Amid joyous scenes at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday night, their victory was a triumph for quality and expression as well as reward for investment in people, process, leadership and philosophy.

Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta’s extra-time goal ensured that the best team in the world became World Champions, after overcoming a brutal Dutch team in the Final. However, the irony of Spain’s victory is that the architect of the footballing philosophy which has transformed Spanish football is Johan Cruyff, the legendary Holland footballer. Cruyff introduced ‘Total Football’ to Spain after years of gracing the game in Holland.

The ‘Total Football’ philosophy has its origins in Amsterdam, at the Ajax club, where visionary coach Rinus Michels introduced his ideas on how the game could be played differently and better than before. It involved players playing in a variety of positions during their developmental phase to enable them to evolve into more complete ‘all-round’ players who could inter-change position easily once they reached maturity. Chief among those receiving the wisdom, and charged with turning it into a wonderful reality in performance, was Rinus Michels’ star pupil Johan Cruyff.

Quality leadership is the key to transformation. Visionary leaders, who have the courage of their convictions, are able to inspire a critical mass of people to believe in their compelling vision. In time, the results of the transformation begin to speak for themselves, and an even bigger shift occurs which influences even more people to believe in ‘the new way’.

Rinus Michels built an awesome club side at Ajax of Amsterdam on ‘Total Football’, which enjoyed European, as well as Dutch domestic success. In the process, he was able to feed the Dutch national side with a team of quality players, and a style of play, that was the envy of other nations. Michels then went on to manage the Dutch national side and harvested the fruits of his early work at Ajax, on the world stage.

Brazil have enjoyed ‘world-class’ status since their 1958 World Cup win in Sweden, and created a dynasty that led them to becoming the undisputed top footballing nation. With 5 World Cup wins, and individual players of brilliance, who achieved iconic status worldwide, their record of achievement is far superior to Holland’s impact on the world stage. However, Spain’s success on Sunday (with 7 players raised together in Barcelona’s Academy) and Barcelona’s ongoing success has been influenced by Cruyff, both as a player and coach, and has ensured that Michels’ ‘Total Football’ philosophy has lived on, such is its’ power and influence. The irony is that it should have contributed towards Spain defeating the Dutch in a World Cup Final forty years later.

In The Daily Telegraph on 29.06.10., Argentinian 1978 World Cup Winner, (and Tottenham Hotspur Legend) Ossie Ardiles spoke about how the change in philosophy, and style of play were down to the leadership of Cesar Menotti, the Argentina National Manager, who transformed a nation’s football to become world champions who were celebrated for their quality, style, individuality, and teamwork.
‘‘The ground rules for the new identity was set by the Menotti revolution. Before him, Argentina were physical, had players sent off, went to the floor, dabbled in nonsense. We used to play football like it was war, not a dance with the leather ball’’, Ardiles said.

Where would the world be without visionary people?

It is sad that too often, they are rarely appreciated when they are planting their seeds and ploughing their furrow. Meanwhile, others reap their rich harvest for years to come. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if such people were celebrated and appreciated during their working lives, or at the very least, during their lifetime?

Great leaders and great coaches transform people, teams, companies and countries.

Developing a sound philosophy (and staying committed to it) drives the transformational process, and its impact empowers others to be part of the journey. Top sport is in need of more visionary leaders in these economically challenging and difficult times where, in many instances, values are being compromised in the pursuit of short-term success.

Which leader (and which nation) will be the next great transformational story in sport?

Germany’s performance at the current FIFA World Cup in South Africa has been a joy to watch. Their zestfulness of youth, and the encouragement of dynamic, inter-changing play at high pace, allied to a strong commitment to individuality within the discipline of a team framework and strategy has created a buzz around their team. There are even sugggestions that it could be their greatest-ever, potentially surpassing the legendary captain Franz Beckenbauer’s 1972 European Championship winnning team.

