The Manager: Inside the Minds of Football's Leaders (24 page)

Rodgers tends to make his career decisions at a heart level because of the make-up of his personality. Others will deal with them quite differently. Hope Powell, even with her first big
decision, was sceptical: ‘To be perfectly honest I thought it was a token gesture. Female, black – I thought it ticked a box and I wasn’t prepared to be a tick in the box. There
was a player more experienced than me in terms of playing ability, probably not in terms of qualifications, who was the England captain at the time so I challenged [the FA] – why not them,
why me? They had to convince me that they’d really looked at my credentials, my reputation on the field (I only had one yellow card in my whole career), that I was well respected in the game
as a player ... I only wanted the job if they believed I could do it. Once I took the job, I knew I could not fail, because it could have been, “Well, there you go – we’ve put a
woman in place and they aren’t up to it.” I wasn’t going to have that.’

Why it works: self-awareness and self-belief

Leaders who take time to understand their own career journey – how they began, how opportunities have arisen, how they’ve adapted and how they’ve made
decisions – these leaders develop self-awareness.

After more than 30 years as a football leader, Neil Warnock knows where his strengths lie – and where they don’t: ‘I think I have been naturally a leader since about 20 years
of age. I always quite enjoyed getting my point over! I was never good enough to be a top player, but I knew what I wanted a team to be. I now know that I’m great at leading in the
Championship. There’s a lot I don’t enjoy about the Premier League – the money that’s involved, the money that players earn, the discipline, the morals – but I am
proud to have led both Sheffield United and QPR into the Premier League. For me, the Championship is more of a workingman’s bread and butter – I enjoy the cut and thrust. I’m good
at getting clubs promoted. I’ve done it seven times, and I want to set the record by doing it again.’

This self-awareness is an important step to self-belief. Sports psychologist Professor Graham Jones defines this as an objective understanding of our own abilities to deliver against what is
required. This is an excellent tool to have when tasked with rapid and difficult daily decision-making, and the perfect antidote to the pressure of the moment. The heightened tension that comes
from inflated expectation can all too easily knock a leader off balance. With self-belief, he can be what his players need him to be – strong, assured and calm.

Managers who are confident in their proven abilities find they have the inner resource to deal with heightened tension. For Rodgers it is about taking ownership: ‘I bring it all back to
personal responsibility. I have a lot of help from lots of people – lots of support, lots of influences – and I’m grateful for it. But I’ve arrived where I’ve arrived
by being out there and taking my own responsibility, rather than waiting for the phone to ring or somebody to support me. Knowing what I am capable of has served me well in the tough times –
on and off the field. My parents died young, so there have been lots of personal challenges as well as professional. That inner steel, that resolve, that perseverance, has served me well since my
time at Reading. I know it’s there.’ This is the mark of a leader under career pressure. Success is often dependent on inner strength and perseverance, and these in turn are often built
up through adversity.

For Carlo Ancelotti, self-belief includes a commitment to what others believe is a weakness: ‘Sometimes when I have a problem, at Milan, the owner would say you are too kind, you have to
shout and fight against the players. I know I am kind because it is in my character. My philosophy is if you have a horse and you try to teach it to jump, you can stay behind the horse with your
whip or you can go to the other side of the jump with a carrot. The result may be the same, but with the whip you stay behind and the horse can kick! And I am not dealing with horses. I am dealing
with professional, adult men. We manage men with big responsibilities – family, kids, lots of money. Such a man has to take the responsibility to be professional and motivated.’ Others
may criticise: Ancelotti knows what works for him and believes in his abilities. He may adapt his approach, but his self-belief means he won’t try to change the essence of who he is.

