Complete control

There is a scene in the first episode of the second series (series 2 if you're American!) of Fawlty Towers where Basil is trying to explain to Mrs Richards, a deaf resident, that he is the the owner of the hotel. It goes like this :-

Mrs Richards : "Who are you"

Basil : "I am the the owner madam"

Mrs Richards : "What?"

Basil : "I am the owner"

Mrs Richards : We ll I want to speak to the manager!"

Basil "I am the manager, I am the manager and the owner"

Well this week that dialogue has been at the centre of at least two Premier League managers resigning this week. Both Alan Curbishley (at West Ham) & Kevin Keegan (aka King Kev at Newcastle) quit their respective clubs because the owners were to all intents and purposes managing the clubs as well as owning them. This "managing" took the shape of the owners either directly or through "Directors of Football" deciding which players the club would sell or buy and leaving the "manager" to coach the team of players the owner thinks he should have!

This breaks the traditional model of the Manager having control of all footballing issues, including most importantly, transfer policy. In both instances Curbishley and Keegan had players sold they wanted to keep and  others bought in they knew little about! It is no surprise that both quit issuing statements heavily criticising their former employers.

The majority of British football. pundit and manager (either current or retired), has backed both managers decisions, saying how outrageous it is that both of them had their authority hugely reduced by the actions of the teams owners and that it only "works" if the Manager has complete control and that includes having a Director of Football who does the Managers bidding.

I agree with the first part, in reality Keegan was a resignation waiting to happen from the moment Mike Ashley appointed Dennis Wise (football's "Mr Popular" before all of this!!!) as Director of Football. If you employ a manager under one structure and then impose another, it's not a surprise that they pick up their ball and go home. 

I don't believe that it only "works" however, if the manager has complete control. That surely depends on the manager? Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp are good examples of that model having a happy ending. There are plenty of examples of the opposite being true!

All of the upheaval this week has taken place with the backdrop of the  preparation for the next round of International football, which got me thinking. International managers have to use the players that birthplaces dictate. Apart from the odd "my granny was born in your country  so I can play for you" opportunities, they have to make the best they can from a finite resource and truly coach those players into the best team they can. which is surely all that the new breed of owner is expecting their coach to do. So actually that model has a validation it's just based on a completely different viewpoint. 

That is,  that it's "my club (small country) and I'll tell you who you are going to have to work with". As long as the coach knows that at the outset then it can work, you just need to employ former international coaches, they'll "get it"  (West Ham are strongly rumoured to want Slaven Bilic, who just happens to coach Croatia at the moment!!!)

Finally, not all coaches object to having players foisted upon them! Mark Hughes didn't resign this week, when Robinho was parachuted into Man City this week!!!!!!