For many years, people have criticized Germany for their efficient and sometimes dull style, despite their successful results. However, under current Coach Joachim Low, Germany’s football has evolved, and they have displayed a level of creative performance (both individually and collectively) which destroyed the fancied England (4-1) and Argentina (4-0), as well as demolishing Australia 4-0 in their first group match. All this has happened without their captain Michael Ballack who was injured before the tournament, and was unable to take his place in the squad.

The semi-final beckons against the current European Champions Spain, who have yet to produce their best in the tournament so far, but pose a big threat to Germany’s current supremacy. In fact, Jochim Low has even admitted modelling his German team’s style on the Spannish, after Spain’s success in the last European Championships. A semi-final between Spain and Germany will not be a challenge of diverse culture and determining the effectiveness of style over substance. Both teams have plenty in abundance.

The key to tournament play is improving as a team as the competition unfolds, and then peaking at the right time, to ensure victory in the latter stages. This is something the Germans have been past masters at in World Cups (eleven World Cup semi-finals since 1954) and European Championships down the years. The big question now is, can Germany maintain their fitness, cohesion, and also their creativity, against a team like Spain who also excel in the creativity stakes? Can Germany reach a new peak in their performance, or have they already peaked?

A transformation in philosophy, style and performance has taken place under Joachim Low’s coaching. Whether Germany can be crowned as World Champions next Sunday remains to be seen, but without doubt, their quality and style of football has caught the imagination of everyone tuned into the world’s biggest sporting event.  It is no co-incidence that four of their leading players (Captain Philipp Lahm, midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and forwards Thomas Muller and Miroslav Klose) helped Bayern Munich to enjoy a successful last season, which included a German League (Bundesliga) and Cup Double, and culminated in reaching the European Champions League Final against Inter Milan.

Encouraging creativity in players requires a coach to have an unwavering commitment to a philosophy which allows for players to have the freedom and license to play with joy in their hearts. It is a philosophy which is accepting of mistakes, and one which prefers individuals to explore their talent ‘fully’, rather than impose restrictions upon it. Nurturing the human being is key, and encouraging a mindset where self-discovery is the top priority. This will help the possibility of a quantum leap occuring  in the performance process at some point in time. Long-term gain is where the real reward lies, and the acceptance of mistakes by both player and coach along the way, is essential both at elite level in sport, and during the developmental phase of a player’s career.

The opposite is an environment whereby fear dominates a player’s thinking, and where creativity gets stifled in the process. People talk about ‘the fear of failure’ but effectively, such experiences are about fear of the consequences. With quality coaching and excellent teamwork, this fear becomes minimised because of the culture of ‘acceptance’. The best Coaches, and the best players know that mistakes will occur, but they believe that with a creative, attacking mindset, other opportunities will emerge if one remains committed to such a philosophy during the more difficult moments of a match, tournament, season, or career.

I know from my own 20-year professional cricketing career how easy it is to bat  ’within oneself’ for fear of making a mistake and getting out, rather than expressing oneself and dominating the bowler. Such a manner can undermine the bowler’s prospects of producing his optimum performance, and make one’s life as a batsman so much easier. Sir Vivian Richards was the master of such a craft. People would argue that King Viv, ‘the master blaster’,  had exceptional ability which allowed him to carry such attitude off. However,  I later discovered, through conversation with the man himself, that ultimately, (like everyone else in the game) he had to work on his attitude to enhance his prospects of getting the most out of his ability. For me, Sir Vivian Richards was the master of producing top performance in the most important matches and moments during his exceptional career because he took the battle to his opponents.

I played with greater abandon at the start, and also at the end of my career, but wished I had done the same in the middle phase. In trying to be ‘more professional’, it resulted in me stifling my ability for several years mid-career. I also enjoyed the game less in the process. I am sure I would have been more effective as a player, and influenced the outcome of matches more, if I had found the mental courage to explore my natural talent more ‘fully’, irrespective of the consequences. It is easy to blame the environment but ultimately it is the responsibility of every performer to find the best way (and mindset) to maximise their opportunities in sport, and in life. Thankfully, I learnt from the error of my ways and I determined to play my own way and live or die by the sword, which left me reflecting on my career with greater pleasure than had I not transformed my thinking and approach.

