The Entertainer

If there was one thing that I could be guaranteed at the end of a football game it would be entertainment. I'm being purposely ambiguous with that claim simply because the entertainment expression is one that lends itself to many different scenarios. All the thrills of a 5-5 goal fest, a close 1-0 encounter with chance after chance in either box or....and my favorite...the game with a last minute winner, sending the players & fans into delirium. All are examples of how football games can captivate the audience & provide the viewing public with an experience to share with others for years to come. Its blatantly apparent that these types of games are not exactly the norm, but as football's "entertainment value" begins to shape the future of football fandom, I want to delve deeper into what football clubs do to represent our wants & needs.

Like many people who grew up in my generation, the football team you followed was bestowed upon you by your father. As previously mentioned in this blog, the team I followed as a youngster was Glasgow Rangers. Each week my father & I would travel the lengths & breadths of Scotland to take in our latest fix of light blue action. My formative years as a Rangers fan were throughout the late 80s & 90s, so I found myself supporting the club during arguably some of their most memorable years. 9 in a row, the international stars of the Advocaat era, the 1st chimes of the champions league music....being a Rangers fan was a privilage & the taste of victory was one that we all became very accustomed to. It was during this period where I would always look over to my friends who would follow Motherwell or Hamilton & think they were mental....how could you go & watch that level of football each week? I'd proclaim. Fast forward to the present day & the Glasgow Rangers I fell in love with is a far cry from its current incarnation. The level at which the team now operates is nothing short of shambolic, irrespective of how poorly their business operation may be performing. Even though it's now from a much longer distance, I've since become the fan who's watching continual up & down performances, shaky defending, poorly controlled passes; it would seem our world has turned upside down. So in taking a step back I wanted to consider what ramifications growing up in today's football era would do to a youthful Ally Bain. Would I really be that interested in following the Rangers? With a heightened access to elite level football, would I be more captivated by watching Barcelona live on TV every week? Would I find it easier to connect with the star Argentinian striker of La Liga, whose boots I own & is on TV more than any Scottish player I know? Would travelling to Ibrox to sit next to 40,000 angry & disillusioned people sway me over witnessing 100,000  people, stand to applaud a player who dares to try the un-thinkable in the El Classico? There has been a clear shift in what it means to be a fan these days, as much of the football we take in is done so through the eyes of a neutral. I'd don't overly care for either Arsenal or Manchester United, but i'll make sure I watch it because it will be an entertaining game. Certainly the world has been made smaller by the advent of televised football, which is why our smaller local clubs have become largely anonymous to vast sectors of the community. Gone are the days where the demographic of blindly loyal football fans punch in their time clock every year to renew their season ticket, simply because "that's what we do", fans are far more educated now as to what quality football looks like. What I should concede however is that our smaller clubs, or as is in Rangers case a big club playing in a small football country,  is that these organizations can remain relevant. There is no divine right in football to play a certain way or to operate in a certain manner, but relevancy is a largely grey area in football that too many clubs simply do not consider.

Why Rangers continue to be relevant in my adult life is because I have an emotional investment, that spans almost all of my lives memories. I was fortunate that the bond was created in a time where my ability to attend games was easier & there was far less to draw me away from doing so. But what of the children of today? What measures are in place for clubs such as Rangers to foster relevancy amongst its next generation of followers? By relevancy I am alluding to the fact that all clubs have their place in the game, and are more than capable of co-existing, but when the issue of ticket prices blurs those lines, it's clearly a factor that has to be addressed. 15 euros to watch Bayern Munich, 30 pounds to watch Rangers.....hang on there's something not right here....What I feel clubs out with the "European Elite" need to establish, on a more consistent basis, is a structure that is representative of the body politic within their support. Let's take West Ham United as an example of an organization that has almost single handedly disenfranchised itself from its own following. Since the current owners acquisition of the club in 2010, the self professed "fans of the club" have embroiled themselves in a long running legal battle to relocate the clubs Stadium away from their spiritual home, the Boleyn Ground. Subsequently their ticket prices at the current stadium, which they have rendered surplus to requirements, is amongst the highest in the Premiership. Further to this they have yet to even remotely stabilize themselves anywhere near the top end of the table, despite their astronomical entry fee. Furthermore having had the benefit of a progressive & forward thinking Coach in Gianfranco Zola already in place, they saw fit to terminate his deal & employ a new manager who seems intent on rewriting the Hammers rich history of attractive football teams. As they approach the end of their inaugural "5 year plan" has their tenure done anything other than up-root all the values that were in place? West Ham United, like many clubs in the UK, was built upon core values that were a representation of a working class community, in this case within the east end of London. Football afforded them an outlet to enjoy time away from the stresses & strains of working class life, allowing them to cheer on players who embodied their character & often resided in their inhabitance. Now they find themselves appealing to a far wealthier demographic, purely predicated by the nonsensical increase in entry cost. In turn they are now paying a higher premium on what is a substandard quality of play. Clubs such as West Ham have become consumed by Premier League survival, which has inevitably brought about a level of mediocrity to the game. Where excitement once lay in goals scored & chances created, their stadium is now filled with nervous tension at the fear of failure. With a group of players whose first thought is to vacate the ball of their personal space & a coach that spends 90 minutes doing his best impression of someone who hates their job, the overall experience isn't exactly one that wets the appetite. While the fear of financial deficiencies is a very real implication attached to demotion out with the Premier League, surely the moral bankruptcy associated with a hollow 17th place survival does little to provide stimulus for your club?

