Jim White

It's not about the dossier

Thu Feb 19 12:38PM

There is a scene in the wonderful new film The Damned United that will not fail to raise a smile amongst cinema-goers of a certain age.

The movie concerns Brian Clough's time at Leeds United in 1974, 44 days of strife, turmoil and loathing. Clough had inherited a champion team from his predecessor Don Revie which he proceeded to alienate by disparaging their every achievement. You might as well chuck your medals in the bin, he tells his charges the first day he meets them, you won them all by cheating, so they count as nothing.

Everything Revie did jarred with Clough's instincts as to how the game should be played, so he refused to countenance doing anything the Revie way. About halfway through his ill-starred tenure, we see Clough approached by Billy Bremner the club captain. Used to receiving from their old boss dossiers on their rivals ahead of matches, detailing their every strength and weakness, the Leeds players find Clough's approach alarmingly cavalier. So far, he has said absolutely nothing about their opponents that week.

"What about QPR on Saturday?" asks the Bremner character. "Mr Revie used to give us dossiers. You haven't said anything about them or how they play."

"You're professional footballers," replies Clough. "Everyone knows that if you stop Stan Bowles you stop QPR. You should know that."

It is a scene that came to mind when hearing the complaints of Claudio Ranieri, the former Chelsea manager, this week. Now in charge of Juventus, the erstwhile Tinker Man voiced his frustration at the recent sacking of Luiz Felipe Scolari by his old club. This was not out of fellow feeling for a colleague who had suffered similarly at the feet of Roman Abramovich's impatience. No, he was cheesed off because he had scouted Chelsea five times ahead of the two clubs meeting in the Champions League next week and now that a new manager was coming in, he was complaining that all that work would be wasted. Under Guus Hiddink they wouldn't be playing like that anymore. It will all be so different, he moaned, he has got to start his scouting work all over again.

Which made me think: that's a new one. Managers and players increasingly seek out excuses to cling to - it was the ref, it was the crowd, it was the injuries - but complaining that the opposition had thoughtlessly changed their manager without taking into consideration all that work you have undertaken over the last few weeks building up a dossier, no I don't think that had been used before. And there's probably a reason for that: as excuses run it is pretty thin. They're professional footballers, Claudio, surely they might be able to adapt to any subtle tactical change Guus Hiddink might employ. Besides, to paraphrase Cloughie, everyone knows that if you stop Frank Lampard you stop Chelsea. Well, almost.

Still, Ranieri's comments illuminate a trait common to all football managers: a belief that somehow they can control events on the field, that by planning and preparation they can eradicate uncertainty. Sure, a manager can have a huge effect over a side, that's what he is there for. He can set the mood inside the dressing room, he can buy in players to improve the team, he can select the right bunch to play in a specific game, he can alter things midway through a match by making the right substitution. But what he can never do is know precisely what is going to happen. That is why managers - control freaks to a man - always look so crestfallen on the touchline when the opposition score.

There, for instance, was Fabio Capello the other night watching his England side, his face a picture of frustration. He had done his homework, he had prepared his players, he was familiar with every nuance and subtlety of his Spanish opponents. He knew, in short, precisely how they could be beaten (something about by stopping Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Torres and the rest you stop Spain). And then Phil Jagielka went and gave the ball straight to an opponent in a dangerous position, and bang, all the work, all the scouting, everything was undone, turned with one moment of carelessness into dust. Capello knew at that moment the truth of being a football manager: ultimately you are powerless.

As Brian Clough might have told him and Claudio Ranieri, in the end it is all about the players.

• Email
• Share:
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Stumbleupon
  • Reddit
  • Newsvine