Football

Money In The Bank

~ thegaffersview ~ 1 Comment

14713741248_d5df550e59_b

I have watched with some interest over the past few weeks to see how some of the amateur leagues are using the excess cash they have in their accounts and how they put it to good use.

To my knowledge and from what I have read online, the Sunday Central seem to have set the bar with regards to giving back to clubs, and they have been doing this for a number of years now. Starting off with a cash back offer to clubs returning to the league at the start of each season they are now offering teams the great incentive of no league fees. The Caledonian and Strathclyde Saturday Morning Leagues have now followed suit and recently advertised their own incentives with the Cale paying all SAFA fees including cups and public liability insurance and also providing each club with a match ball. The SSMFL are also paying a cash back sum of money to all returning clubs. This is an outstanding gesture from all three leagues. There may be more out there of whom I have no knowledge and if I have missed your league then I must apologise.

Every year the financial implications and the struggle for funding increases for every club in Scotland. It is becoming harder for amateur Managers and committees to provide a platform for young men to play football. With park fees for games and training sessions spiralling out of control we are risking the danger of losing lots more historic clubs who can no longer afford to function. The amount of teams who have folded recently has been frightening! These incentives by the leagues can be the difference between a club managing to continue playing or go to the wall. It has certainly put pressure on other associations to follow suit. Either that or lose teams who will go to the league with the best options for them.

Ultimately the fees that we pay are dictated in one way or another by the SAFA. I could be well off the mark here but the last information I was given was that the SAFA had a figure in the region of £300,000 in the bank and that this amount was being added to each season. Maybe someone more in the know than me can either confirm or deny this but if this is the case then the question must be asked of what are we actually going to spend this money on and when are we going to spend it?

The return of the Inter League Competition was in my opinion a great idea for amateur football and has rejuvenated the idea of league select teams, but we shouldn’t rest on our laurels on that one. There are hundreds of ways we could put all of that excess cash (that belongs to us) to good use. Personally I would like to see some sort of cup that would involve the league winners from every association, possibly in a Champions League format. There is also the idea of an SAFA custom built footballing facility that could be used for all of our major matches. Even the little things like a couple of match balls, a reduction in affiliation fees, session planners, tactics boards, bibs, regular coaching education weekends  or prize money for successful teams would go a long way to bridge the gap between the SAFA and the clubs and it would certainly make amateur football more attractive for players to come to us.

Running a football team isn’t only about money of course, but it does play a huge part in how we operate. A quick rough breakdown of our outlay shows what we are up against

Home match – £60-£70 for a grass park or £100+ for a 3G or 4G

Training session – £45+ per session

Referee – £40

Match ball – (2 required) £50+

Strips – (2 sets) £600+

Training balls – £150

Bibs, cones water bottles – £60+

Medical equipment – £30+

Insurance – £130

Fees – £250+

Fines – dependant on booking and red cards

There are various other things that will need paid during the course of the season but on average a club will have to pay out £200 per week assuming they train two nights a week. If you charge each player £10 a week in a squad of 20 then you may break even but as we all know you don’t always get these numbers and you cant charge players money who aren’t picked for games. Sometimes it is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul to keep your club afloat and I’m sure I’m not the only Manager out there who has had to put his hand into his own pocket to pay for a training session on a cold winters night when only 9 players turn up!

As I have said I am willing to stand corrected on the figure of £300,000 I have quoted but in the event that I am right then I look forward to a healthy debate on what we can do with all this spare cash.

Help the clubs!

The Gaffer

 

 

The View So Far

~ thegaffersview ~ 5 Comments

image

 

Now that my own season is complete I think this is as good a time as any for a bit of reflection over the past few months with the blog.

Firstly I would like to thank each and every person who has taken the time to have a look at what I have had to offer. Whether you have agreed with what I have said or disagreed, the feedback has been superb. I am grateful to all of the social media followers who have joined in the discussion and taken part in the polls. Without your support of the blog I would probably have given up after a couple of posts. I would also like to thank the guys out there who continually retweet me so that I can get maximum exposure to the amateur family. You all know who you are! The site has now breached well into the five figures for visitor numbers and the reach of the blog has surpassed way beyond what I had expected it ever would when I first started this up and this is all down to the power of social media.