In closing I'd like to advocate to all of my readers that we do more to challenge clubs in connecting with their supporters. Join  a fans forum, enter the social media debate, even start your own blog! Clubs have to do more to maximize their connection with the fans, but we have to communicate in order to be heard. Fan's shouldn't expect to get in for free, nor should they expect a coach to employ gung ho tactics in the search for fulfillment; but if clubs continue to patronize supporters by peddling average football at a non-equitable price, their viewing figures will continue to drop. Fans are not sponsors looking for financial return, neither are they paid employee's looking for personal gain, they are loyal constituents who want to see their club prosper. As someone who has lived both sides of the football divide, I form the opinion that I am employed in a professional capacity to represent my organization in a positive light. This lends itself to the teams I work hard to educate everyday and ensuring those who take the time to come & watch find the experience liberating. For any other coaches reading this blog, this translates to a club's professional 1st team right through to your U10 side; if we fail to value the importance of the experience we will continue to shed those who valiantly follow us week in week out. Being who you are is paramount to any endeavor we undertake, but understanding who you represent is a far larger honor & one that if cultivated properly will provide us results far bigger than any we accumulate during a league season.

“Juve play some good football, they are attacking and entertaining. Winning is not the only thing that counts, playing well does too."

Johan Cruyff speaking about Juventus in 2012.

Winning Formula

Since moving to the USA in 2007, a vast majority of my time has been spent working within youth development. It's transpired into somewhat of a labor of love, such is the connections you make with the players & families, but also that yearning to constantly enhance your program or find a new area to work on. Unlike many other countries the American youth system has imprinted a pay to play model, which has afforded me the opportunity to work for the football club in a full time capacity. I think debating the pros & cons of this model is one for another day, but regardless of your stance on the financial implications, the work between the white lines is something that we have to work on if there is to be a prosperous future for the US. In this piece I intend to challenge the impact of game coaching performance & how our valuation of winning may be contributing to prolonged mediocrity.

There have been times during tenure in the states that I've scratched my head & thought "Why does this coach bother to do this?" Don't get me wrong, I'd thought this in England & Scotland before arriving on these shores, but in a world where many coaches do this for a living, surely you'd at least try and enjoy what you're doing? The furrowed brow....the clenched fists....the overly aggressive wrenched tone in their voice...sure we all have bad days, but does the performance of a youth player cause that much anger? Perhaps if it does there are more issues with the coaches mental state than that of a 12 year olds lack of ball control. Put simply children get scared of angry adults, and when operating with any element of fear performance is flawed. Below I've painted a few chain reaction cycles, that playout on teams across the country on a weekly basis.

Scenario 1

- Coach works on playing out of the back in practice

- Player loses ball in the back, resulting in a goal

- Coach screams at the player for losing the ball

- In an attempt to please the coach the player reverts to kicking the ball away from danger when near pressure. The teams chances of building possession drops.

Scenario 2

- Coach works on creative moves on the ball in practice

- Player loses the ball in 1v1 situation.

- Coach tells player to keep it simple.

- In an attempt to please the coach the Player reverts to passing the ball whenever he is confronted with a defender.

- When said player is an attacking position with only 1 defender to beat, he is ill-prepared to confront his opponent and attempt to score.

It's obvious that as coaches we spend more contact time with our players during practices but often, & especially so with younger players, their recollection of a game day is far higher. Therefore what we say during games can have a massive impact on how players see the game & form self-images. Coaches are human beings, we have emotions, we get carried away....it's natural. However we are being tasked as educators in this endeavor, so we have to condense everything into a learning experience, and fuel the players willingness to improve not simply focus on error reduction. If our players resorted to screaming at their teammates whenever a mistake was made, it would probably lead to a pretty toxic situation....a lack of responsibility, no co-hesion & a lack of trust within each other. Think now how this translates into a players perception of being yelled at by the coach? What does that do to their confidence & willingness to be creative? If we are to herald a new dawn of technically gifted & tactically astute players we have to breathe life into every player we work with. From there we have to give them a platform upon which to choose their own path to excellence, a destination many of whom may never get close to. That said we must provide them an opportunity, and not complicate the journey with overly critical language that suppresses development.

