Johnny Phillips: Pressure’s on and it’s the manager who feels it most
“I thought about it last year and I’ve thought about it already this year: that is to pack up.”
Barely a fortnight into the season and already the pressure on managers is beginning to show. After Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel traded handshakes last Sunday at Stamford Bridge and were shown red cards for their petulance, there was a different side to the strains of management on display at Ashton Gate on Tuesday evening.
After overseeing a first league win of the season, Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson unleashed a brooding fury about the standard of refereeing, in his post-match television interview.
The 2-0 victory over Luton Town was threatened by the dismissal of one of his players during an incident which probably should have seen a visiting player sent off too.
Explaining the reasons for his threat to walk away the game, Pearson continued: “The standard of officiating is at an all-time low. The integrity of the sport is being compromised. They are consistently poor. Our jobs are in jeopardy.”
The context to this involved a couple of decisions in previous games this season which may have gone against Pearson’s side.
In talking about his employment, he highlighted the fine margins that can affect not only the futures of managers but their staff as well.
It is easy to be flippant and maybe even chuckle at Pearson’s comments. And there are many other examples where managers have been at their wits end with match officials.
His counterpart across the city at Bristol Rovers, Joey Barton, went down a similar route only a few months ago.
“They’re making poor decisions,” he said after a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland, in March.
“Nothing will be done, though, they’ll go back to their jobs on Monday. It’s soul-destroying, you work hard all week for your team to have the best chance of performing and then officials aren’t able to officiate correctly.”
And who could forget John Coleman’s woes after his 10-man Accrington Stanley side lost a fourth round FA Cup tie against Derby Country in 2019?
“I’m physically sick to be honest, I’m rapidly falling out of love with football,” he said. “I just wonder, what’s the point any more? Every week you get stiffed by an horrendous decision.”
Without wanting to condone piling onto referees – after all, they are under immense pressure themselves – all three of these quotes serve to illustrate the fragility of the job.
While the rewards can be great, managers have to operate in an increasingly unrealistic landscape where results are often dissected for days on end by a blood-hungry fanbase. Refereeing decisions, however honestly they are made, do not always go their way.
And then what happens?
In what other line of employment would anyone have to face a television camera and explain their decision-making and performance to the general public in the way managers do during the pressure-cooker environment which is the post-match tunnel interview?
There is nothing else that a manager is contractually obliged to undertake which stirs the emotions quite like standing in front of a sponsors’ board while a microphone is thrust under their nose in the immediate aftermath of a match.
Writing this as someone regularly tasked with holding that microphone, the reactions can be quite unnerving. In 2015, after his Chelsea side drew at home to Burnley, Jose Mourinho initially refused to make a single comment other than to list the four separate minutes of the game he believed decisions went against his team.
“Minute 30, 33, 43 and 69. The game had four moments and don’t ask me any more questions as I don’t answer,” Mourinho said, while attempting to leave the scene before being shepherded back against the billboard for further comment.
No matter how terse managers sometimes appear to be, it is always easier to ask the questions than give the answers.
Sympathy is often in short supply following an adverse result but Pearson and co deserve respect for having to cope with media demands which, with every passing season, infringe a little bit more into daily life.
Speaking with Bournemouth head coach Scott Parker this week, for an interview on today’s Soccer Saturday, it was revealing to hear the factors that spur him on each week.
“It’s the fear of not doing well and not being successful which is definitely the main driver, the thing that gets me up in the morning,” he revealed.
“There is a balance and a large part of me doesn’t have that balance. This is the way I have been bred, what I’ve been trained to believe.
“I said when we got promoted there were elements when I didn’t enjoy the moment enough. I probably need to take a bit of air and enjoy certain moments, as you work tirelessly for that and if you can’t enjoy them, it all becomes very demanding.”
Parker is on an upward trajectory with his team and enjoyed a long and successful career in the Premier League as a player, but the prospect of failure is always present. No other role in football lends itself to so much self-analysis.
Parker spoke of the support networks he has around him to help share the workload, deal with players’ issues and offer a calm outlook in an environment that can quickly become overwhelming when results are seemingly all that matters.
Yesterday brought the first casualty of the season. Robbie Stockdale was dismissed by Rochdale. It will not be long before more follow.
Today the pressure will manifest itself in the usual forms across all four divisions: the touchline spats, the confrontational gestures, the post-match reaction.
Us mere mortals watching on can only imagine what managers are going through. It is a pressure like no other.
