Page 22 - 358264 LP231909 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 (Issue 257)

NICE GUYS DON’T WIN
Have you ever noticed that most winners in team sport aren’t nice? I don’t mean they’re horrible people or bad human beings, they’ve just got an edge to them. Their need to win, driving them on.
The recent Formula One season is a good example. Some people really don’t like Verstappen and Horner because they’ll do anything to win. Others can’t abide Hamilton and Wolff because
of their narrow focus on victory. There are some nice people in F1, funny, relaxed, chilled people who seem to get on with everyone. You’ll find them near the back of the races.
I watched an interesting documentary about Shane Warne recently where a phrase you often hear about elite sports stars cropped up again. His parents said that he had to win – monopoly, playground games, anything. He had to win.
In football we see it frequently. Away from football Ferguson, Guardiola, Conte, Klopp seem to be lovely blokes. But ask the wrong question in a press conference or post-match and you see their eyes change. They’re going to take no prisoners.
Think about captains who experienced multiple successes – Keane, Viera, Terry, Adams. Do you think you’d cross them twice?
It’s always been the case that the captain and the manager would have an edge with Bremner
playing for Revie or McGovern playing for Clough. The change in football is off the pitch.
Many years ago football clubs were 90%
about what happened on the pitch and 10% about what happened off it. It was unusual to hear of clubs in financial difficulty because,
the finances were minor enough to look after themselves. The pitch quality didn’t really matter because every team was as bad as
the next. Until Jimmy Hill came along, players wages were restricted, making agents an unnecessary expense. You didn’t need to wonder which club the local kids would play for because there weren’t scouts from the other side of the world watching local youth football.
But the world has changed. And the pattern hasn’t. Club owners and directors who have a nasty edge, a will to win at all costs, seem to be leading the way. Not at the expense of the on-field attitude but as well as it. The off-field parts of football are now fundamental to on- field success. Setting up the best academy and ruthlessly getting the best players for the club’s future. Getting the best from financial markets, chasing sponsorship and managing
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