Deep insights into the role and life of a modern football manager, with contributions from some of the biggest names in the business. Part Six – The End They say that in life nothing is certain, but death and taxes. For football managers, however, that list needs a third addition… the sack. Everyone who dreams of being a football manager thinks that one day they’ll oversee a dynasty, but the reality is far different. Statistics published by the League Managers Association show that the...

Deep insights into the role and life of a modern football manager, with contributions from some of the biggest names in the business. Part Five – The Match You’ve built your squad, settled upon your tactics and got everything working like clockwork. Now it’s time to put it all into effect… it’s matchday. By all accounts, this is the hardest part of football management. You’ve done everything you can, but now the players have crossed the white line it’s pretty much all out of your...

Deep insights into the role and life of a modern football manager, with contributions from some of the biggest names in the business. Part Four - Tactics So you’ve found a club and built your squad, now all you have to do is send them out on the pitch with everything they need to know to beat the opposition. That’s right… it’s time to talk tactics. As a wise man once said, football is like a game of chess… except that there are 22 pieces and each one has a mind of its own. So how do you...

Deep insights into the role and life of a modern football manager, with contributions from some of the biggest names in the business. Part Three - Recruitment No matter how great a tactician or motivator you are, your reputation as a manager will ultimately depend on the quality of player you send over that white line, so you need to make sure that every one of them is up to scratch. So how do you bring in new talent? Do you use the modern scouting tools, depend on your scouts and gut...

Deep insights into the role and life of a modern football manager, with contributions from some of the biggest names in the business. Part Two - Man Management It seems simple enough... to be a football manager, you need to be able to manage footballers. But do you do this with the proverbial hairdryer, or use the 'arm around the shoulder' technique? In the second part of our series, Iain Macintosh speaks to a number of the biggest names in the business - Mick McCarthy, Jimmy Floyd...

Deep insights into the role and life of a modern football manager, with contributions from some of the biggest names in the business. Part One - Picking A Club Here in part one of this series we look at the questions that face every manager setting out with a new club. How do you go about picking a club? Do you, as Sir Alex Ferguson once suggested, choose the owner, not the club? And once you're in, what are the first steps? How do you inspire a group of players and bring them together?...