life, unsophisticated
and not afraid to go into great detail when prompted. Bolton are just
like that.
David Moyes, isn't very charismatic is he? He is also very
defensive when answering questions, conservative (remember how he
kept playing down Everton's Champions League prospects?) and doesn't
like talking about himself. Everton are dull, conservative (11 men
behind the ball) and as a team, they don't like talking about themselves
(showing individualism).
Harry Redknapp - a poor man's Kevin Keegan. Bubbly, harmless,
full of character yet lacking real intellect. His side's, lively on
the ball, a bit dense off it.
Now, what about Graeme Souness? Of them all, Souness is the
hardest to fathom. In his short time at United, I've noticed he does
not accept responsibility easy, in fact, he often blames everything
and everyone whether it's injuries, bad press, a shut transfer window,
agents, referees, opposition tactics (Bolton, Palace and Boro), inexperience,
weak mentality or the players themselves (Robert for example).
When I look at Newcastle, I see a lack of collective responsibility.
Everyone looks to others to either bail them out or to do their work
for them and when it does go all wrong, nobody holds their hands up.
Just hot air or excuses.
Souness is also very temperamental. He rarely smiles in interviews
and always seems uptight and weighted with the world on his shoulders.
That's how his Newcastle side play at times too.
We are temperamental, you just don't know what NUFC will turn up.
The side that beat Olympiakos 7-1 over two legs or the side that got
stuffed 4-1 off Fulham at the Old Gallowgate. Newcastle and a vast
majority of our players struggle to express themselves and seem edgy
too, not in a nervous way but in an almost stressed kind of way.
And what of Alan Shearer, our next manager?
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