As a consequence, much of my coaching today, is centred on encouraging people to push their boundaries and discover more about what they are truly capable of once they free up their mind, and ‘allow’ themselves to have fun and dominate the ‘performance space’.

Over-bearing coaches and over-zealous parents can also be ‘the fly in the ointment’, despite being well-intentioned. It never ceases to amaze me how little emphais is placed on the empowerment of ‘the athlete’ to find their own way of developing creative performance. Stepping back (as a Coach or parent), and empowering the individual, and the group, to develop their own style by learning to trust their own intuition at critial moments, is a major factor in producing top-class performance.

If sportspeople do not trust their attacking instincts at key moments in a match or tournament, then ultimately, they will feel very deflated when they lose because of the knowledge of what might have beeen. The great Australian Cricket Captain Stephen Waugh once said at a London County Workshop that the four words which should never be part of a player’s vocabulary are ”would’ve, could’ve, might’ve, and should’ve.” A ‘No Regrets’ philosophy is key to maximising one’s talent and oppotunities.

Watching Briton Andy Muray play Rafa Nadal in the semi-final of the Wimbledon Championships last week, I was dismayed at his tactics on the verge of winning the second set. At set-point, Murray chose to play cautiously, while his opponent attacked with all his might. The net result is that Nadal regained the initiative, as well as winning the key points, and went on to win the match 3-0. Nadal’s supremacy in the final against Berdych exemplified this attacking instinct which overpowered his opponent in straight sets. Not only did Nadal win the Grand Slam event, but he struck a deep psychological blow by proving that his creativity and aggression would not be restricted by the enormity of the occasion. This is what Champion Sportspeople do – they trust their attacking instincts, and dominate their opponents to the point of submission. Any player who is brought up to please their coach or parent is unlikely to be able to execute such a strategy,as it takes attitude and courage. it requires the individual to reveal their true self in the heat of the battle, and if that ‘self’ has not been allowed to develop ‘fully’, then a meek and mild cat, rather than ‘a human tiger’ gets unleashed during the critical moments.

In the developmental years of a sportsperson’s career, opportunity is everything. Any player who learns to make the most of whatever opportunity available to them develops an edge that is able to differentiate them from some of their over-indulged competitors, many of whom experience too much opportunity without earning it. In such instances, people do not recognise (and are unable to appreciate the gift and privilege in front of them) and instead, develop a culture of entitlement.

Access to consistently challenging competition, and quality coaching to enhance the learning experience, helps to create new awareness in the player to stimulate new thinking, and provide the necessary fuel for continuous improvement.

Sadly, in many sport development programmes, the results become too important to players, coaches and players in the developmental years. Where short-term success is regarded as the top priority, long-term benefits get overlooked. A consequence of such short-term thinking, is the decision to select players who have matured physically at a young age, in teams ahead of smaller individuals who have greater potential. The opportunity cost, is that many talented young performers miss out on the best learning experiences available to players at a young age.

One of the highlights for me so far in this current FIFA World Cup is the superb performances of small players like Holland’s Wesley Sneijder and Spain’s Andres Iniesta. As midfield players they have excelled despite being only 5’ 6 inches in height, and slight in build. Someone, somewhere, spotted their potential at a young age and nurtured them as players, as I doubt they would have been the most dominant players in age-group football due to their size. In cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and Shiv Chanderpaul were diminuitive in size when young, but have grown up (in stature) to be giants within their sport. The key is giving the players with the most potential, the necessary space to grow, by providing them with the right opportunities to seriously test themselves along the way.

In contrast to this, the English football system (where young players play on full-sized pitches at an early age) means that the more ‘athletic’ and physically mature players tend to dominate, and winning local leagues is often the top priority for junior coaches across the country. The idea of boys playing in different positions, or different systems to understand more about the game, is anathema to the majority. Physicality, rather than technique, is too often the top priority when selecting players in order to increase a team’s chances of winning junior competitions.