There have been a couple of occasions over this season that have really put a smile on my face. One of which was sitting in the stand at one of the recent National semi finals where I overheard a group of men sitting behind me discussing how much they can relate to the pieces I have written and speculating as to who I really am. Social media can sometimes be a bit misleading as people can follow or befriend you at the hit of a button but to actually hear for yourself that people you don’t even know are enjoying your work is something that I was really proud of.

I have also had the bizarre situation in my own clubs changing room where my players were discussing one of the blogs. Without giving too much away about what was said it was jokingly suggested that I get sacked and they bring in the guy who does the Gaffers View as he is clearly more clued up than I will ever be. I did have a chuckle into myself and thought “if only you knew.”

That said, I have probably now gotten to the stage that outing myself would cause significant upset for various individuals due to some of the content of what I have written. In particular The Elephant in the Room, The Perfect Substitute and Dealing With a Clique. As I have said before I do not intend to cause any grief or embarrassment for anyone but the nature of what I write means that I have to call it as I see it. If by telling the truth I cause offense then perhaps those being offended should look in the mirror and have a think about the consequences of their actions.

On that note, I would like to think that the blog gives the guys who play an alternative view to amateur football and that they can see what the guys who make the clubs tick have to go through each week. If I have managed at all to change the attitude or opinions of a handful of players so far then I have at least done some good with this and achieved a small part of what I had intended to do. Being an amateur Manager is a thankless and at times very dark role so think about that please the next time you have a go at your boss or criticise his decisions.

Looking forward to next season I have plenty more material which I haven’t managed to get to yet and I am sure that the footballing year will naturally throw up something for me to talk about. So keep an eye out for future posts and feel free to spread the word about the website.

Lastly, I would like to wish all the amateur Managers out there a relaxing and stress free break and hope that you get all of the players in that you need for the season ahead. As for me I am off for a well deserved holiday and a few beers at the pool.

Thanks again

The Gaffer

 

Throwing In The Towel

~ thegaffersview ~ 9 Comments

I have been shocked this season to see how many teams have really fallen away as soon as they have nothing left to play for.

I know that a change in results or effort is a bit common at this time of the season, especially for mid table or “safe” sides but I think the volume of teams falling away has been particularly high this year.

Recently I read a lot on Twitter about a team requiring to score an astronomical amount of goals to win their league on goal difference. I think if I am right they won 18-0 or thereabouts. Call me cynical but unless the winning team had players of the calibre of Suarez, Messi, Ronaldo etc then there is only one reason for this scoreline, the opposition had totally given up on their season. They threw in the towel.

I don’t want to single out this team as I don’t really know enough about them so I will generalise for everyone whom I believe gives up the ghost when the time comes.

Rather than let your effort levels rapidly decrease when it becomes clear that your chance of a medal is gone and that you have avoided relegation then maybe you should consider the bigger picture. The opposition teams you have still to play in your league are maybe still part of a relegation scrap or fighting for the league. Surely you owe it to your own personal pride to give the exact same effort in these games as you would have when the aims and objectives were set by your manager in the first matches of the season. Your own performances can have a huge impact on the integrity of the competition for everyone involved and not just your team. My attitude as a player was always that if we can’t win the league then we will do our best to have a big say in who does. A drop in effort is totally selfish and very prima donna.

The 18-0 scoreline hadn’t been the only shock result because there has been a few in the past couple of weeks and it is very easy to see who is still giving 100% and who isn’t.

The day you stop giving your all in every match you play in should be the day that you give up football! I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the mirror if I knew that I had allowed someone to win a league because me and my teams mates had blatantly went through the motions on the park or had not even bothered turning up to see out the season at all. Or even worse, can you imagine being responsible for a team being relegated because you couldn’t muster the motivation to in a game you would have won in August at a canter.

