Quote: WormInHand "If the reason the players turned against Gentle is because he - rightly - dropped Yeaman then the cancer at our club still festers and the removal of Gentle will solve nothing. Kear - wrongly - dropped Brough in the 2005 play offs and the team never played the same for him again, despite what he says about his relationship with Hetherington being paramount in his exit. Professional players cannot react on the pitch negatively to what they deem to be an unjust decision by the coach, regardless of whether that decision is right or wrong. Otherwise these coups will recur indefinitely. A strong captain and senior player group loyal to the coach is imperative, regardless of the concerns they may express to the coach in private, this cannot be allowed to erupt onto the field.
Radford will struggle with this. He's too close to the players, all of whom will think their individual relationship with him gives them a say. It's the same in any organisation. Managers promoted from within the workforce to govern the same set of people struggle to create the detachment needed to make decisions that affect their former colleagues both in the workplace and often in their home lives, too. In my company - and I'm sure most others - new managers are placed in a different department, at least for the first couple of years, so if they do return it is as proven and established in the role - the necessary distance to make unpleasant decisions is then in place.
If, and it is an if, Gentle lost the team because of selection issues and other decisions that were necessary but unpopular, then Radford will find it so much harder as many of them are mates and will, as is human nature, take it personally.'"
Excellent post.
