English football mentality

A clearly defined and well-communicated philosophy can inspire, motivate and guide an organisation in the right direction. Take Swansea City, where the strategy permeates every level of the club. It has resulted in two consecutive seasons in the Barclays Premier League and seen them win this season’s Capital One League Cup - securing their first major cup trophy and a place in Europe.

It’s no coincidence that the club has recruited a succession of gifted young managers who all share the club’s beliefs. The latest, Michael Laudrup, shares his experience of football ethos in Europe and the invigorating challenges of the very British way.

You had a distinguished playing career with some of the world’s top clubs. When did your decide to use that experience in management?

I never thought I would do. I was still playing until the age of 34 and when I retired I was tired, mentally and physically. When you play for big clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus there’s pressure to be tactically and mentally sharp in every match you play. For 10 months after I retired I spent time watching football and doing TV work.

Then, in 2000, my former team-mate and Ajax manager Morten Olsen was appointed as head coach of the Danish national team and asked me to become his assistant manager. I decided to see if I liked the role. I did and two years later I was appointed manager of Brondby, which was the biggest club in Denmark at the time. It was a good place for me to start, because I’d played for the club in the past and understood its ethos and the expectations on me. I was there for four years before moving on to manage at Spanish sides Getafe and Real Mallorca.

How does the role of head coach in Europe differ from that of a manager in the Barclays Premier League?

There are head coaches in Spain who are heavily involved in decision-making and have a lot of influence, such as Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid and former Barcelona head coach Pep Guardiola. In general, however, head coaches in Europe are more like trainers. You might be asked what type of player you need, but it tends to be the club’s sporting director or owner who has most influence. One of my former coaching colleagues in Spain summed up the situation when he said, “He buys the players, I train them,” it’s as simple as that. Managers in the Barclays Premier League have a much greater say about whether a player is signed.

There is also a different mentality in British football and the manager has not only more influence but also a wider range of responsibilities. This is how it should be, because if things aren’t going well it’s the manager who gets sacked.

Who have been your mentors as a manager? Who has inspired you?

Because I’ve played for such big teams, I’ve experienced some great coaches. However, Johan Cruyff, Giovanni Trapattoni and Sepp Piontek stand out. For very different reasons they had a major impact on me during crucial points in my career - as a player with Barcelona, Juventus and the Danish national side and then once I became a manager. All three had quite different qualities that I admired and that I wanted to acquire as well as those that I knew wouldn’t work for me. When I find myself in a new situation as a manager, I’ll often recall how those managers dealt with it.

How would you describe yourself as a leader? What type of relationship do you foster with your players?

I think how you are perceived by the people that you work with is very important. I say to my players that I am their manager – not a policeman or their father – and try to give them a certain amount of freedom. If they make mistakes, I deal with it accordingly, but I treat them as adults not children.

Having said that, it’s important to remember that, however much he might be getting paid, an 18-year-old player is still young and may be less mature than another who is 32 and married with children. While there are some rules that apply to everybody, you have to observe and handle each person as an individual.

Has your philosophy as a manager been influenced by your time playing for the European clubs?

Football is interesting because there are many ways to do things and many ways to succeed. If there was a single winning formula then everyone would take it. Managers are all different and we each believe in our own way of doing things.
Countries also tend to have their own distinct football philosophies, which I saw as a player in Italy and Spain. In the Barclays Premier League, meanwhile, there is a wide variation of styles and philosophies on show; some teams are very physical and direct while others are more offensive. It makes it more of a challenge for a manager, because you can encounter a different style of play at each game.

Swansea has a well-defined philosophy of attractive, passing football. How fundamental has that been to its success?

Swansea has made its philosophy very clear. It has decided to do things a certain way, to be consistent in that, and to take it into account when appointing managers. It purposefully seeks out managers and players who share its philosophy.

Some observers may play that down, saying it’s just common sense, but I’ve seen many clubs, including some big sides, who haven’t maintained that consistency of approach. It is expensive to keep changing in that way and not helpful for the fans. 

I don’t, however, believe it is the manager or the players that determine an organisation’s philosophy; it has to come from the top.

Did Swansea make their ethos and vision clear to you right from the start?

Yes, and I had about a week after speaking with them to make my decision. I used that week to learn as much as possible about the club to make an informed judgement. Often as a player or a manager you have only a day or so and I’ve had a bad experience in the past because of that. Perhaps if I’d had a few more days to do some research I’d have made a different choice.

How important is it for a club’s philosophy to permeate right down to the youth side?

Very important. At Barcelona, the philosophy is all about the touch and what they do with the ball rather than a particular system of play. Nobody, including me, can see what system they play because the players are so good and can all interchange positions. But everyone at Barcelona knows how they have to touch the ball and the runs they need to make. I imagine that if you watch the club’s 12 to 14-year-old players they train in a very similar way to the first team.

At Ajax, they have been playing the same 4-3-3 system since the 1970s, in the days of Johan Cruyff. Every team in the club has to play this way. I recall my last season as a player there in 1997-98, when Morten Olsen was head coach. We were doing fantastically well; top of the league and 10 or 11 points clear of PSV in second. But for one fixture all three of our wingers were injured, so Morten decided that we would need to play 4-4-2. We won the game, but the next day there were reports in the press saying “Disaster...how can Ajax play 4-4-2?” It was as though we’d committed a major offence.
I don’t believe you should be quite so rigid in your philosophy, but it does need to permeate the whole club, through the system of player progression. If there is a clear club philosophy, the young players coming through know the basics they need to progress.