I can’t even comprehend the bollocking I would have got in days gone by if I had limped over the line at the end of a season only to turn up after the summer full of beans with talk of competing in the next year.

For me, as a footballer you can’t pick and choose when you are going to give effort in a game. It’s all or nothing every time.

Play to the whistle

The Gaffer

 

The Silly Season

~ thegaffersview ~ Leave a comment

image

We have now entered the part of the season where the madness starts!

Regardless of where your team are in the league right now I can guarantee you are already thinking about what is going to happen next season. In fact, the scramble for players has probably already begun.

I have already started to sound out my players about their plans in a panic that they might be thinking of moving on or that someone else has spoken to them with a promise to move into better things in the summer. It can be quite a stressful time for a manager. Usually I can pinpoint the players who are having doubts. Little differences stick out for me like not contributing as much in the team group chat, not giving as much effort or snapping at their team mates during games. These are things that boys in the team might not notice but as a Manager you have to be really tuned into them. I think it’s important at this stage to be bullish and approach the player to find out what he is thinking. If he’s good enough then it’s worth the arm round the shoulder for that feeling of still being wanted at the club. For every conversation you have with one of your players you can bet there are four or five guys he knows at other teams having the same chat with him or them. These players begin to have irrational thoughts to justify there excuse to leave and convince themselves that because you played him in a couple of games out of position that he should move on to where he will always be played where he is naturally best. Ultimately if a player wants to leave your club then he will think of the easiest excuse to give you as to why he wants to move on. Normally it’s a lie that the player thinks will soften the blow for you to take.

Having said all that, the other side of the coin for a Manager is trying to convince fresh blood that your club is where they want to be next season. It’s not nice to have players poached from you but it’s part of the amateur game to do a bit of poaching yourself. Obviously you want the best players to be playing for you, that goes without saying. This side of management is all about timing. You can’t rush in when a player is doing well and enjoying his football at his club, but if you leave it too late the ship might sail and someone else could have his ear and promise him the World before you get a chance. Having trusted players in your squad who have been around the game a bit is vital for recruitment. If you can get them to plant seeds with your identified targets then this can go a long way to getting the signings you want in. Follow this up with a phone call or go and watch the player and you are almost there.

Keeping the bulk of your squad together is definitely the most important job in pre season. In the past I’ve had registrations forms signed in March by my players for the following season to try and make sure they stayed on for another year. I know full well that these forms aren’t worth the paper they are written on as players can get released at the drop of a hat now, but sometimes it’s enough to hold on to what I have. Signing that form means they can tell potential suitors that they have already signed with a club and if we are all gentlemen then the shake of hands with me should mean another confirmed player for the us.

Its a long time from now until the season starts in August and I’m sure we will all lose a good bit of sleep over this until then so this year I’m going to try and not stress about it as much as I usually do and always have in the back of my head that the ones who want to leave don’t matter, it’s the ones that want to stay that do.

In the words of Jim White

“The clock is ticking”

The Gaffer

 

 

The Player of the Year…

~ thegaffersview ~ Leave a comment

image

For as far back as I can remember every club I have been involved in has held an annual player of the year awards night. Some of them have been pretty extravagant, with sit down dinners and guest speakers while others have been held in the lounge of the local pub. Usually it comes down to what your club and players can afford at that time. My opinion is that no matter where or how you do it, you should always recognise the individual standout players in your team.

I can appreciate that for some clubs they don’t like to single out individual people for awards or recognition and I can see why they don’t do it but I really disagree with that unless it’s for financial reasons. For the players, it is a huge achievement to been seen as the best over the course of the season or the top goal scorer. Looking back in twenty years time to your football days and not having a trophy to show for your own personal efforts is tragic when you have deserved it. Not to mention that nobody would believe how good you actually were without the evidence!

