The Manager/ The BOSS.
Purpose: A Happy & Healthy Life!
Premiership Health is about how you manage all the teams and players at your Club.
Every manager will have their strengths and weaknesses and preferred tactics in life and should aim to get the club challenging for promotion, rather than battling relegation.
Inevitably there will be setbacks and injuries to players during the season, the mark of a good manager is how they respond to these challenges and take responsibility for performances on and off the pitch.
They should seek to establish a healthy environment at the club, one which allows for continual growth and development and has a clear vision for the future.
And finally, focus should be directed towards only those elements of the game within their control.
Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, arguably the two most successful and enduring managers in Premier League history, both realised being in control of the team was of paramount importance.
Sir Alex, believed the manager was the most important person at Manchester United, and everything at the club should be guided by his thoughts.
“If the coach has no control, he will not last,” Ferguson said. “You have to achieve a position of comprehensive control.”
Arsene Wenger, went one step further in his acknowledgement of control:
“I don’t think it can be the future of the manager to have no control, because the quality of the manager is basically determined by the quality of his control.”
I believe for Premiership Health, we all need to feel as though we are in control.
At Albion, the longest serving full-time manager was Vic Buckingham (1953-59), just six years, a surprisingly short period given the club’s illustrious history.
Nevertheless, it was a great time for the club, including a 1954 FA cup final victory against Preston, a runners-up spot to Wolves in the league and the prestigious title of “Team of the Century.”
With a football philosophy based on the pass and move style of play, many dubbed him the “Godfather of Total Football.”
He was indeed a manager ahead of his time, adopting new training tactics based on the latest research, there is even footage of West Brom players inhaling pure oxygen at halftime in the 1954 cup final.
He encouraged players to use their brains and exploit their opponents’ weaknesses, long before video analysis was even dreamt possible.
“The basis of Albion’s style – is simply the business of keeping possession – every man, from the goalkeeper to forward, is expected to find a team-mate when he makes a pass. Seldom does the man in possession hold the ball for long … His team-mates are always moving into position for a pass.” The Observer.
This flowing, attacking style of play was to be the hallmark of Albion teams for many years and the excitement it generated helped to sustain the fans.
Indeed, I would go as far to suggest, it provides an excellent basis for a happy life and Premiership Health.
Goal Scored: An understanding that we are in conscious control of our own teams in life.⚽⚽⚽