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"The intellectualisation
of football has
always foundered
on a simple problem-
-the players. Doing
all your most
rewarding thinking
with your feet seems
to dull the philo-
sophical impulse.
Unless, of course,
you are Dutch.
According to legend,
Europeans played
a moronic, muscular
version of the world's
game, until Holland
proclaimed its vision
of total football in the
1974 World Cup,
and enlightenment
dawned."

From:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football
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"Sir Alex said: don't stop communicating"

Friday 15 May 2008

After the ticket for the Champions League qualifications Steve McClaren (48) hopes to win the Dutch Cup on Sunday.

The secret of the Englishman is his is customized 'people management'.

"It's like holding a pigeon in your hand," he says trying to visualize it.

"When you give it too much room it will escape. But when you squeeze it too hard you will kill it. Communication with players is key."

The phenomenon of 'people's manager' is getting ever more important in football.

A coach can't make it with just a nice vision and similar exercises.

He who doesn't have the talent and the personality to manage players by a human standard, or say: find the balance between authority and a pad on the back, has a problem

Gertjan Verbeek at Feyenoord, Huub Stevens at PSV, Marco van Basten at Ajax: they all suffered this season on the battlefield of people management as in their daily contacts with the players they sometimes were too cold, too stubborn or too direct.

No wonder that any self-respecting top club nowadays eyes a man like Guus Hiddink.

The experienced globetrotter is the uncrowned king of 'people management'.

He can be above the group of players but also within it without his authority being questioned.

These qualities also apply to Steve McClaren.

The coach of FC Twente, equipped with a small ego is of the same blood type as Hiddink.

He attaches a lot of importance to being clear with his players but always in an atmosphere of humor, openness and acceptance.

Besides the fact that McClaren carries the human touch in his DNA he has gone through a tough period of learning.

It started in his days as manager of Oxford United (between 1989 and 1992), when he practically ran the entire club with minimal means.

"It was an unforgettable and valuable time," he says.

"I trained the first and the second team and the youth, which I drove around the entire country in a van. In the back I had a jack so I could change tires if necessary. We really depended on each other, players and coach. In the meantime I read a lot of American sports literature about group processes and motivational techniques. How to make a successful unity out of a squad with a big turnover of players?"

Yet nothing is more instructive than the unwritten laws of daily practice.

In 1999 the relatively unknown McClaren became the assistant of Sir Alex Ferguson with the star ensemble of Manchester United.

"That was very testing," he remembers.

"But Sir Alex would say: 'Don't go looking for a confrontation, stay away from problems but never stop communicating'. It was a matter of investing, but it worked. As a coach it takes hours and hours of work to understand and fathom group processes. It doesn't even matter where you are working."

He also projected his newly acquired skills and the knowledge of human character, deepened at Middlesbrough, on the players of the English national team, whimsical star players with egos bigger than their Hummers.

"But no matter how big their status is they are still ordinary guys who benefit from clearness and a human approach. Boys like Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, David Beckham and John Terry also need the support and advice of their coach and they thrive in a good team atmosphere."

In the end McClaren was axed for not qualifying for Euro 2008, but at FC Twente his human and clear approach is paying off immediately.

Joy of the game is the father of the success of FC Twente; during training seriousness and a good laugh take equal turns.

The Englishman also knows to keep his reserves eager and enthusiastic.

"Some players lost their place on the team and the trick is to still try and convince these players as well of the way I work so that they will not put themselves outside the group. Sometimes you have to crack a nut, sometimes make a joke but always with natural authority. The pigeon can not fly away but it shouldn't die either."

With homogenous team McClaren hopes to lift the Cup on Sunday at the expense of Heerenveen.

"As an Englishman with a sense of Cup tradition I am really looking forward to that Cup final. I would love to win it. I have found that people within the club still talk about winning it in 2001. That prize has made a big impression. It is something with an eternal value, something that goes into the history books. And it's something of the human collective, let's not forget about that."

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