The Management

by Michael Grant, Rob Robertson

In exclusive interviews with Sir Alex Ferguson, George Graham, Jim McLean, Eddie Turnbull, Graeme Souness, Gordon Strachan, Kenny Dalglish, David Moyes, Alex McLeish and Walter Smith, as well as a host of others, Michael Grant and Rob Robertson reveal the huge contribution Scots managers have made to the world game. The first book of its kind, this clever, original, and brilliantly realised analysis presents fascinating accounts of each man, profiling their history, the clubs they've served, their individual strengths and weaknesses, and their impact on the game itself. It is a deeply researched and compelling work which also presents illuminating material on legendary names from the past, such as Sir Matt Busby, Jock Stein and Bill Shankly, while exploring the real personalities of the Scottish managerial game, men like Jim Leishman, John Lambie and Steve Paterson who brought both laughter and tragedy to the dressing room.With a special section on Scots who managed the Old Firm, it also shows for the first time how Scottish coaches have spread their football gospel all round the world and why places such as Brazil, Italy and the Czech Republic have them to thank for driving forward their domestic game. Insightful, measured, revealing and utterly unique, this is a must-read for football fans the world over.

Genres: Football

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

See also Michael Grant for the Texan sports writer.

Michael Grant has been a football writer for over two decades and covered Scottish club and international football all over the world, including three World Cups and three European Championships. He worked in Inverness before moving to the Press & Journal in Aberdeen and then, in 1999, becoming chief football writer of The Sunday Herald. He has been chief football writer of The Herald since 2009. He suspects 1983 was as good as football can get.

Reviews

[Craig Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of this book is fascinating. The success of Scottish managers has been such that there is clearly a story to tell. Ultimately, though, the book is disappointing. Much of it is too long on hagiography, too short on analysis. The opening chapter does attempt analysis, but a closing chapter drawing it all together would have been very useful.

For example, many of the managers here are presented as terrifying men, as screaming tyrants whose aggression is never far away from spilling over into physical violence. Did they succeed because of this approach, though, or in spite of it? After all, it seems likely that lesser managers also followed this approach. If anything, given the extreme stresses of the job, it is likely that lesser managers resorted to it more often. The question, though, is never properly addressed.

Again, the authors' research is admirably thorough, but the divergences of views that this throws up are never fully explored. For example, on page 241 Eddie Turnbull is quoted as describing Willie Maley and Bill Struth as mere "figureheads" at their clubs. Given that the authors devote about nineteen pages to those managers, though, presumably they disagree with that characterisation, but the conflict is not interrogated.

Finally, and this is in part a personal preference rather than a criticism, there is rather too much focus on the Old Firm. Of course, it is inevitable that the country's two most successful clubs will feature prominently, but is Davie Hay really deserving of more space than Bob Shankly? Was winning the league with Kilmarnock of such limited interest that it deserves to be dismissed in a few lines in Willie Waddell's section? If such focus on the Old Firm was necessary, it is disappointing that the opportunity wasn't taken to dig into Rangers' sectarian signing policy. The fact that so many Rangers managers happily implemented that shameful policy is surely relevant to their character and conduct as managers and to their approach to the role, but the matter is barely mentioned except in the context of (rightly) praising Graeme Souness for ending the policy. His predecessors are let off the hook.

All in all, this is a good book, but not as good as it could and should have been.

[Allan Heron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time has moved on since this was first published in 2010 and it's optimism about the potential for further great Scottish managers may seem less well grounded.

Nevertheless, this is a very enjoyable read about the significant Scottish influence on the game and the common roots in an industrial working class background which produced the legends such as Stein, Shankly, Busby, Ferguson et al.

And from a personal perspective I'm more than pleased to note the inclusion of John Lambie in a chapter on the mavericks of the game. It was checking and confirming his presence that prompted me to buy the book in the first place!!