Just a few days ago, we reported that Kevin Nolan, Leyton Orient’s player-manager, was stripped off his managerial duties. The 33 year-old remains in the League Two club, where he continues to serve as midfielder. These news came only a few months after Nolan’s appointment in late January.
While his boots will be filled by former assistant manager Andy Hessenthaler, who has been with Orient since 2014. At the same time, he will be the seventh man to take on the managerial role at the Leyton club since the summer of 2014. A lot can be said about the player-manager combo and whether it can work, at least for smaller teams, but let’s focus on Nolan instead.
Undoubtedly a good midfielder, Nolan boasts 12 Premier League goals from his time playing for Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United and West Ham. In total, he’s just one short of reaching 100 League career goals at the time of writing.
Nolan certainly came in with ambition and the respect of his peers. Orient’s goal to reach the play-offs this season stopped looking as certain when the enthusiasm died down, though. After Leyton’s defeat to Barnet on the 9th of April, it was Nolan himself who admitted to the BBC that his players were suffering from a lack of confidence. Only a few days later, the board announced that Nolan is going to dedicate himself to playing instead of managing the Os, who remain two points off the League Two play-offs. But what went wrong on the manager side and what could be have prevented it?
Ronaldo and Pique have also been in the news recently with some of it centred around their ability on the felt instead of the pitch. Both of the footballers are avid poker players, with Ronaldo recently signing a deal with online poker cardroom. Pique is a frequent fixture at high stakes poker games and he recently competed in the European Poker Tour event in Barcelona.
Perhaps if Nolan had employed the strategies that Ronald, Pique and the other footballers use at the tables, he would still be manager.
Numerous articles have been written about the reasons why footballers make good poker players. While the two activities may seem to be vastly different with football being a game of physical ability and poker more of a mental sport, the skills used in both are very similar and somewhat transferable.
Looking at football from the manager’s and coach’s perspectives makes this a bit easier to see.
Legendary manager of Manchester United Sir Alex Ferguson has famously said that there are four characteristics of a good coach.
- Observation – Ferguson advocates taking a broad overview of the players and the opponents. Being too involved in the immediate action can lead to faulty decisions.
- Perseverance – According to Ferguson, “you have to keep fire in your belly.” One defeat or one bad day on the pitch can’t affect subsequent matches; you have to take the put unfavourable results in the past and approach each match with confidence.
- Imagination – A successful coach and manager comes up with different ideas on how to inspire players. The methods used to motivate one player to perform at his best may not work on a teammate. Ferguson said that using one’s imagination creates “a chain reaction which produces thinking players and this is a wonderful thing to develop.”
- Communication – A successful coach and manager is an expert at clear, concise communication. Sir Alex points to coaches that ramble on which results in the message being lost. “Talking too much is a big danger for a coach.”
Professional players and poker experts point out that the same characteristics apply to successful poker players.
- Observation – Poker players must adapt to the situation and use specific tactics based on the playing style of their opponents. Just like with footballers, poker players have a basic style of play. Some are loose and aggressive; others are tight and passive. Playing in the same manner against each player type is a game plan that is likely to end with an unfavourable result.
- Perseverance – Poker is a long-term game. A player’s overall success is not determined by one hand or the result of one tournament. In poker when a player begins to play badly after losing what appeared to be a sure winner, the player is said to be “on tilt.” Players on tilt simply do not win.
- Imagination – Winning at poker is not simply a case of getting the best cards. Winning players devise strategies and elaborate tactics that allow them to win even with bad cards. In fact, pros look into things such as pot odds, opponents’ betting patterns, using position and so on to constantly adjust their strategy using their imagination.
- Communication – Communication in poker takes on many forms. A player is telling a story with each action and the ability to tell this story in a clear, convincing manner is important. Players also communicate an image to the other players at the table. Most successful players aim for a very friendly, agreeable manner.
Another example of how the two games are similar comes from a rather surprising arena: the business world. Poker and football and the strategies and tactics that are necessary to succeed in both have been extensively studied and used to teach effective business techniques to business students, CEOs and entrepreneurs.
In a 2012 study, Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse outlined the leadership qualities necessary to be a successful CEO of a major organization and chose Sir Alex as her example, rather than one of the recognized titans of business. She boiled her analysis of the legendary manger into what she called The Ferguson Formula, and created a comprehensive list of dos and don’t’s.
In his book The Manager: Inside the Mind of Football’s Leaders, author Mike Carson points out the similarities between football managers and CEOs and explains that “People think football is about buying and selling players and picking the team. But actually that is just a relatively small part of it. Whether you’re leading a football club, or whether you’re leading an executive company, the human skills are quite similar.”
Charles Nesson is a world-renowned lawyer who has been involved in some of the most famous landmark legal battles. He is also a professor at Harvard. In his lectures, Nesson frequently explains that the poker mind-set can be used as a key managerial tool. He also includes a course in strategic poker thinking in his business curriculum. Nesson says “Poker teaches people to think for themselves, it is a key component of individuality and a prime aspect of managing resources… As far as I’m concerned, it would be a better world if we all played poker.”
In his brief tenure at Orient, Kevin Nolan showed little in common with either a poker professional or a successful CEO. Regardless of intentions, he only won 7 out of 15 games, so he was victorious less than 50% of the time. Perhaps he would benefit from joining Ronaldo and Pique at the poker table before he tried his hand at being a manager again.