I usually keep it simple with my awards and have player of the year, players player and top goal scorer because anything else can start to become silly. I think there is no bigger slur to someone than a most improved player award. For me this basically means that you were once bad/poor/average and now your a bit better. In my opinion it’s the booby prize for a player who would never have the ability to be player of the year. Each to their own though, that’s just my opinion.

Choosing a Managers player of the year is either very tough or very easy depending what type of season you have had. If you have had an average season then it’s usually quite simple to pick your standout player, however, if your season has been successful then I normally find that there are four or five players who are pushing for my choice. Every season I run a man of the match system where I select the MOTM from my team for every game. So the easy option is to choose whoever has most of my votes over the campaign. These match day awards are misleading though when I look further into what games these took place in. For example one player could have played poor all game and was man of the match after scoring a late hat-trick or another example is the team playing particularly poor in a game and someone was picked because he was the best of a bad bunch that day, so it isn’t really fair to stick with that system when making my selection, albeit I do use it as a guide.

I also like to take into consideration each players attitude and how often they come to training. Having a player of the year who has great ability but hardly trains and doesn’t apply himself as well as others in training would never sit right with me. You have to have as close to the perfect season as a player can for me to consider you.

Another important thing for me is to make my decision before the votes come back for the players player of the year because when I first started out in management I found myself being drawn towards the player with the most votes and thinking that if that’s what the players think then it must be him.  I soon realised how unfair this was and that I must be stronger in my opinions. Don’t get me wrong though, on occasion some boys have won both which was very much the right decision in that season but these players were picked by me before we knew the players player outcome. Not to say that the players votes were always accurate either…

I never realised how political players player of the year votes could be until I started doing this job. As a player I always voted for whoever I thought was our best player in the season and I assumed my team mates all did the same. Being in a position now where I get to see who my players vote for I can’t believe some of the votes I get in. Players who think they have a chance of winning it vote for the guys who they know have no chance, people clearly voting for their pals and some boys getting together to decide they will vote for each other to cancel votes out. It’s honestly unreal the lengths some people go to to make sure they win and I don’t really think they appreciate that it’s another team mate they are spoiling it for. This is another very good reason not to pay attention to this vote when I make my own.

The last point to make on this is the fallout from an awards night. You really learn a lot about your players on these nights. It’s natural for someone who thought they might have a chance of an award to be gutted when someone else gets it. Like everything in life though you can’t always get what you want or what you think you deserve and you must act with a bit of dignity and class when the announcement is made. I’ve had players leave my team before because they felt they deserved to be the player of the year and that I under valued them. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing but looking back I’m glad it has happened because I don’t need guys like that in my team. Maybe that’s another reason why some teams don’t have these nights because you risk upsetting people. If you have the right type of players though, then it shouldn’t be an issue. If organised well then they really are great occasions and a good chance to celebrate the season with your team mates, friends and your family. It’s also a good way to keep the morale high and hopefully your team together for the following season.

Good luck to all those in the running for an award this year.

The Gaffer

Winter Football – The Problems

~ thegaffersview ~ 1 Comment

This topic has been a popular point of discussion for as long as I can remember but I feel it would be remiss of me to do a blog on Scottish amateur football and not cover the issue of playing football through the winter time.

From the month of October, any amateur team Manager who plays on a grass park starts to panic about the weather conditions in the days leading up to his match. Weather apps are checked regularly and a visit to the park to give it a look are usual pre match routines. The weather creates a lot of uncertainty, with players worrying if the park will be playable and on occasion making plans on the assumption that it will be called off.

Rainfall or snow in Scotland is not new of course and we are all used to it here but the problem now is the ferocity of the weather. According to some research I have done we are receiving no more rainfall now than we have since 1965 but when it does rain it is coming down harder than it ever has. So that short spell of rain on a Friday morning can be a disaster for your team. This, coupled with the recent relentless storms that came from the States this year means there are a lot of teams who currently have a major back log of games to get through before the end of May which is only 8 weeks away.

