Keith_Whitfield":1qtfnuba said:
I am sorry, justanotherfan, that you take exception to the language I used to make my point. Perhaps you should have focused on what I was trying to convey rather than the way I expressed it.
Having studied, researched, taught and practiced management for many a long year, I felt that I had something to contribute to the debate on here. My main point was that, in most situations, an emotional immediate response by senior managers to a disappointing outcome is counter-productive. A better response is to calmly analyse what went wrong (including and especially their own actions in the scenario) and to try in put in place practices that reduce the likelihood of the said event happening again.
I'm not saying that I've always practiced what I've preached, but I can possibly pick up when someone has pressed the wrong buttons better than most. This seems to be one of those situations.
The saving grace is that our chairman has read much of the good management literature and his business track-record indicates that he is good at putting this into practice. I am sure that he will counsel our management team to deploy the more effective techniques to respond to this single defeat that came after two wins and a draw. Luckily we are in good hands and Ryan Lowe should bless his lucky stars that he has such a shrewd mentor.
I agree broadly with your sentiments but I have a few observations.
How do we know that RL lambasted them in the way that he said he did? My view is that most of what he said on camera was for the fans, media etc. In the changing room he may well have been more rational and, even, self critical. Football managers, politicians, business leaders etc. play to the camera and they are more often than not more considered in real life than they appear.
Secondly, I have worked for several multi national organisation in a variety of senior roles. I have been on the receiving end of a number of managment styles. By far the most effective, by a country mile, were the managers who knew when to give you a roasting (and I've had some mega ones) but also knew when to put an arm around your shoulder and take you down the pub or to big you up. RL strikes me as this sort of bloke.
I supect RL was more empathetic to Grant (who just made a mistake) than he was to, say, Hardie who gave very little effort and, in my opinon, deserved a rocket up his jacksie. I would be very surprised if Hardie puts in such a lacklustre performance again.