- Nov 17, 2004
- 740
- 62
As a result of more than thirty years in the practice of psychology I have articulated Rankin’s Rebound Rule. The rule states that after a break-up of a relationship you will look for a new partner who has the exact opposite tendency to the one you disliked most in your previous relationship. So, for example, if you were previously dating a woman whose bossiness and control drove you nuts, you will seek out a passive woman in your next relationship. Not only will you compensate in this way, you will overcompensate, overvaluing this particular variable, almost to the exclusion of other considerations, thus potentially sowing the seeds of destruction in your next relationship.
The rule holds for relationships of all sorts, not just potential WAGs, including football club managers.
Martin Jol was an affable manager with charisma and a great rapport with his players. When results started to go south, somebody had to be blamed. It must be the manager’s fault and because his strong suit was man management the poor form must be the result of his being too affable with the players, so the faulty logic went. Yes, that was it, Jol was not only a nice guy, he was too nice a guy. There wasn’t enough discipline, not enough fitness – life was too easy for the players.
Psychology thus dictated the need for a new manager who embodied the opposite of Jol’s perceived flaws – a disciplinarian and a fitness fanatic who was less concerned about getting on with the players than shaping them into an effective team. Enter Senor Ramos.
But in focusing almost exclusively on Ramos’s famed discipline and fitness methods something hugely important but obvious was overlooked at the time. Ramos is Spanish and doesn’t speak English.
It may seem as if we live in a multi-cultural world but, leaving political correctness behind, it is much more mono-cultural than we might like to believe. Yes we’re tolerant of other cultures but we inevitably identify and gravitate to our own and are much more willing to be influenced by it rather than foreign ones.
The essence of the Spurs dressing-room is British. Of course, there are some foreign players, but it is a predominantly British team. The players speak English. It would be one thing to introduce a completely new way of doing things -- especially more rigorous fitness and discipline -- it is quite another to have a foreigner implement this change. It is understandable for today’s highly paid, famous, players to have some cynicism and even resentment at demanding new changes and this is only going to magnified when the new boss doesn’t even speak your language. There’s no chance for personal conversations or any rapport to be developed that might make the new regime understandable and palatable.
Bringing in an interpreter, even the affable Gus Poyet, isn’t a solution. Suppose you’re dating a Russian girl who can speak no English and on every date she brings along a male friend as an interpreter. I’d argue that your relationship with your Russian girl isn’t the same as it would be if you were left to talk to each other rather than through a third party. A third party simply puts another barrier between you and the girl (or the boss), highlighting the detachment and distance.
As evidence of that fact that even football managers will gravitate towards the culture they know, I give you (quite happily actually!) Arsene Wenger who has built his success around a phalanx of French-speaking players and Rafa Benitez who has introduced Spanish speaking ones into his squad. Ramos was only going to be successful in my opinion by bringing in several Spanish-speaking players and changing the dressing room culture.
I’m not saying that the fitness and disciplinary methods Ramos introduced were wrong, merely that he was not the one to introduce them successfully because selling them to the team was not possible from one who was so detached and removed from the players and their culture. Moreover, while I applaud the Alvarez attempt to introduce updated health and nutrition information to bear, many of the ideas in this field are speculative, without scientific proof or not really significant in a practical or a statistical sense. Imagine Jonathan Woodgate’s or Ledley King’s response to a foreign manager with whom they cannot speak, telling them they’ll be better players if they don’t have ketchup. Credibility becomes a serious issue.
And so to Harry. Is his appointment an overcompensation to Ramos’ detachment and foreign lineage? Absolutely – but it is an overcompensation that was vitally necessary. Harry can actually have a personal relationship with the players, will gain their respect because of his own achievements and he knows the Premier League and, of course, the culture. Who knows, in time Spurs might outgrow what Harry has to offer, but right now there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s absolutely the right man for the job.
The rule holds for relationships of all sorts, not just potential WAGs, including football club managers.
Martin Jol was an affable manager with charisma and a great rapport with his players. When results started to go south, somebody had to be blamed. It must be the manager’s fault and because his strong suit was man management the poor form must be the result of his being too affable with the players, so the faulty logic went. Yes, that was it, Jol was not only a nice guy, he was too nice a guy. There wasn’t enough discipline, not enough fitness – life was too easy for the players.
Psychology thus dictated the need for a new manager who embodied the opposite of Jol’s perceived flaws – a disciplinarian and a fitness fanatic who was less concerned about getting on with the players than shaping them into an effective team. Enter Senor Ramos.
But in focusing almost exclusively on Ramos’s famed discipline and fitness methods something hugely important but obvious was overlooked at the time. Ramos is Spanish and doesn’t speak English.
It may seem as if we live in a multi-cultural world but, leaving political correctness behind, it is much more mono-cultural than we might like to believe. Yes we’re tolerant of other cultures but we inevitably identify and gravitate to our own and are much more willing to be influenced by it rather than foreign ones.
The essence of the Spurs dressing-room is British. Of course, there are some foreign players, but it is a predominantly British team. The players speak English. It would be one thing to introduce a completely new way of doing things -- especially more rigorous fitness and discipline -- it is quite another to have a foreigner implement this change. It is understandable for today’s highly paid, famous, players to have some cynicism and even resentment at demanding new changes and this is only going to magnified when the new boss doesn’t even speak your language. There’s no chance for personal conversations or any rapport to be developed that might make the new regime understandable and palatable.
Bringing in an interpreter, even the affable Gus Poyet, isn’t a solution. Suppose you’re dating a Russian girl who can speak no English and on every date she brings along a male friend as an interpreter. I’d argue that your relationship with your Russian girl isn’t the same as it would be if you were left to talk to each other rather than through a third party. A third party simply puts another barrier between you and the girl (or the boss), highlighting the detachment and distance.
As evidence of that fact that even football managers will gravitate towards the culture they know, I give you (quite happily actually!) Arsene Wenger who has built his success around a phalanx of French-speaking players and Rafa Benitez who has introduced Spanish speaking ones into his squad. Ramos was only going to be successful in my opinion by bringing in several Spanish-speaking players and changing the dressing room culture.
I’m not saying that the fitness and disciplinary methods Ramos introduced were wrong, merely that he was not the one to introduce them successfully because selling them to the team was not possible from one who was so detached and removed from the players and their culture. Moreover, while I applaud the Alvarez attempt to introduce updated health and nutrition information to bear, many of the ideas in this field are speculative, without scientific proof or not really significant in a practical or a statistical sense. Imagine Jonathan Woodgate’s or Ledley King’s response to a foreign manager with whom they cannot speak, telling them they’ll be better players if they don’t have ketchup. Credibility becomes a serious issue.
And so to Harry. Is his appointment an overcompensation to Ramos’ detachment and foreign lineage? Absolutely – but it is an overcompensation that was vitally necessary. Harry can actually have a personal relationship with the players, will gain their respect because of his own achievements and he knows the Premier League and, of course, the culture. Who knows, in time Spurs might outgrow what Harry has to offer, but right now there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s absolutely the right man for the job.