Obviously the weather is the main problem. If we played in sunnier climates then this discussion wouldn’t happen but in my opinion we have other issues. The quality of the grass parks which are supplied and maintained by the local councils falls way below the level they should be at for the price we are paying for them. The location that some parks are built on make it impossible for them to adequately drain water during periods of rain and most have very poor drainage systems built into them anyway. If these parks had been built with some good foresight to be able hold the rain, then in the long term the cost would be reduced of having to repair or replace poor workmanship. Taking £60 for a game for one of these parks is atrocious when you consider the condition of some of them that we are expected to play on. If you buy cheap you buy twice.

The saviour of grassroots football saw the introduction of artificial surfaces all over Scotland with Toryglen being the flagship facility in the west of the country. These parks could be a whole other topic but they are important for this blog so where do I start? Firstly, trying to book one of these pitches without a let is near on impossible in the event that your game on the grass is in danger. There are simply not enough of them for everyone who needs them. My local council will only allow a booking one week in advance plus you have to set your alarm for them opening to be able to try and book it. Generally the phone is engaged with several other Managers having the same idea as me. Rather than one centralised booking number you also have to phone every pitch individually to check availability, it’s crazy. This system is totally flawed and no doubt played a part in the photo on Twitter a while back that was retweeted hundreds of times showing an empty indoor Toryglen during peak football hours on a weekend. A total scandal, as is the price to play on that park.

So artificial surfaces, if you can get one then great your game will be 100% on and you tell the boys and start to prepare. It rains all week and you don’t care because your on 4G and there is no way it will be off. Saturday morning comes and your up, fed and ready and making your plans. Then the phone call you weren’t expecting comes. The game is off. The park is waterlogged. Seriously! We build ALL WEATHER parks at a cost of nearly £100,000 a time to withstand the Scottish weather and we still can’t get that right. Who are these cowboys. I’ve heard a load of times this season from various teams saying their 3G or 4G game is off. That shouldn’t be happening. If you are going to charge a team over £100 for a park then you better make sure it is of the very best standard because you are killing us with these prices. You have us over a barrel and you know it. We can’t blame the weather on the councils but we can blame their shoddy planning and facilities for not being what they should be.

I read from a few teams on Twitter a couple of weeks ago that they hadn’t played a game since early November and tonight I had a quick browse through the leagues to see that these backlogs I mentioned earlier are prevalent in every amateur league. I’ve always thought a change in the playing season would help with a winter break being the equivalent of the summer close season. The issue here would be the major finals being played around November time which doesn’t sit right with a lot of people. Having a pre season in January or February would also be strange and throws up all sorts of questions like where would you even be able to train.

The other problem that has been spoken about at length is that the councils would not allow teams to play on grass parks during the time we currently have a summer break so that essential maintenance and regrowth of the grass can be carried out. Apparently this work cannot happen in January/February time as the parks wouldn’t be able to knit. My argument would be that if the parks are only played on in the good (by our standards) weather then surely their wouldn’t be as much treatment required on them anyway. I don’t know if the SAFA have taken this up with local councils in the past and if they have then I think this needs revisited. Any avenue that can be pursued on this should be. Teams are in danger of losing disinterested players, associations are in danger of losing teams who lack players and the SAFA are in danger of those teams never being replaced. We need our game to thrive and we need everyone on the same page on this. We have a big problem that is only going to get worse. Every season is another that goes by where our parks age and detiorate and the rainfall gets worse. Something needs to be done and soon.

Get the games played.

The Gaffer

The Amateur Class System

~ thegaffersview ~ Leave a comment

Whether we like it or not, as players, coaches, managers and clubs we all fall into place in the class system that has developed over a number of years in amateur football. It shapes the way we talk about each other and it shapes our opinions even if we do our best not to let it.

In my opinion we have four clear class groups.

