Sothall_Blade
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http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk...-owls-skipper-is-the-true-visionary-1-6326183
<< Say you had to monitor traffic flows on the M1. Where would you stand? On a bridge across the motorway with the height to view from both directions? Or from the hard shoulder as traffic whizzed past?
The question answers itself. So why do football managers prefer to peer through a blur of hurtling bodies, some of which are obscured because others are in the way?
This is a question for which there seems no logical answer. But maybe former Sheffield Wednesday captain Nigel Pearson, now in charge of promotion-chasing Leicester, has a clearer view on it than most. For most of this season Pearson has been doing it the old-fashioned way, watching from the stand. And it appears to be working.
Trends can start almost by accident. In the late 1980s it was then Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish’s preference for standing on the touchline, later adopted by Ron Atkinson in his first spell with the Owls, that started a new fashion.
Maybe the same can apply in reverse. It was only Pearson’s one-match touchline ban in September that fully opened his eyes. He’s stayed in the stand for most of the time since and, while he doesn’t rule out a regular return to pitch side, he admits the elevation gives him “a better overall perspective, especially on team shapes and tactical awareness.”
Which should surprise none of us who’ve looked down on the action all our lives! It’s amazing that more managers don’t do it – but there’s time. Personally, I think the era of the standing boss became a macho thing. Standing up to take the flak and appearing to be driving your team on by your presence.
Gradually it also became accepted that this was part of the spectacle of football as entertainment. But it has counted unfairly against those managers who display a cerebral approach rather than behaving like circus chimpanzees. Let’s all go back to go forward. Yes? No? >>
I agree with the general thrust of Bigg's argument about manager's getting a better view from the stands. However, he claims that managers only started watching from the touchline in the late 1980's. That can't be right can it?
I'm sure both Porterfield and Mcewan used to watch from the touchline long before that.
Not to mention games I saw on the telly with managers like Brian Clough, Jack Charlton, Bob Paisley.
They didn't sit in the stands to watch the match did they?
What about even further back and Matt Busby, Bill Shankly etc..?
The only Blades manager I can remember watching from the stand was Bassett when he hid in there to avoid being booked
What about John Harris, Ken Furphy, Jimmy Sirrell, Harry Haslam?
<< Say you had to monitor traffic flows on the M1. Where would you stand? On a bridge across the motorway with the height to view from both directions? Or from the hard shoulder as traffic whizzed past?
The question answers itself. So why do football managers prefer to peer through a blur of hurtling bodies, some of which are obscured because others are in the way?
This is a question for which there seems no logical answer. But maybe former Sheffield Wednesday captain Nigel Pearson, now in charge of promotion-chasing Leicester, has a clearer view on it than most. For most of this season Pearson has been doing it the old-fashioned way, watching from the stand. And it appears to be working.
Trends can start almost by accident. In the late 1980s it was then Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish’s preference for standing on the touchline, later adopted by Ron Atkinson in his first spell with the Owls, that started a new fashion.
Maybe the same can apply in reverse. It was only Pearson’s one-match touchline ban in September that fully opened his eyes. He’s stayed in the stand for most of the time since and, while he doesn’t rule out a regular return to pitch side, he admits the elevation gives him “a better overall perspective, especially on team shapes and tactical awareness.”
Which should surprise none of us who’ve looked down on the action all our lives! It’s amazing that more managers don’t do it – but there’s time. Personally, I think the era of the standing boss became a macho thing. Standing up to take the flak and appearing to be driving your team on by your presence.
Gradually it also became accepted that this was part of the spectacle of football as entertainment. But it has counted unfairly against those managers who display a cerebral approach rather than behaving like circus chimpanzees. Let’s all go back to go forward. Yes? No? >>
I agree with the general thrust of Bigg's argument about manager's getting a better view from the stands. However, he claims that managers only started watching from the touchline in the late 1980's. That can't be right can it?
I'm sure both Porterfield and Mcewan used to watch from the touchline long before that.
Not to mention games I saw on the telly with managers like Brian Clough, Jack Charlton, Bob Paisley.
They didn't sit in the stands to watch the match did they?
What about even further back and Matt Busby, Bill Shankly etc..?
The only Blades manager I can remember watching from the stand was Bassett when he hid in there to avoid being booked
What about John Harris, Ken Furphy, Jimmy Sirrell, Harry Haslam?
