The 90 Minute Manager

Citation

(2002), "The 90 Minute Manager", Work Study, Vol. 51 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2002.07951fae.001

The 90 Minute Manager

The 90 Minute Manager

David Bolchover and Chris BradyPrentice Hall BusinessISBN: 0273656139£12.99

This book is based on the premise that corporate managers can learn about management from football? Although at times it might stretch credibility a little far, on the whole it makes a quite convincing case that there are good lessons to be learned "from the dugout". After all, football managers lead high-talent teams under intensely stressful conditions, where every action is open to scrutiny. This is not unlike today's business environment.

Some aspects of corporate success are based on similar foundations – "team spirit" being one of the more obvious examples. Bill Parcells, a successful coach in the NFL, suggests that: "People are people, and the keys to motivating them and getting them to perform to their full potential are pretty much the same".

Of course, there are clear differences between managing football clubs and managing other organisations or companies: in particular, there are those surrounding the complex structures and inter-relationships of football clubs – the manager's relationships with the board of directors, the chairman in particular, the players (as individuals and collectively) and – that most unforgiving set of "customers", the fans.

Bolchover and Brady argue that the recent transformation of football into big business means that the parallels with the commercial world are much stronger than they once were. They cite, for example, the shortage of talent in football – and the reward structure built around it – as having obvious parallels with the business world.

The book goes on to draw out issues and lessons beyond the simple team-building to include the management of stress, attention to detail, enthusiasm, dealing with mavericks, recruitment, and, of course, "luck".

Bolchover and Brady analyse the characteristics of the very best of football managers, past and present, to uncover exactly what it is that makes them so exceptional and what modern business leaders can learn from their style and methodology. From Herbert Chapman's triumphs in the 1930s, through the highs of Don Revie, Jock Stein, Matt Busby and Bill Shankly, through to the modern day masters including Arsene Wenger, Gerard Houllier, Alex Ferguson, Martin O'Neill, Fabio Capello and Sven-Goran Eriksson. Strengths and weaknesses, strategies and tactics are examined to answer classic modern management questions, such as:

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  Are the best managers both great strategists and inspirational motivators?

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  What makes top players want to work for a particular manager?

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  How important is the "right-hand" man and what qualities make the very best pairing?

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  Should a team ever be built around a single outstanding individual?

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  What are the key personality characteristics that define a great talent manager?

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  Is the ideal manager for a winning team a different man from that for a struggling team?

You may have to make some of the connections yourself – but this is no bad thing. Read this book with an open mind and there are lessons to be learnt and transferred.