Sunday football

Sunday football is widely regarded as the poor cousin of amateur football in Scotland. This is probably due to the fact that a lot of players will be out drinking on a Saturday night, and the unpredictability of their sobriety for a match the following day.  Sunday leagues also get a lot of stick for being on a par with pub leagues with inferior players who aren’t good enough to play for a Saturday team. Historically Sunday football has been known for this but in recent times the trend is being bucked. There are thousands of quality players all over the country who play at a very good level of amateur football on a Saturday who also play for a team on the Sunday. The standard of Sunday football and the leagues in which teams participate in has certainly changed my view on it but perhaps you need to have watched games or been involved in them to appreciate who good some of these teams really are. There are players and managers who would never dream of being involved with a Sunday team because they would risk harming their reputation in the Saturday setups.

Does a day of the week really matter when you play football?

Saturday Morning Teams

One rung up on the ladder of class is the Saturday morning leagues of which there are a few. These teams struggle to attract the top players due to the class system and a bit of snobbery from players who consider themselves too good to “drop down” to Saturday morning teams. People don’t realise that writing these teams off actually gives them added motivation to prove people wrong. How many times have you seen on twitter a morning team knocking one of the afternoon teams out of a national competition and then using words to the effect of “we are just a diddy Saturday morning team.” This kind of proves my point that these teams accept their place in the class system albeit they might not agree with it. Acknowledging the fact that there is a clear divide would appear to me to be some form of acceptance.

It suits a lot of players’ lifestyle to play football in the morning and get your game played giving you the rest of the day to spend with your family, going to watch your team or down the pub. Waiting around all day to kick off at two isn’t feasible for some guys hence why the morning game suits them best? Does that make them poor players? Of course it doesn’t. These leagues may not be as strong as the afternoon ones but that is because people write them off without giving them a chance and refuse to play in them.

Saturday Afternoon

It goes without saying that the top teams in amateur football all play in the afternoon. That is proved by the national competitions of which no Saturday morning team that I am aware of has ever won one. Teams in these leagues will try to attract players from the morning leagues by telling players that they don’t want to be wasting their time playing morning football when they can come and play in a more attractive league with a higher standard.  Does that say more about the standard of player in the morning league though or does it say more about the club trying to attract them? Afternoon players tend to be the worst when it comes to football snobbery. Many a time I have heard guys say they would be embarrassed to play on a Sunday or on a Saturday morning as they see it as dropping down a level. If you have never played at that “level” then how would you know? Continuing on from national cups from the morning section, the afternoon teams take a defeat to a morning team a lot harder than they would a fellow afternoon team because they think they should have enough in their kick off time locker to beat them before the game has even started.

Does the time of the day really matter when you play football?

Central Scottish AFL

The top of the tree of amateur football and the best league in the country, or is it?

It can’t be argued that some of the best amateur players play in this league and historically their teams do well in the East, West and Scottish Cup but does that make it the top league in the country? I think the people in power in the league would say yes and probably the majority of the people involved would say that it is. Let me be clear this is in no way a bashing of the Central league, far from it actually, but I do believe that the league as a whole see themselves as a class apart from the rest of amateur football and in turn the rest of amateur football believe the hype. A fear factor has been created around the Central teams and people look to avoid drawing one of the teams in the cups. It’s a fear factor without substance though because this is amateur football and any team can be beaten on any given day as we have seen so many times before.

We really need to drop the snobbery from some of our attitudes with regards to where we play our football. Sunday teams are littered with players who have won the Saturday Scottish Cup, Saturday morning teams are full of players who have played at a very good level of junior or professional football and afternoon leagues are have players who have played junior and won the Scottish Cup but would never play any other form of amateur.

We need to get over it.

The Gaffer

 

The Perfect Substitute

~ thegaffersview ~ 5 Comments

image

No Manager in amateur football will tell you that he wants a player that is happy to be a sub for his team.

Players deal with being on a substitute’s bench on a match day in a variety of ways. In my experience the majority of the time it’s not in the way I would like them to. When you decide your team you take in a variety of factors. Obviously you want to put out a side that is going to win you the game. That goes without saying. You then have to consider who played in the last match and if they did enough for a start the following week as well as how they performed at training. I think I touched on this in my “I’m not going to beat about the bush” blog so I won’t cover old ground. Ultimately you choose your fairest and best team as a Manager.

