AVFC – Who Would Be A Manager?

Managing a football team, lets say our beloved AVFC, is like juggling knives of burning ego while deciding whether to go with youth, experience, a mixture of both, a team of Brits, or a collection of overseas unknowns.

Take twenty five humans of disparate temperaments, backgrounds and wallet sizes, and sell them on the notion of ‘Team`. Do this while maintaining their trust and your credibility and sanity, in the claustrophobic arena of the Bodymoor Heath dressing room, day after day after day for months on end. Then hope, pray, and cross your fingers that you possess a collection of very talented footballers.

One of Paul Lambert`s failings I thought was that he came across as being a little soft with his charges. Maybe soft isn`t quite the right descriptive. I always felt that he was more concerned with individual feelings, at the expense of the team. He seemed to make decisions on what was best for the individual. That`s not all bad I guess, but keeping twenty five players happy and playing as one is a very hard thing to do.

Making sure that the best team is out there on the pitch at all times is surely what`s most important, not getting caught up with being the fairest manager of all time. Just because a.n. other put in the hard work during the Bodymoor Heath working week, that doesn`t mean that he`s guaranteed a weekend starting role.

Management is as much about setting tones and creating expectations than it is about deciding on your best midfield option, or hauling off your centre forward and throwing on a substitute. You`re dealing with players of different cultures and thus different definitions of respect and appreciation. Dealing with Fabian Delph for example is never going to be the same as dealing with young Jack Grealish.

Deftness matters. It can be a function of experience.

Tim Sherwood seems a smart guy. He hopefully will be both liked and respected. Hopefully too he`ll be very effective in getting across his message. Did he have a chance to flex those skills fully at White Hart Lane? No he didn`t.

Players obviously are focused on their careers first and foremost. Tim has to convince them that to win games, and for us to avoid the drop, then they have to buy into a whatever-it-takes-to-win ideology. The players have to put Aston Villa ahead of their own individual success.

As much as we talk about leadership or a lack thereof at this club, that certainly hasn`t been the only reason that we have been far, far from successful these past few seasons. I do though think that Tim will be the leader that we have been lacking. He wont go home with a ton of things left unsaid. He`ll be straightforward.

If players catch you talking out both sides of your mouth, then that`s blood in the water.

There is a sense right now that we are a rudderless ship, lacking fight and determination, and that we have been for some time. There`s probably a lot more testosterone in the dressing room than people want to give credit for.

The leadership, direction and standards have to come from somewhere. Step forward Tim Sherwood. The floor is all yours.

We`re right behind you. We`re relying on you. Good Luck.

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