Talent I.D. is a specialism in itself. People don’t know what they don’t know, which is why experienced people, with a track record for identifying top talent, need to be involved in the selection process for county, regional and national age group squads, to ensure those with the most potential, rather than the most dominant players, are given access to greater opportunity to mature into a ‘top-class’ performer.

When the FA ran The National School of Excellence at Lilleshall in the early 1990’s, most of the boys selected turned out to be born in September and October. This was a co-incidence at the time, but when one considers the physical maturity of boys born six, or even eleven months earlier than others, it is obvious they have an unfair advantage at schoolboy level. Physically mature players often stand out in their own age-group because of their ability to dominate on a physical level, but are they the players who are most gifted technically or indeed those with the most long-term potential of becoming creative players who can excel on the biggest stage in future?

In Cricket, the powerful hitter of the ball at a young age tends to make a lot of runs against ordinary bowling, but soon gets found out as the quality of bowling improves. At a young age, the big fast bowler can extract pace and bounce from a surface which most small boys find intimidating dueto their size. However, unless the big fast bowler develops control of line and length, and develops movement in the air and off the pitch as he matures, he will become less effective over time, because the technically gifted batsman will develop strength to add to his skill and strategic ability to make runs.

The capacity to learn and the desire to improve are critical elements in the Talent I.D. process. In the formative stages of a player’s development, most people can pick out a Viv Richards or an Ian Botham or a Maradona or Pele, but the best eyes for talent can spot a characterisitc or a quality which is not apparent to the amjority of observers.

The late Ron Greenwood, who led West Ham United to unprecedented success in the 1960′s and fashioned ‘The Academy’ at the east London Club and later managed England, converted Sir Geoff Hurst from a struggling wing-half, and developed him into  a very successful centre-forward who remains the only man to have scored a hat-trick in a World Cup Final. Greenwood, a coaching genius, had the two most important skills in that he could pick a player, and he could develop a player to a level beyond the vision the player had for himself. His coaching philosophy was centred on the mantra: ’simplicity is genius’, and his excellence in man-management enabled him to engage players in honest and intelligent conversation about the game and the player’s ability to affect the game positively for the benefit of his team. He wanted players with lively minds and encouraged people to always have pictures in their heads of where they wanted to play the ball next, or how they were going to move into space to create more possibilities in attack for the team. He would often stop the play in training and ask players to freeze and shut their eyes, followed by asking them to describe where everyone else on the field was at that moment in time. Apparently, the legendary Bobby Moore was phenomenal at knowing where everyone was, whilst Sir Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and Sir Trevor Brooking were not far behind in their ability to define the landscape. Greenwood’s creative coaching and desire to develop players who played intelligently and creatively, helped to shape a dynasty of West Ham coaches and footballers who maintained his legacy of producing England internationals from East London.

Far-sighted coaches, who have the best interests of the players with the most potential, are needed, if creative players are to flourish and enhance the future landscape of top sport. No one wants to witness boring, functional sporting teams who grind out results in the name of professionalism. Some coaches select players who can ‘do a job’, in order to ‘get a result’ today, but ultimatley, they are cheating themselves, the player, and the sport, by ignoring the value of creative performance and the impact it can have, over time. An obsession with results at developmental level pales into insignificance over time, when results are consigned to history, and the quality of player which reaches the top in the sport proves to be inadequate, when compared to other nations at international events and tournaments. The best Coaches are always aware of ‘the bigger picture’.

Germany has led the way in terms of creative performance so far in this FIFA World Cup – will others follow their lead, and undergo a transformation in philosophy and performance over time ?

When things go wrong, who is to blame? Is it the Players, or is the Coach the one to blame? In my opinion, both are culpable, but ultimately it is the system which is at fault.

Many systems are built to protect themsleves, and only in crisis are they forced to examine their inner workings. Often, cosmetic changes get made to satisfy the critics (in times of difficulty), but ultimately, revolution is necessary in order to activate meaningful change over time.