How a player deals with being named amongst the subs says a lot about how valuable he is as a team player. I have had instances where boys have been subs for the majority of a season, however, they have continued to work hard at training and waited for the opportunity to claim their place in the starting eleven. These guys probably accept that there are better players in the squad than them and that they must be patient. The rest of this blog does not refer to these types of players.

What really irks me is a player, who nine times out of ten is a first team player, finds himself out of the team one week for whatever reason. I’m sure we have all been there. You name the team and make eye contact with him to tell him he isn’t in it. His head goes down and the shin guards get thrown onto the floor. He switches off and doesn’t listen to another word of your team talk. He is last out of the changing room and doesn’t give himself a proper warm up. He watches the game with his arms folded, blatantly in a huff until he is told he is going on. When he does get his chance he doesn’t play to the game plan and would rather concentrate on taking his anger out on opposition players by kicking them than trying to win. The game then ends and he showers and drives home without speaking to you. You then get a text about three hours later to say that if he is going to be a sub then he will find another team who will play him every game. What can you even say to that other than the obvious? Who do these guys think they are? The easy option is to let them move on but teams are loaded with players with this attitude these days. Most boys now think they have the God given right to start every match and how dare the Manager even consider leaving them out.

If you think this applies to you then let me educate you a bit.

You play most games for your team therefore your Manager trusts you and believes in your ability. You should never take this for granted though because you aren’t always going to have that good a game that your place is guaranteed. You need to keep working hard in games and at training in order that you keep your place. If the gaffer leaves you out of the team then maybe it isn’t because he has suddenly decided he thinks you are a poor player. Maybe he wants to have a look at another player or give one of your team mates who pays the same money as you every week his opportunity to play a bit. Maybe you had a bad game last week and he has dropped you because he wants the right type of reaction from you. Or maybe it is because he is the Manager of the team and it is his job to keep his squad happy. When he does tell you that you aren’t starting don’t take the huff about it and throw the toys out of the pram. Get out onto the park and do the full warm up with the team. Be vocal and let your Manager know you are up for this game. When the match starts keep warming up and run regularly so that you are at least close to the speed of play. Get involved in helping your team on the park by encouraging the boys and prove your commitment. When you get the nod to get stripped you need to make sure that you stamp your mark on the game for all the right reasons. Harass the opposition, make runs, tackle hard and play your part in the win. This is your chance to show that you didn’t deserve to be on the bench. When the game is over speak to your Manager face to face rather than texting him hours later and tell him you were frustrated about being left out but that you hope you have done enough in the minutes you did get to merit a start the next week. Nobody expects you to be happy but don’t let yourself or your team mates down by having a bad attitude because that has a tendency to run right through the team. It isn’t embarrassing being a substitute because it happens to everyone and that is why we have big squads for long hard seasons. Take it on the chin and work harder to show the Manager up rather than showing yourself up. There is a bigger picture in amateur football that sometimes I think players need to have a better appreciation of.

Prove him wrong.

The Gaffer

The Title Race

~ thegaffersview ~ 1 Comment

 

 

image

 

It’s amazing how good your mathematics skills improve when your team are involved in a title race.

I’ve been very lucky in my managerial time to have been involved in a few dramatic league run ins where we have either pushed the eventual league winners all the way or been the team being pushed. The mix of emotions and the feeling of eventually getting over the finish line as Champions is very hard to beat in football and is a great achievement for any amateur Manager.

As with every season I set targets for my team and give them something to aim for come the end of May. Winning the league isn’t always every teams target, and you probably have to be a bit realistic with what your squad are capable of achieving, but if you have a good group then I say go for it. Even though the long term target is the title the short term is always the next game and three points on the board.

