Speaking
on
The Debate, Charlie Adam and Liam Rosenior gave a fascinating
insight into how players can self-regulate in football clubs to aid their
manager.
David Luiz is facing an uncertain future at Chelsea after being dropped from
Sunday's squad following a row with manager Antonio Conte, prompting Stoke
midfielder Adam and Brighton defender Rosenior to have their say about
player and manager power in modern football.
From self-regulating committees to players 'running the dressing room', the
pair offered an in-depth, expert explanation of why managing a group of
players if often a fragile business.
Charlie Adam
Conte is in charge, it doesn't matter who you are. If the manager wants to
get rid of you, he can. It just shows that he's got authority.
Fair play to him, he got rid of Diego Costa because he caused problems, and
if Luiz wants to go that way, he'll be out. When you let players get away
with things, other players sense that, and then you may have five or six
players against you.
As a manager, you've got to stick by what you believe in. At the end of the
day, the manager will go to the owner and tell him he's causing problems,
and he could be sold.
But players also know. They know that when a player isn't pulling their
weight, players would say: 'Listen, sort yourself out.' The manager doesn't
need to do his job 24/7, the players can control it too.
Liam Rosenior
You ask the question: 'Is it dangerous to fall out with a player?' Sometimes
it's more dangerous not to, because you're setting a precedent for everybody
else.
If you have players who think they can overstep the mark, if one person does
it, then you'll have three or four will try their best as well. All of a
sudden, that culture, and that emphasis on team spirit is all gone.
Chris Hughton [Brighton manager] does it in a different way, that's one of
his biggest strengths. He manages us as a group. We have an elected
committee, where the senior members of the squad regulate the culture around
the training ground, making sure we train hard, making sure we turn up on
time, that we dress correctly.
If it always comes from the manager, you've got a problem, because working
in a team environment you need to all be pulling in the same direction.
Take Sir Alex Ferguson for example, no player was bigger than the manager at
Manchester United. No matter what player stood up to him, they were out of
the door. If you lose that power as a manager, you open yourself up to other
things; lack of discipline, and then you start losing football matches.
Chelsea have lost a character in John Terry who ran that dressing room last
season. That's often more important than the manager's authority, to make
sure you have characters in the dressing room that regulate behaviour.
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