And, of course, both self-awareness and self-belief are excellent weapons against the inner voice, providing the right focus and the inner strength. The Alex McLeish approach is excellent:
‘How do I shoot the parrot? I rely on past experiences. I think, “Well, wait a minute. I’ve got presence in this game; I’ve been successful. I’ve solved problems
before – I can do it again.” You can’t get your knickers in a twist. I’ve seen some coaches and some colleagues say, “What if they win tomorrow and we
don’t?” and they all sit by the television looking for the results. If I can’t control it, I leave it. I block all of that out and try and stay in the focus of what my own team is
going to do.’ As theologian Reinhold Niebuhr has it: ‘God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the
difference.’ Mick McCarthy cites that very quote: ‘Those are really wise words for me. I can’t change what happened at Wolves. I had my opportunity – I had five and a half
years, great years, I look back and think I am satisfied with my time there. I’m proud of what I achieved at Wolves with a million quid and ten new players. So I look back and for 90 per cent
of it or more I can pat myself on the back and say, “Well done, mate.”’

Where the Story is Headed: Keeping your Purpose in Mind

At some stage of a manager’s journey to becoming a true football leader, he realises the significance of knowing his own mind. He begins to ask questions: What do I really
want from all this? What will I stand for? What will I become known for? He may have developed self-awareness and self-belief, but the future can still cause anxiety.

As Rodgers grew at Reading, those answers became clearer. ‘I had a pretty straightforward objective: to make a difference. I knew if I wanted to coach at the highest level, I would have to
be able to have real impact. I had grown up with a wide range of football influences. My father and grandfather were big lovers of Liverpool in the 1970s and 80s, Brazil in the 1970s and 80s, the
flair, the creativity – so I grew up with that. Then I was told British players aren’t technically or tactically as good as European players – “British players can’t
do that”. So as a young player I spent more time without the ball than with it. The process of knowing myself began with understanding that I couldn’t make a difference as a player, but
that I could do as a manager. Could I provide a different pathway for young players to get to the top, and maybe one day leave a trail to follow? But to begin with I held a simple objective: could
I make a difference to the young kid who is told he isn’t technically good enough and he’s just got to run and fight? Could I merge the great qualities of the British personality and
also
the technical qualities he certainly has? That was the beginning.’ Rodgers was beginning to understand himself. His career goals were forming.

Some 20 years later, Rodgers has emerged as a thoughtful, determined and optimistic leader who inspires through purpose and vision. ‘I love the challenge and the excitement most of all.
I’ve spent my life always being comfortable in the leading role. I’ve played and I’ve been a loyal assistant in a variety of roles, but I’ve felt most comfortable when
I’ve been leading a group. My start point when I come across any group of people – but in particular football players – is to find a right, or better still a cause, which the
people will fight for. I believe that people will fight for a right, and even die for a cause. So I try to find a cause, which the group can sign up to. After that I seek to provide the vision and
the pathway that allows us to defend that cause. When I arrived at Swansea I tied in the city to the feeling, the emotions. My mission was inspiring the city. That was it really. That is the
journey that I’ve wanted everyone to be on.’ A taxi driver outside the Liberty Stadium unknowingly proved the point when he told me: ‘I love Brendan Rodgers. He gave us all
something to believe in. And I love the style of football we play.’

In recent years, Sir Alex Ferguson inspired many through his determination and will to keep on leading and keep on winning. Shortly before his 70th birthday, he commented that he was ‘too
old to retire’! José Mourinho, for whom Sir Alex is another significant source of inspiration, loved this: ‘When I heard Sir Alex say this I was laughing because I was not
surprised. He has an incredible humour, but at the same time brightness and common sense. For me he is amazing as he is the same person I met in 2004. I have more white hair and more wrinkles, but
he is exactly the same. When I am in my 50s or 60s, I also see myself still in football with the same ambitions and desires. I understand why Sir Alex wanted to continue. It was the same with Mr
Robson and I see myself continuing for many years.’

Why it works

For Rodgers it’s about making a difference. For Sir Alex it was about keeping on winning. For Mourinho it’s about staying at the top of the game for 20 more years.
Rodgers, Ferguson and Mourinho all have purpose and drive. Just as a mark on the horizon offers a compass bearing, so a clear purpose keeps a leader’s career on track.