It’s important to build a winning run early and set out your stall, however this has a tendency to be hampered come October/November time if your team are still involved in the national competitions. I’ve often found my team playing in the West and the Scottish on alternate weeks right up until Christmas and if you have any postponements or replays it can have a real danger of killing your domestic season. It could be January or February before you play another league game and this is why those first championship games in the season are so vital. Points on the board and a good run give you something to work with in the second half of the campaign.

At this stage of the season you will know who your league rivals are and what you have to do. The focus becomes a lot more intense. After your match on the Saturday you are straight onto Twitter to see how your rivals got on. There is nothing more frustrating than logging in to see that they haven’t posted their result. Does this mean they got beat? Do they not want us to see it? Are they too busy celebrating? Was their game on? All these things run through your head until you eventually find out. That can be a stressful couple of hours of your life, seriously. You also become a professional social media stalker, following your rivals personal pages. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve went into a game knowing a teams top player was at an all day wedding on the Friday and didn’t get home until five o’clock on the Saturday morning. When you see his name in the 11 it gives you a lift before a ball is even kicked.

As you continue to win games you need the experienced players in your team keeping the younger boys grounded. Players who haven’t been in this situation before can sometimes get carried away before anything has been decided. The focus always has to be “nothing is won yet.” I’ve been lucky to have had some very good Captains in my time who have nipped any title talk in the bud before it really takes off. You simply cannot think about how your going to celebrate that league win before its won. As soon as one game is over you must only think about the next one. It can be really difficult when you find yourself in a position with so many games in hand too. You have pressure not only to make sure you fit these games into your season but also to win them all to keep up with the leading pack. Catch the team above you is the old mantra but it really works. Catch them and then catch the next team and so on until you reach the summit.

All that said though in the comfort of my own home I cannot help to think about how good another league campaign will feel if we were to win it. I’m sure the players do the exact same. I often sit for hours on end working out what we need to do to see us over the line. I will plot out how many points each team need to win it and also and rule out that if one team beats another then we only need nine points from five games etc. It can mess with your head and cause a few sleepless nights and to be honest it’s probably all pointless because it’s amateur football and absolutely anything can happen but it keeps me focused on the aim and the dream.

Once we are on a run I become obsessed with keeping everything the same and carrying out ridiculous superstitions. I phone the referee and opposition at the exact same time, on the same day for every home game. I write my list of players who are available in the exact same order in my notepad and I send my text out in that same order. I also wear the same kit to training and matches every week until we drop a point. It might sound crazy but if you have any other superstitions like me you will know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s unlucky to do anything differently when the league is in the balance.

Having gone through all of the above, there is nothing more crushing than to lose the league right at the end of a long and exhausting season. It’s a difficult one to deal with because as a Manager you probably feel it harder than the players yet it falls with you to try and pick the boys up and motivate them to come back and do it all again next season. Bill Shankly once famously said “football is not a matter of life and death…it’s more important than that.” How right he was. To go a full season with nothing to show for your efforts can break your heart. It can be a cruel game but it can also be the best feeling of your life…

One game to go, the title has gone to the wire. Your in pole position and playing third place. Your rivals are one point behind and play a team two from bottom. You have by far the toughest match of the two and your away from home. Your family have come to watch and you can see your kids on the touchline chasing after one of the spare balls. Everyone is expecting a performance from your players and cameras are all charged and ready to capture that trophy lift. It’s a cagey affair and you go in at the break with no score having done everything to get ahead. Everyone is tense and all the talk all season has been forgotten. Someone shouts over that your rivals are winning four nil against ten men. They are currently top. You can see some heads go down. This is the most important 45 minutes of your life. You tell the boys to give it everything they have, do it for each other, do it for yourself, do it for somebody, anybody.  You can sense the hunger from some of them and some others not so much after hearing the latest development so you look these guys direct in the eye and focus your words on them. These boys need a huge lift. You don’t want to let this go. You know they deserve it and that all the blood, sweat and tears hasn’t been for nothing. You send them back out and pray to God that someone has a bit of magic left in them to kill this game. One goal to win the league! That’s all we need, then….the final whistle blows.

Was it worth it?

Of course it was.

The Gaffer