International tournaments reveal the relative merits of the individual countries’ sporting quality, and level of performance at that moment in time. On every level: physically, mentally, and spiritually, a country’s best players (and management) are tested. The fact that England (with all its resources) have had to recruit foreign managers to lead their team at the last two World Cups reflects an unhealthy system, unable to produce coaches of sufficient quality to succeed in the role. Either that, or it highlights a system which reveals its’ lack of trust in its own people, believing the answers lie elsewhere, which suggests suggests an inferiority complex is at play within the minds of the key decision and policy-makers.

Personally, I believe that international tournaments should preclude foreign nationals from representing their ‘country of convenience’, as I think it undermines the integrity of true international competition, i.e. one country’s sporting excellence versus another. I have no problem with such individuals supporting the process as consultants at developmental level, but at the elite performance level, it should be the domain of the indigenous population. If they struggle, then it highlights where the fous of investment and development should be in the next cycle, in order for a country’s sporting prowess to improve over time.

Players must be responsible for their personal performance, but the collective performance is influenced by the Coach because of the tactics he deploys, and also the environment he creates in and around the team. In the FIFA World Cup 2010, England’s players, and their Coach Fabio Capello, failed spectacularly on both counts.

The media and the general public loves to determine the culprit and justify how things could have been different. Entertaining better possibilities is a wonderful trick the mind can play on itself in difficult times, but when it comes to assessing the wreckage in a sporting performance, it is vital to identify the critical aspects of the team/organisation, which have worked well, and the areas which were sub-optimal.

With England’s Footballers returning to UK today amid harsh criticism of their woeful World Cup campaign, the debate over Coach Fabio Capello’s future will play itself out in the press, over the airwaves, in the factories and in the pubs and bars throughout the country, as well as (most significantly) in the corridors of power at The Football Association. However, this is merely scratching at the surface of a far deeper underlying problem, which continues to reveal itself after virtually every major international tournament cycle.

How can England’s perennial failure at global tournaments (since 1966) be the fault of a coach who has been in the job for two years, irrespective of his gargantuan salary?

With a superb record in qualification for the World Cup Finals, Capello restored England’s credibility as a footballing nation after the debacle of failing to qualify for the last European Championships under the management of Steve McLaren, who was summarily dismissed as a consequence. Capello is a top manager with a superb track record in club football achievement in different countries. His style may not meet with evry player’s approval but his career results point to a man who knows his own mind and who refuses to indulge people or players who do not meet his exacting standards. However, I cannot believe that England’s players were comfortable working with a man who struggles to speak  English with ease, and a coaching staff who speak predominantly in Italian, and (apparently) to each other exclusively. Such experiences can breed resentment and frustration within a team environment. The quality of communication is critical to the success of the unfolding process in team sport and I wonder if Capello would have been better served by working alongside English coaches, irrespective of his history and loyalty to his Italian staff.

Is England’s major failure due to the inability of the players to perform under pressure?

The best sportspeople are those who can respond well to adversity and those who embrace the pressure and feed off it positively. Serial winners learn to deal with expectation and recognise thast it is part and parcel of life at the top, for which the rewards are plentiful. Are English players inferior (technically, tactically, physically or intellectually) to their foreign counterparts? Certainly Germany appeared to play with more invention, discipline, intelligence and spirit than England did last Sunday in Bloemfontein. Looking at the South American countries who are dominating the tournament in South Africa, I cannot imagine many (or any?) England players meriting selection in their teams if a combined team were to be selected.

One thing is for sure, consistent under-achievement over a forty year period since 1970 (when England were supposed to have a better team than the winning team of 1966) highlights that the pre-tournament hype about England returning as World Champions, is not in line with their historical form as a nation, or with the form (and fitness) shown by their key individuals during last season. Reaching two Semi-Finals in the history of the competition, (and winning only once), suggests that Quarter-Final achievement represents success. Entertaining ideas that we are potential winners is the stuff of fantasy or nationalistic pride or optimism.

