An anecdote-packed book by Tim Percival on how coaches navigate the media spotlight is reviewed by Eric Brown…
BY ERIC BROWN
Managers and coaches often attempt to suppress their true emotions in post-event press conferences where journalists probe for a flicker of lost control.
Questioners know the best quotes will be obtained from those caught off-guard and unaware soon after sporting contests.
One of the bravest press conferences I have ever seen involved Roy Hodgson after his Fulham team had been beaten at home by Roy Keane’s Sunderland. The end-of-season result left Fulham staring at relegation and Hodgson fighting for his job.
Those of us present were shocked to see Hodgson reduced to tears by the enormity of the situation. His voice faltered, and his eyes began filling up as he considered the consequences of this latest setback.
Only by an enormous effort of willpower and self-control was he able to regain composure and continue the press conference. Somehow, Hodgson and his team recovered to stay up.
A new book advises sports team supremos how to avoid such chilling moments confronting reporters and offers tips on media management. Rugby union communications manager Tim Percival’s first book, ‘On the Record and On The Ball’, may be designed primarily for coaches, but is also a useful guide for journalists.
Through exclusive interviews with 30 elite coaches, from Ange Postecoglou and Charlotte Edwards, to Guenther Steiner and Warren Gatland, Percival investigates relationships between the managers and the media. Even Roy Hodgson’s views are included.
Herbert Chapman, Arsenal’s record-breaking chief for nine years from 1925, is credited with being the first sports manager to actively court the media for self and club promotion. He used the press to promote Arsenal, became one of the first managers to write a regular newspaper column (in the Sunday Express) and in 1929, persuaded the club to take the unprecedented step of hiring their own publicity agent.
It’s doubtful Chapman could have foreseen then how the media side of football would develop, particularly the art of slanging matches between coaches and reporters.
Some of the book’s most memorable moments recall terse question-and-answer sessions. One of my favourites involves the BBC’s Pat Murphy and under-pressure Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert. It went something like this…
Murphy: “How do you feel that this could be your last game as Aston Villa manager?”
Lambert: “Well, I won’t need to talk to you again, which will be great.”
Murphy: “I’ll still have a job though.”
Three cheers for Pat.
Another illustration of how not to handle yourself before the media came from John Sitton, a former Arsenal, Chelsea and Millwall defender, when managing Leyton Orient.
During a highly-charged match with Blackpool, Sitton launched one of the greatest half-time managerial dressing room rants, threatening to sack one under-performing player, challenging two more to come outside and fight him and swearing frequently throughout his tirade.
Unfortunately, Sitton had totally forgotten the dressing-room presence of cameras for a Channel 4 documentary, and when it was aired, it finished him as a League manager. “I felt I got ostracised for a few f**ks and c**ts,” explained Sitton helpfully. “Now I would be very guarded and limit what I say in front of the cameras.”
He wound up driving a taxi. Sitton was challenged in the expletive stakes by Joe Kinnear, who lengthily berated a reporter for some imagined slight when at Newcastle.
Kinnear would have benefitted from advice in this book for managers and coaches to “take a deep breath before facing the media” and “have a clear idea what you want to say and stick to it, even if it is nothing to do with the question asked.”
Tony Pulis had a simple formula for facing media at press conferences when Stoke manager. “Don’t sit down. Stand up straight so if possible, you can look down on your audience. It helped put me on high ground psychologically.”
Other defensive measures for coaches involve sending a deputy to post-match press conferences, talking as little as possible or as much as possible, singling out a reporter for criticism or deflecting the question back to the questioner.
The book recalls a post-match conference given by Avram Grant when Spurs manager, which consisted entirely of near one-word answers. Other managers adopted the opposite course of talking endlessly to reduce the time available for further questions.
Kenny Dalglish, when in charge at Liverpool, was a master at reflecting the question. Asked something like: “Did you feel your team needed more penetration, Kenny?” He’d say: “Well, do YOU feel we needed more penetration?”
He was seldom reminded that supporters wanted to know what he thought, not what the questioner thought. It was near-impossible to record verbatim what Kenny thought anyway, once he resorted to his strong Scottish accent. I believed Liverpool should have employed an interpreter.
Kenny left Liverpool partly because he could no longer handle media pressure after a 4-4 draw with Everton in the FA Cup. Then there were the hesitators. These included Leeds’ title-winning Howard Wilkinson, who, when asked a question, often looked down at his shoes and allowed such an elongated silence to build that he’d be asked another question just as he started replying to the first.
Some of the best advice in the book comes from Postecoglou, who counsels: “Remember who your audience is. It’s not the people in the conference, it’s your club, your supporters, your team.”
Percival not only interviewed coaches but also many of the broadcasters and written journalists who ask the questions.
As an information source on how to construct relations between media and sports managers, it is invaluable for those on both sides of the fence.
If there is still such a project as a journalist’s training course, then the book should be required reading on the syllabus.
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