Kieran McKenna, Enzo Maresca and Thomas Frank have been linked to Manchester United and Chelsea. Photo: Custom image
Control. That's the theme of the start of managerial layoff season, and with it a new crop of managerial appointments blossoming. The new generation of owners wants a new generation of managers, in fact in many cases they do not want a manager in the old sense of the word at all, but a head coach or some other approximation.
At Manchester United, Ineos is looking to replace Erik ten Hag — a successor who will be included in the plan the new controlling shareholders have for the club. The same is happening at Chelsea, where Behdad Eghbali, a key figure at the club representing dominant consortium partner Clearlake Capital, is preparing to appoint his third manager in two years. Liverpool appointed Arne Slott as head coach, less experienced and less established than any manager since the Boot Room dynasty, with the possible exception of Brendan Rodgers in 2012.
The transition of English football to the European model of a supervising sporting director with various sporting departments under his command occurred gradually. HR, medical, sports science, data analysis, academies – even partners from several clubs – have been added to this portfolio. It would be absurd to entrust all this to the manager preparing the first team. This summer, however, a manager or head coach has never felt more like one of many department heads. This can be seen from the profile of managers who are in demand – and those who are not.
The new generation of owners want a joint manager or head coach to work with the first team, select players, communicate it convincingly to the media — and know the limits of his power. This can be seen in the type of managers appointed for United and Chelsea. There is also a vacancy at Brighton & Hove Albion, which has long refined its continuity model and is maintaining progress, thanks in no small part to owner Tony Bloom's excellent own credentials.
Kieran McKenna, Enzo Maresca and Thomas Frank — the latter is a Premier League manager and already works for a club that has clear boundaries when it comes to exchanging players. These are young or younger managers who recognize that the role is changing. Like Slot at Liverpool, they are being considered for positions at United or Chelsea or both, which in past eras were unavailable to managers with their relatively limited level of development.
Let's also consider those who were overlooked this summer: Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Thomas Tuchel. Coaches, of course, but also managers who assert their power in different ways. They all have varying degrees of proficiency in media performance, and they are all able to express their opinions about ownership in different languages. This is certainly an approach that some owners would like to leave behind. It's no surprise that Mourinho said in these pages that he just wants to be a head coach. He read the room.
Jose Mourinho has been overlooked for some important jobs despite having a resume full of awards . Photo: Simone Arveda/Getty Images
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Eghbali are not the owners who put all this investment on the line with the intention of handing over the club to a manager who could take full control. Not that a single manager running a superclub with 1,000 employees, huge academic programs and partner clubs around the world is sustainable. However, the streak of managers in question has a level of inexperience that has never been seen before. These owners want to run clubs and want coaches to fit that system.
The core task of a manager's job requires a certain amount of authority—or at least the illusion of it. The club can limit its power, but it must be wary of doing too much. The thousands of challenges involved in convincing a team of wealthy and successful young people to take risks again and again are not easy. Nor is the role of the club's face to the world: wise, confident, harsh, hostile or appeasing.
Jurgen Klopp was a master at this, of course, and with success came the opportunity to shape Liverpool the way he saw fit. Towards the end of his time at Anfield, his old friend from Germany became the last sporting director, and Klopp's influence could be felt in other areas. Shortly after his departure was announced, the owner of Fenway Sports Group was able to convince Michael Edwards to return to a more senior position.
Jurgen Klopp has been replaced at Liverpool by a more collegial structure. Photo: Andrew Powell/Getty Images
Others soon returned — Edwards' successor as sporting director, Julian Ward, and former loan manager Dave Woodfine. The manager in the traditional sense left. Those who left during his reign returned. A new power base has quickly been created, to which Slott must respond.
Successful managers or head coaches find it difficult to resist seizing control when success gives them the opportunity to do so. Mikel Arteta works under the sporting director at Arsenal, but he may feel that two consecutive second-place finishes give him the opportunity for more direct control.
Gareth Southgate, a contender for the United job, has «England Manager» as his official title for a reason. Over the course of eight years, he has redefined the job in many ways, but he is a manager at heart. His assistant Steve Holland does most of the coaching work, while Southgate concentrates on management. There are elections, difficult phone calls, big judgments about tactical approach and team culture. He is certainly not malleable.
There are others — Roberto De Zerbi, who has urged Bloom to change his approach to recruiting at Brighton. There had to be only one winner.
The reduction of managerial power is nothing new. The size of modern clubs means they need to be managed differently. But now, rather than weigh the dubious assurances of an older generation of pushy coaches that they had learned to accept their place, the same clubs were looking elsewhere. For new young coaches – who don’t know any other way.
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