"I love the sense of satisfaction that I get when I’ve done a swimming workout or race, and know that I gave my whole being and heart to God in every moment of the swim. It’s the best worship I can offer him."
Living on the Volcano
Return to the book list for this category.
Michael Calvin, London, Century, 2015. ISBN 9781780893273
The book consists of interviews with over 20 current football club managers. Much of the content of the book is direct quotations from the interviews. The title of the book comes from a quotation from Arsène Wenger who likens the job to ‘living on a volcano; any day may be your last”.
The book includes some shocking statistics and facts which set the context of the story:
• There were 63 managerial changes in the four divisions of English football in 2014;
• One of the affected clubs, Notts County was looking for their fifteenth manager in eleven years;
• Ian Holloway moved house for the 32nd time to take up a new job;
• Shaun Derry’s 7 year old daughter had already lived in14 homes;
• It takes a sacked manager 18 months, on average, to find another job. Fifty-eight per cent of first-time managers never get another manger’s job.
• When Dean Smith left Walsall in 2015 after 4 years in the job, he was at the time the fourth-longest serving league manager behind Arsène Wenger (19 years), Paul Tisdale ( Exeter City 9 years) and Karl Robinson (Milton Keynes Dons 5 years).
One interesting theme in the book is how managers perceive the role. The author suggests that a manager is expected to be “a cross between a sage and a stand-up comedian, a patriarch and pithead rabble-rouser”. This is how some managers described their role:
• I am the most important person in my players’ lives…I can shape careers…a counsellor and a social worker as well as being a football manager; Gareth Ainsworth
• I see myself as a welfare officer. I look after the needs of the player, and the group; Brendan Rogers
• I don’t see this as a job. It’s just a way of living. I help to create a person. You share aspirations and emotions, adversity and problems; Roberto Martinez
• One manager described the pressure of not picking players and knowing he was: “spoiling their lives”.
• You do it “because it’s the next best thing to playing. It will never replace it, because once you finish [playing] it has gone for ever”. Mark Hughes
The lack of job security came up time and again. The statistics above show the turnover and effects on domestic life. One manager said: “You are never safe in this job. The fear of being sacked drives me on. There’s not a day goes by when I don’t get into my car and think this could be my last.” Another: “You accept your life expectancy as a manager is two years, if you’re lucky”. Comparisons with the four major North American sports show a similar pattern: NBA and NHL just over 3 years. NFL four years and four months. Major League Baseball four years and eight months. Adi Boothroyd’s son had enjoyed being the son of a Premier League manager but also saw his dad sacked by a League 2 club.
In the foreword Arsène Wenger comments on this: “There is a growing trend within the game for clubs to change managers more frequently, as there is so much pressure for short-term results. I am always sad when a manager loses their job. Clubs need stability, and having been at Arsenal for almost 19 years now, I have been given the time to create a culture at the club, which is so important”. Wenger is very much the exception.
An out of work manager said that if he knew he would get another job in six months he would enjoy the break and then start preparing for the new job. The reality is that the gap between jobs: “could last a day, or last for ever. You just don’t know”.
The most poignant chapter describes how the pressure caused Martin Ling to have a breakdown. Alan Pardew’s account of his out of character touchline incidents also make good reading, giving insight into how the pressure got to him.
The descriptions of the relationships between the managers are fascinating. It is not uncommon for A to be manager and B his assistant. When they are sacked and find a new job B may be the manager and A the assistant, a situation which in other professions “might have triggered tension and invited discord…However, football management is a network of enduring allegiances and frigid marriages of mutual convenience”. As the book eloquently puts it: “the toes you step on today could be connected to the legs that support the arse you need to kiss tomorrow”. For all that there’s empathy between football managers that you are not going to get in most other jobs, an empathy based on knowing what the other manager is going through.
At the same time there is a loneliness. Eddie Howe admits that at times he would love some evaluation and feed-back on how he is doing but the only people qualified to give the feedback are your rivals and you would not want them to learn your secrets.
An excellent book gives real insights into the world of professional football.