Leadership off the pitch: the role of the manager in semi-professional football

Abstract

Research question: The first-team manager's position in semi-professional or professional football clubs can be viewed as the de-facto leadership role. Although there has been considerable research conducted in relation to leadership on the pitch, in a coaching or ingame context, the football manager's leadership off the pitch remains an underexplored topic. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to explore the manager's off the pitch leadership role, utilising semi-professional football in Ireland as the research setting. Research methods: The participants in this study were four first-team managers, four players, and three board members from semi-professional football clubs in the League of Ireland. The qualitative method of semi-structured interviews was used in this study to gain a rich, in depth exploratory insight on the manager's role from a variety of perspectives. Results and findings: Six key leadership themes were identified relating to the manager's role with players off the pitch. These were: team vision, setting performance expectations, establishing behavioural expectations, effective communication, individual consideration, and use of archetypes. Leadership themes were also identified in relation to the manager's role with other key stakeholders, including: cooperation with the board, leadership through support staff, and influencing through the media. Implications: Practically, it is anticipated that the findings will encourage managers, football clubs, and national associations to place more emphasis on the leadership skills required by managers away from their on-pitch activities, and address these appropriately through professional development.

Communication quality between the medical team and the head coach/manager is associated with injury burden and player availability in elite football clubs

“…The incidence of severe injuries on a team was significantly lower with coaches that employed a transformational or democratic leadership style than with coaches that employed more aggressive styles 30. Effective coach leadership requires communicating frequently with individuals who perform different functions and roles on the team 31. Leadership styles that promote high-quality communication were suggested to enhance team cohesion.…”

The emergence of the sporting director role in football and the potential of social network theory in future research

“…This allows a head coach to primarily focus on managing the twenty-five plus players in a squad, taking training, picking the team and selecting the best tactics. Despite the first team manager being a traditional leadership role in football (Molan et al, 2016), the Sporting Director is primarily in place to support them.…”

Felicity conditions of a theory of expert leadership in professional football

“…Without revisiting and igniting further debate on management versus leadership (Drucker, 2012) the role of a football manager, in many ways, is a leadership position. Prevailing discourse suggests that football managers are regarded as the most important employee of a club but with that comes intense scrutiny of both the individual and the performance of their team (Molan et al, 2016). In this sense and for the purposes of this study, whether football managers are or are not the most important person in the organisation, the manager is also considered a leader.…”

“…With all that said, a small but growing body of literature on leadership in professional football, in general, mirrors the previously discussed landscape in terms of a focus on leader disposition and effectiveness. To date extant research focuses on the role and behaviours of football managers (Kelly, 2008); the impact managers have on organisational outcomes (Bridgewater et al, 2011); impact of managerial change (Audas, Dobson, & Goddard, 2002); and leadership influence on and off the field of play (Molan, Matthews, & Arnold, 2016). Professional football does, however, offer a unique environment to study the TEL as football managers are considered to hold expert status (Mills & Boardley, 2016).…”

“…Findings from a study by Morrow and Howieson (2014) suggest aspiring football managers do recognise, as part of their career progression, that they must learn to trust others within a club structure and acknowledge that they do not have full autonomy and control over all aspects of the business. In saying that the far reaching nature of the role, together with complex relationships both inside and outside of an organisation and perception that good football managers make a significant difference, fuel the view that the manager is the most important person in a football organisation (Kelly, 2008;Molan et al, 2016). Yet there is no getting away from the fact that players are the ones who ultimately decide results with their performances on the pitch and at this point a manager's impact is limited to standing on the touchline watching the result unfold.…”