In my memory, Saturday August 3 was never a date associated with the beginning of the Football League season. It was always a pre-season friendly date, two or three weeks before the big kick off.I can’t really work out why things have started so early.
Sure, there is a World Cup next summer. But that doesn’t really affect too many Football League players. Sure, Tuesday night crowds are lower than Saturday crowds; but will August Saturdays really produce bigger incomes for clubs than Tuesday nights?
We will find out I guess. And sure, Football League clubs will be able to generate cash flow a little sooner this way. I get all of those reasons. But I cannot help feeling that the move is a tentative step towards a mid-season break. Recent winters have emphasised the difficulties of a cold snap. Although predicting a likely cold snap is not the simplest task.
My view has long been that our national team would benefit from more summertime football. The South American and Spanish teams seem to benefit at international level from the familiarity they have with playing a patient, possession game with intermittent explosion which suits the World Cup climatic conditions. By giving our players a taste of that climate in competitive games, we are moving the game towards a place where we will need to adapt the way we do things. That can only help the national team in the end.
LET’S GET THAT FIRST GAME OVER AND DONE WITH
Preparing for the opening day of the season is a tough exercise for a manager. The build up for that one game seems so long. The great danger is that a manager either places too much or too little emphasis on the job that needs to be done. All the talk is about the season ahead, which can distract from winning that first game. But on the other hand, there is a danger that you make too much of your opposition because of the time available to prepare. Getting the balance right is vital. I have rarely got it right and continually re-think how to produce better first day outcomes. Even as an experienced manager, you get only one attempt at the opening day each season. So there isn’t much opportunity to practise! I have probably been in charge for just 14 opening days, despite handling 800 odd games.To those whose club didn’t win yesterday I can offer a small consolation: our last two promotions at Stevenage came after opening day draws!
WE WERE GAME FOR A LAUGH
Team Building is a highly sophisticated matter in a modern football club. I have heard all sorts of tales about the extent to which clubs go to build team spirit.
When you aren’t blessed with huge resources, you have to achieve the desired outcomes as well as you can.
So, last week at Stevenage, we took up an offer to nip out between training sessions and play a quick nine hole Texas scramble in the pouring rain at the Stevenage Golf Centre. Nothing remarkable about that I hear you cry! But there was something very remarkable about the video of the lads teeing off on the first hole. If laughter is truly the best medicine then we took a massive dose of it watching that nine-minute film.
We saw a very considered swing result in a player missing the ball, slipping and falling over. We saw the cameraman diving for cover from the most horrific shank. We watched an incredible eight consecutive airshots from one lad. And a beautiful swing and divot, which caused uproar when the divot was replaced to reveal…the ball had rolled two inches underneath it! We even discovered a puppeteer who brought an animal head cover to life.
What we thought would be a nice lunchtime diversion served a massive role in bringing our team closer. Money can sure buy nice things. But the best things in life are definitely free.
DON’T CUT SALARIES TOO DEEP
The squad budgeting system takes on extra meaning as each season passes. This year’s percentage reduction in squad budgets against turnover gives managers yet more to think about. What will happen for sure is that more young players will be given their chance. What will also happen is that lads will be forced to leave the game as the salaries begin to tighten lower down the leagues. Family men will no longer be able to sustain themselves on the reduced monies. We must be careful not to push so far with the salary percentages that we find greatly talented players being forced out.
