We Run This Club: The Power Struggle
Posted on 17. Mar, 2010 by Broadband in Football, Sports
Three quarters into the season and the Barclays Premier League have registered four sackings by “mutual consent” in a vicious cycle where managers play the lead role in this pantomime they call a business.
Phil Brown’s departure from Hull City on Monday Morning was almost justified considering a 55-game stint where only 7 games were won; this was until a retrospective look was taken at what he achieved at the club. Surely the man who took them from almost certain League 1 oblivion to the heights of the premiership deserves 2 more months to turn things around…..gardening leave? Oh Please!
The unconscious decision to let certain managers go has always been a slack plan of action by clubs; Gary Megson and Mark Hughes “respective” sackings in particular come to mind. Both managers can take heed in suggesting the clichéd reasons for their sackings was being “football is a results business and unfortunately we wasn’t getting the results”…Uh huh sure. Yet a deeper reason lies in the fate of the two gentlemen, hierarchy of control.
In recent seasons there has been a sudden power struggle over who runs the clubs and their position of power in influencing decisions. The struggle takes place between the Fans, Chairman/Owner, Players & Managers. Although this isn’t anything new to the game it is only now that the struggle is taking centre stage. Who runs their club and how does that affect their success?
Lower Table Clubs
Hierarchy of control: Fans – Chairman/owner – Manager – Players
Fans represent the voice and passion of the club, with lower positioned teams (especially those who are struggling financially) the fans have a stronger influence on a club as it is them who finance the club through gate receipts and merchandise purchasing…they almost take the role of investors.
Their voice is heard on and off the pitch and new owners will find it difficult to take a club into their own direction as the passion of these fans are overwhelming; in turn sometimes backing of a new manager to dictate the proceedings of the club is not the chosen option (as in Gary Megson’s case).
If the fans don’t like you, then morale for the club goes downhill which in turn affects the morale of players, owner and resultantly manager. Gary Megson wasn’t liked from the get-go and so his influence was mediocre, success couldn’t take place with no backing.
The Transition Clubs
Hierachy of control: Owner – Players – Managers – Fans
With big money investments from businessman as supposed to football fans, clubs are almost given ultimatums. Owners run the club and so therefore want a certain level of success…the problem is that it is usually instant success.
Roman Abramovich could class himself as lucky as Chelsea were fortunate to reap rewards early but could be made to pay for it (no pun intended) in the not so distant future. He along with the Abu Dhabi group at Manchester City have a habit of buying players that they want instead of what the club needs, thinking of a franchise of globetrotters as supposed to highly paid cohesive team players.
This in turn creates egos (cough Robinho cough) who create conflict at the club; players have to start because of their high prices and detailed contracts and it almost becomes their words against the manager’s. Fans don’t have a say, they sit and wait for what happens, while their mind is often fed with high expectations. Success is sustainable but not necessarily continuous.
The Old Guard
Hierachy of Control: Manager – Owner – Fans – Players
At Manchester United and Arsenal, managers live up to their title as they are given freedom to manage the club and dictate certain club aspects as they see fit. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger are able to make signings they want whilst liaising on a level playing field with the owners. The most important aspect of this hierarchy of control is time. If given time and backing, success at a club is not too far ahead.
Randy Lerner is a prime example; one who sits back, away from the limelight and supplies as much funds as he can for Martin O’Neill. Consequently Aston Villa have become a threat to the rest of the premiership, producing a hungry group of young players willing to put 100% in their game.
Smaller clubs with less money such as Everton and Stoke are also giving backing and control to David Moyes and Tony Pulis respectively whilst the owner concentrates on financial input and profit. Fans views are taken into consideration and they bounce off the positivity of the relationship between the owners and managers. The players are assets, and although they have a say their jobs are to play football; everybody adheres to their role. In these clubs is where success shines through
Success in the premiership is varied, from winning championships to securing a European place to getting into the top half of the table to staying afloat of the relegation zone. One thing that remains constant is that in order for success to take place, every contributor to a club must know their roles.
Managers RUN the club
Chairmans OWN the club
Fans SUPPORT the club
Players PLAY for the club
That level of hierarchy is where the power should lie and where struggle becomes success
