One consistent theme on CL this season has been the lack of leadership in the first team squad.
I just found this blog in the CL archives from two and a bit years ago, written shortly before Dowie was sacked. Forget how enthusiastically pro-Dowie it is. What interested me is the reference to the senior players mentoring the youngsters on a one-to-one basis and the fact that the first team squad had three elected leaders (Holland, Young and Hasselbaink) who were deputed to ''communicate with the boss and to set the players’ own rules and fines.''
Do these mentoring and communication/disciplinary systems - which seem an excellent idea to me in terms of demanding a higher level of responsibility from the top players - still exist in the current squad? Or did they go out of the window when Dowie was sacked? I know it's heresy to say so, but reading this now made me wonder if, although he was a disaster in so many ways, some of his ideas weren't all bad?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
''What encouraged me was that Iain has a long term plan, is very hands on and looking for improvements all round. That means current internationals being shown how to improve their distribution or varying the options for going past players. The coaching team also use a lot of psychology and scientific data. Results may not be going our way, but it’s certainly not as a result of a lack of fitness or planning.
Iain is also very in touch with the young players and already has plans for adding to the good crop of players coming through with prospects from other clubs. Under the new regime, senior players also take on bigger roles. They each mentor a younger player which gives the academy player a role model and the pro a greater sense of responsibility. The players have also elected three leaders (Holland, Young and Hasselbaink) to communicate with the boss and to set the players’ own rules and fines. I wondered how you made a professional player pay a fine for, for example, leaving his water bottle on the training field until Dowie explained that enforcing the fines is Herman Hreidarsson’s job.''
0
Comments
Obviously not done that **** Dowie any good in the 2 jobs he's since has it.