Foundation One: Staying True to your Philosophy

These managers clearly illustrate the first three essential components of the leader’s story: the inspiration, which often kicks it off and acts as a reference point; the
career progression and handling of defining moments, which creates foundations for self-awareness and self-belief; and the career goal, which creates purpose and drive. The next component that
underpins a leader’s story, and one that football managers speak of with enormous passion, is philosophy. How I think. How I think about my work, my people. How I think about football.

Ancelotti explains its importance very simply: ‘When your 11 players run on to the field, it is your philosophy that they are about to act out.’ José Mourinho concurs:
‘I think it is very important for every manager to have their own philosophy for everything – the way you want your team to play, the way you want to lead your team, the way you want to
work every day – everything must be very specific. To have a mentor is one thing; to try and copy is another. With a mentor you can improve and have a base for evolution, but when you try and
copy, the copy is never the same as the original. So I think you have to learn from people with more experience who have had success, but always keep your own personal identity.’

Being Reading’s first-team manager did not work out for Rodgers. In essence, it was a turnaround task that went wrong. Reflecting on the painful experience of his short (seven-month)
tenure, Rodgers lays the blame squarely on his own shoulders: ‘I got the timing wrong. I tried to create a lull in the club, and build over three years. I never really grasped the
club’s expectations, and I set them some unrealistic targets.’ This may well be right – and sound leaders tend to accept responsibility rather than deflect it. But the root cause
is worth examining. Under the pressure of career expectation – sensing the judgements being made of him as a coach and manager – Rodgers made a dangerous error: he moved away from his
philosophy. ‘We just weren’t getting the success. It was too sporadic. We’d play really well, see lots of elements of the philosophy, then we’d lose again. The defining
moment for me came at Loftus Road against QPR. I went for a team that was steadier, more solid. I remember standing watching the game, and the players were terrific there – they were real
good, honest players. But it wasn’t a team of mine I was watching. We lost that game 4-1. I had gone away from my beliefs. I hadn’t inspired the team. We had a mismatch between what the
players were trying to do and what I was trying to do. I had lost my integrity as a manager.’

This was a career-defining moment for Rodgers. A leader’s philosophy is so significant that, if he departs from it, then he departs from his true self. Not long after – just a few
months into the job he had so wanted – Rodgers left Reading. Crucially, he remained in learning: ‘I came away after that and did some reflecting and soul searching. I needed to go back
to my beliefs, whether or not we pulled it off. If I was going to go down I was going to go the way I wanted to. For the first time in my life I had veered off the track I was on, and I
couldn’t accept that. From that day I was in a better place.’

This demonstrates the power of reflection. Rodgers returned to his deep instincts and his true vision – the self he really knows. It was too late to save his post at Reading – but he
had his integrity back. And that would be his springboard to success. Six months later he was offered the manager’s job at Swansea City, the ambitious Welsh club looking to reach the Premier
League for the first time. He had learned some real lessons: ‘By the time I began at Swansea, I had renewed belief in my philosophy. In fact, that belief was probably greater than before: but
I had to be more clinical in my decision-making and get to the end point much quicker than I had at Reading.’

Why it works

Leaders who stay true to their philosophy – true to themselves – are inspirational. They’re almost unshakeable – which can be inspirational in
itself.

Swansea came as a great opportunity for Rodgers, but it certainly carried a feel of ‘now or never’. ‘It was a hand-in-glove fit. The club had started out on a comprehensive
cycle [of renewal] five or six years before, and the board wanted a certain way of working and playing. So I came in and now I had to show my character. I had thought my career as a manager was
over before it had started and I hadn’t known whether I was going to get a chance. But now I knew the rules of the game. The experience at Reading had taught me that. I now knew I was in the
business of winning.’