Perhaps the largest grey area in youth football is when performance overtakes development. I'm not entirely sure there is an age group we can say that across the board "THIS" is when the focus should shift, but in my own opinion I believe its inextricably linked to what the coach values. It would be simple to equate winning as a by-product of positive development, but at what cost? It's unrealistic to think every win is a flawless display of fluent attacking football, so surely we can derive some factors within a loss as a degree of development? There are areas within the building phases of the game, such as playing out of the back, where the % of error is very high. Therefore players tread the fine line of being creative with the risk of losing a goal. If our players never dance that dance, how then will they solve a similar problem in other areas of the field? My concern with the value of winning is not in the outcome itself, but how coaches evaluate the process in which they have arrived at the result. A rigid, one dimensional & negative style of play can buy you victories in youth football, but what does this really do for your group of players? If youth players sole focus is to come away with a win, are we providing them with an opportunity to develop as a footballer? Some would argue the world of a professional footballer is to live & die by their results, so perhaps the mindset is one that needs to be introduced at a younger age to fully evolve. Even with this loose veil clouding our judgement, there's a part of this that just doesn't sit right with me. In our formal education we are taught to value the process, read up on subjects to become a more learned individual & enter a test environment fully immersed. It would seem that sometimes in youth football we value the process as optional, almost disregarding how we get there....just make sure you win.

I don't think I'm the 1st nor will I be the last to assume there is a correlation between this attitude & the lack of top level players who are being produced in America. That being said I personally believe it forms a small part of a larger culture that surrounds the game in this country, one that is looking beyond what is really important & being short sighted as to what vanity would value. Accolades tells us little about ability, after all we select our teams based on performance not on amount of games won in their career. Why then would we suddenly grade a teams success by a similar equation? Better yet, why would a youth coaches strength be based on the amount of titles he has accumulated? Many would proclaim it's what we perceive to be successful that needs to change, as the quality of football that is displayed on our fields continues to plod along without any real change. If we are to really drive standards we as coaches have to set the tone & set about shifting the "win at all costs" mentality & truly value high quality football as our goal.

A very important figure in my career once told me "You get the team you deserve in football" and it's something that's always stuck with me. If I work hard, value style over substance, be logical & imprint a vision, my players will react in accordance to this. We have to accept the fact this may not result in a winning season each year, but by reaching a higher level of development we have already achieved success. As coaches & educators our task is to make players better, not lift silverware. Take a moment this week to set your players some tangible goals....higher % of completed passes, higher shot completion, higher cross completion....achieving success in these areas should be the only medals we need worry about. 

Philosophical Football

It's taken me the best part of 15 years to truly gain clarity as to what my coaching philosophy is, and after much soul searching its only when you evaluate yourself are you able to take control of what it has become. Your philosophy manifests itself in many different areas of your work....how you evaluate players, how you make alterations during a game, what type of practices you run...all are tiny pieces of the puzzle that forms who you are as a trainer. So how then do we evaluate how effective our philosophy is? Game results? How much players enjoy playing for you? Are players performing better? We all set out to prepare well, but are we sometimes too married to the thought of "doing things the right way?" In this piece I intend to explore the notion of what constitutes a coaching Philosophy & how this may be implemented differently throughout the game.

