Quote: Bulls Boy 2011 "Interesting that people these days like to play the victim without recognizing their actions and how that might have contributed to the situation.
And so he shouldn't. These players are getting paid a lot to play. They shouldn't need a arm around them, okay if they have played really well and been beaten then fair enough an arm around them, but at times we played poor. Lowes approach to not putting his arm around them is right, if players need that then maybe they are in the wrong profession. I know a lot of our bosses wouldn't be like this if we did our jobs poorly. Lowes main problem was that he acted more like a friend to the players, rather than a boss.'"
That's fair enough, in some ways BB, and I know RL isn't a game for 'shrinking violets', but that is really just the physical side of it, and, to be right, let's be honest, over the years there have been any number of really skillful players who never really 'fancied' getting too 'involved'.
Being a coach or manager [in any job] is as much about man management as it is about imparting knowledge. Man management, means getting the best out of your charges and treating them individually, in such a manner as to get them to give their best. You can't treat everyone alike, except in the sense that you treat all of them in the best way to get the best from them. Some people need a rocket up their backsides to get the best out of them, some need gentle encouragement, some may respond better to simply being told they've let you down, and, yes...some may well need an arm around their shoulder from time to time. It goes without saying that you also need a coach who knows the difference.
