Rico's corner (1 Viewer)

[Moods For Mallards]

Perhaps I should have put this thread in the Arts & Culture section, for I beleive that it will offer each and every one of us an untrammeled and fundamentally spiritual insight into the globulously all-encompassing mind of one of sporting endeavour's foremost reflecters-upon.
In the service of our (in the imperial sense that is all too often eschewed by the narrow of conscience and experience) beautiful tongue, I present this week's column from the estimably matriculated pen of Damien Richardson:

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/mns/features/damienrichardson/

The eircom League Cork derby match became an endangered species many years ago.

Sightings of alien spacecraft, the Yeti and even the lesser spotted 'Wotsitsname' have become more prevalent in recent years. But rare or not, last weekend's derby proved one thing plain and simple, the pressure on managers in the modern eircom League of Ireland is now immense.
The expectation levels of directors and supporters are now at an all-time high. The feelings that ran so passionately around Cobh last Saturday epitomised quite succinctly the new level of demands that are being installed in top clubs across the country. But can managers cope with these new demands?
Professional football is a strange game. In truth, it is a strange profession. The more experience one gains in this field the more one attempts to regularise each and every component contained therein.
As a professional footballer I have experienced good, bad and indifferent managers and coaches. At times I was driven to the outermost point of distraction by the feeble efforts of some to manufacture a good practice session, never mind a good team.
Consequently, when I served under a talented manager or coach I treasured his tenure. So when my career decided to face itself towards the long sunset I embraced the last warmth of those golden moments with two particular trains of thoughts.
I slowed my journey into that horizon of uncertainty into a leisurely stroll so I could prolong and observe as much as I could under the rather melancholic circumstances, and at the same time programmed my mind to correlate all the information that I had accumulated but had, for too many years, taken for granted.
In that Indian summer of my professional football career so many things became clear, crystal clear. I was regretful that my playing career was reaching its finale but mindful of what a wonderfully exciting, glamorous and enjoyable period it had been. But alongside this, experience was hastening an almost spiritual-like understanding of what had taken place during those years.
I absorbed with a sharper sense of observation and maturation the whole process as it unfolded in front of, and behind, my eyes. As a very natural consequence of this I could hark back to previous instances and modernise my thoughts through the wonderful benefit of experience.

I realised the quite ridiculous nature of my profession and the magnificent obsession that it had been for me and my ilk. So many unacceptable, hurtful and nonsensical things began to make sense. It was an awakening, a burst of enlightenment that opened a cornucopia of understanding, and acceptance.
So much that had previously only offered frustration and disappointment and even anger, was re-painted in a different, warmer colouring. A more agreeable picture materialised out of what had in some ways, perhaps many ways, been a distortion.
A distortion created by a mindset formulated by the single-mindedness so necessary to exist in the profession, which far too often metamorphosed into narrow-mindedness, that prodigal seed of self-centredness and all too often, self-destruction.
During this stroll along the avenue of the autumn of my career I realised that much of what the good managers did was based on instinct and enthusiasm. There was talent of course.
But surprisingly it was the fact that the good men accepted that football was a people game as opposed to a chess game, a field of honest endeavour rather than one of crass manipulation and their consistent implementation of this put them way ahead of the posse.
'What has all this got to do with expectations?', I hear you ask. Well, the modern manager has to possess the ability to sectionalise criticism, deflecting the unfair, absorbing the constructive.

He has to be able to understand the contradictive element of supporters' passion that sometimes takes them to the edge of aggression. However, most importantly of all, he has to retain control of his own destiny
Managers are in control of their own destiny only if they produce quality work on the practice ground. The pre-match and half-time activity of the manager is the icing on the cake.
To provide consistent quality work on the training ground requires a deep understanding of one's profession and the people in one's charge, allied to the talent to coach all aspects of the team requirements. This motivates players, improves performance and results and prohibits negative criticism from every quarter because expectations will be met.
I loved the passion of the Cork derby. The euphoria of the Ramblers fans contrasted greatly with the depression of the City supporters, but the camaraderie between both was exemplary and heartwarming. Now, it's the Dublin derby on Friday. Pressure on managers! What pressure?

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Chess is a field of crass manipulation.

 

[avernus]

sweet jesus.