As well as managing the youth program within my Football Club, I also coach our men's team & this past season we recorded our lowest ever finish in my tenure at the club. Entering the season I felt my staff & I had built the squad diligently, forming a mix of young & hungry players with that of those who had been part of a professional environment back in Europe. There is very little time to prepare the team in the USL PDL conference, but our practice schedule started well & I was confident in my ability to imprint my preferred system & style of play upon the team. We started the campaign by winning our 1st league game 3-1, so the garden was well and truly looking rosy. Subsequently we found ourselves embarking upon a 6 game losing streak, which saw us conceding 19 goals & only scoring 6. This was without a doubt the most challenging period of my career thus far. Coming into work every day I had to assume the role of motivator, leader, sounding board, councilor, and all the while staying focused enough to prepare for the next game. Looking back I know now that I was too staunchly devoted to a philosophy that simply didn't work with the group of people I was managing. That specific group of players required me to conform, adapt & almost re-invent what we did each day. As coaches we educate ourselves to expand our mind, take in new concepts & challenge pre-conceived ideas; yet when I was in the midst of a poor run I focused too heavily on where we had to improve, versus extenuating our strengths. Social sciences teach us that 20 people attempting to conform to a single vision is a far greater challenge than a collective group colluding in a shared vision. Therefore taking the time to collaborate with the players was something I should have implemented earlier, which may have lead to a quicker up-turn in form. While I felt that I had failed the players in the early portion of the season, it taught me a valuable lesson in Football: a successful philosophy has to be matched by effective preparation. Looking back on the session plans, video analysis & scouting reports, my work was all of a high standard....but ultimately it didn't conform to what was necessary for that group of players...that's the key here. What we do as coaches may be excellent, the best work we have ever put out there...but it has to remain relevant & form a united vision with your players. Game results may never achieve "invincibles" levels, however if game performances are strong then ultimately your being the best coach you can be, in line with what your team needs.

I'm not the 1st coach nor will I be the last to get consumed by his philosophy, Brendan Rodgers is experiencing a similar sticky patch right now. He is a magnificent coach working with high level players, surely that should marry itself into a winning team? Recent results would suggest otherwise. Having watched all of Liverpool's games this season what strikes me is the amount of structure that Rodgers has imprinted within the team when they have the ball. In virtually every area of the field all players are extremely well versed in how their movement impacts the attack, which lends itself to why Liverpool are so dominant in possession & chance creation. In stark contrast when they lose the ball their ability to re-form into a solid defensive unit is poor, and has served to undermine a lot of excellent play with 1 or 2 moments of frailty that have lead to goals. In the unforgiving world of the Premiership it's these small margins that are the difference between winning & losing. Rodgers remains very resilient that his team's style of play has to remain the same, even in the face of defensive vulnerabilities. In an interview toward the end of last season Rodgers proclaimed "It's easy to coach a team to simply defend" a comment that may come back to haunt him at the end of his career. It's the notion that setting up to "simply defend" is beneath a set of players that will be the downfall of many coaches & teams across the world. There are times where we have to adapt, and in situations where getting a victory is important, we owe it to the player to prepare them for that. I feel Rodgers has set the correct precedent about the type of player & indeed the style of football the club employs, however disregarding defensive responsibilities is something that will inevitably lose him his job.

Someone who has almost perfected the balance between divisive tactical displays & winning football matches is Jose Mourinho. First of all it should be established that Mourinho is a footballing mercenary. There are some core beliefs that he imprints upon his team, however the only true currency that the Portuguese gaffer deals in is winning. Far be it for me to suggest that this does not require hours of planning and meticulous preparation....as clearly his work has proven that it does...however in Jose's eyes an ugly 1-0 win is of far higher importance than drawing 2-2 after an amazing footballing display. Again, it's important to establish that Mourinho's side's are far from poor, as he has managed some of the best players to step foot on a pitch. That said each player he works with has their role within his philosophy & he works tirelessly to ensure they follow that task to a tee. Mourinho strikes me as someone who is on the border of being a sociopath, yet carries the artistic genius of Rembrandt. Winning goes far beyond team competition for him, this stretches into his public performances at press events or even how he conducts himself on the side line....gesticulating after goals are scored...leaving the bench before the whistle is blown...he uses psychology to get at his opponents, mostly in an attempt to gain an advantage or a mental edge. Is this an example of a good coach or someone skilled in manipulation? Whichever way we choose to evaluate Mourinho's qualities it's clear that he is able to establish effective relationships with his players, and in turn maximize the performance potential of his team.

In closing I'd like you to consider for a moment what are the core values of your philosophy. It's not something that we are often asked as coaches, yet we embody traits of it on a daily basis. Perhaps you may have not fully formed what it is yet; conversely you may be acutely aware & swear by its morals. It's a very individual component of a coach, but one that has the potential to hamper success or seriously enhance it. We've saw very successful managers of the 80's & 90's fall away from the game, simply because they couldn't adapt their management style to a new type of professional or adapt their thinking to a changing game. We also see other managers who have zero experience, but totally captivate a group of players & achieve unbelievable levels of success. If we are to be part of a shift in coaching best practices, we have to practice what we preach & seek enlightenment. Writing this blog has proven to be a very cathartic experience for me and in writing this particular piece it's truly challenged me to look at my performance & evaluate my methods. I would implore anyone who reads this piece to do the same, as you may find the results to be truly ground breaking. As we strive to improve our players, enhance our club programs & reach the next level of the game, we owe it to ourselves to evaluate from within & provide our players with the best coach we can be.