It has always been one of the most popular criticisms of Dario that he refuses to pick players who argue with him. One assumes that these arguments are over what position he wants the argumentative player to play in and other similar tactical decisions and not about the colour of the kit or having to play on a cold December evening with the rain lashing down.
The player who been out in the cold for some months allegedly for just such an argument, is Justin Cochrane. Just for the record, Dario justified this, justifiably or not, at a relatively recent fans’ forum on the grounds that Sorvel was a better player. He actually went into some detail on why Sorvel was better than Cochrane and in what areas Cochrane needed to improve.
The latest addition to the list of lusores non grati (the same as personae non gratae but for players) us, I’m told, is our Hispanic brother, Juan Ugarte. Alex fans, unsure why a player who scored 2,000 goals in 3 games for Wrexham last season is not even on the bench, rummage around for reasons and this one always seems to be first choice – Dario’s refusing to pick him because he argued over this, that or the other tactical decision.
I have to say that my first reaction was that, if that were true, it would not be something that could be said to be in the best interests of the club. Surely a good manager picks his best players whether he loves the bones of them or begrudges the fact that they breathe the same air as him … doesn’t he?
The more I thought about it though, the more it made sense. It is reasonable to presume that a relatively competent coach has an idea about how he wants his team to play and what he wants each individual within that team to contribute towards the teams performance. In an ideal world, a manager would have the resources to buy precisely the player he wants for each position and an almost identical player to cover for him but in the real world, the manager will buy the player whose style of play is closest to what he wants doing in a given position and will then try to mould the player to make him fit the plan. Cloughie didn’t achieve what he did because he had a squad of stars. He succeeded because he created a team and because the squad was a team, more often than not they did precisely what Cloughie asked of them. Because they did as they were told the plan worked and they won.
If that’s right, if a manager is going to be successful he must be able to demand absolute obedience from the members of his squad. He must be entitled to absolute obedience. The plan can only work, if indeed it does work, if every man does exactly what is asked of him. If just one person does his own thing, the plan will fail and presumably the team will lose. If the player doing his own thing continues to do so notwithstanding all efforts to the contrary, no matter how brilliant he is at doing his own thing, the manager must be entitled to drop him and replace him with someone who is prepared to obey.
Surely it’s not too much to ask someone to do as they’re told for 15 years for upwards of £50,000 a year – I did so for six years for £8,000 a year.
I assume that most of us would agree that most players are not the best judges of their own ability. They become professional footballers because they are ‘driven’ and they are driven because they think that they’re brilliant … the best. I don’t think it’s controversial to suggest that most managers are probably better judges of players’ ability than the players themselves are of their own.
Dario’s performance at the Alex suggests that he isn’t a bad manager and, indeed, some have suggested that he’s a football genius. He is a sufficiently good manager to have devised a plan to take us to promotion four times, to the play-off finals twice (winning once in stunning style) and the to the play-offs five times. He’s taken us to the 5th round of the FA Cup twice and to the 4th round three times (twice from outside the 1st Division or Championship).
It is not unreasonable to conclude that on those occasions, or in those seasons, he has managed to get the players to do what he wants them to do and the fact that the team has performed well suggests, in turn, that his plan works.
His ability was recognised in 1998 when he was awarded the MBE, in 2003 when he was awarded a Doctorate of Technology honoris causa and in 2004 when he was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the Professional Footballers’ Association and was inducted into the hall of fame of the National Football Museum at Deepdale. He has also got the highest UEFA coaching qualification there is – the Pro Coaching License – and acts as a instructor and examiner for coaches taking the UEFA coaching qualifications.
All of this suggest not only that he thinks his plan works but also that others, who one assumes know what they’re talking about, agree with him.
If his plan works and has been shown in the past to work, he must be entitled to demand absolute obedience from his players. Pink and fluffy management, where every employee is free to criticise his manager as and when it suits him, is for the Civil Service not for the football training ground.
If a player wants to play badly enough, he’ll do as he’s told … won’t he?