Is the problem behind England’s football one of unrealistic expectation? I think so. The pressure the team is under is increased because of the fear which must be prevalent in the team of being unable to match the public and media’s expectation of the team as potential winners. Players enjoy this kind of potential ‘talk’ as it doesn’t require achievement in the run-up to an event, but when the bell tolls, it becomes a massive burden which few are able to handle.

Until we can produce a conveyer belt of talented young players who keep the foreigners out of the big teams due to their superior playing ability, we will find it impossible to compete on the world stage against the best opponents, let alone win. This is where the solution and the challenge lies: get the best coaches to work with the best young players and ensure that the learning environment is creative.  Providing a competitive experience (through tournaments)  to hone the competitive greatness in each player, overseen by experienced menytors, can enhance the learning experience. The players will raise each other and compete to become the best of the best in their group. Over time, a healthier system will produce a succession of players who have been raised with a better set of professional and personal values if you get the right people to guide the learning process. This way, the players will naturally de-select themsleves over time. It is survival of the fittest. It is the opposite to the culture which pervades the UK presently, where the state provides, and a nation gets ‘fatter’ and lazier by the decade, while the sense of entitlement grows that it is someone else’s responsibility to take care of the individual’s well-being. Such a society will never produce champion sportspeople in big numbers as it lends itself to developing a ‘softness’ in people. It creates a ‘victim’ mentality, whereby evereything is somewone else’s fault, and a mindset which gets brutally exposed in elite sport. Just observe some of the players’ quotes such as Chelsea full-back, Ashley Cole, who was quoted before boarding the plane to the pre-tournament camp in Austria that ” I hate England, and the f*****g people.” Charming. He added ” I always try my hardest for Chelsea and England but the intrusion and presssure I feel is making my life hell”.

So where does it begin to go wrong? I think that in the early stages of a player’s professional career, the culture of entitlement can set in, and a player’s love for the game, and the pursuit of mastery of the ball, gets lost in pursuit of the material trappings which are regarde highly and necessary accessories to mark their so-called ‘success’ as ‘celebrities’.

We were told that in Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, we had players who could make an indelible mark on sport’s biggest event. Sadly, it was for the wrong reasons: England were awful, and the future appears more bleak with fewer players of similar quality coming throught o replace the current failed ‘golden generation’. Just because many of our players are ‘world-famous’, does not mean that they are ‘world-class’.

The global reach of the English Premier League has enabled the best of the English talent to earn vast sums and have their profile enhanced by exposure in over fifty countries each week. The advertising and marketing between matches of the clubs and the key players has distorted the impression of a player’s ability. Where once a player had to succeed at a World Cup (e.g.  Bobby Moore, Gary Lineker) to enjoy global recognition, players like John Terry, Frank Lampard, or Steven Gerrard is able to enjoy similar status without the achievement of a Lineker at a World Cup Finals.

The power of television has made multi-millionaires of modern players. However, it has not made them into top quality players. If they were ‘top-class’ (like Lionel Messi, Luis Fabiano, Christiano Ronaldo, or Mesut Ozil), England would have enjoyed more success as a team over the duration of these players’ international careers.

Despite the failure of the system, I believed this England team significantly under-achieved under Capello in South Africa. So where does the blame for the under-performance in South Africa lie?  For me, the relationship between coach and player is inter-dependent and there is a need to understand the dynamic balance that exists in a performance process between players and management. It can never be the fault of one party exclusively. Top players overcome being led by a mediocre coach and take ownership for the team’s performance. Likewise, gresat coaches can inspire a body of players to play beyond their own levels of expectation by organising them to play in a system andby filling them with a belief in the power of the collective being greter than the sum of the parts.

An International Coach can only select the best players which are available to him from the development system his National Governing Body has overseen. Top coaches cannot turn average players into good players. Conversely, if the players have the requisite ability, then with good coaching which inspires a team environment that enhances the possibility of creative performance emerging from within the group, anything is possible.

Human greatness comes from a internal force within each person but the ‘magic’ which exists between people is an energy flow that goes beyond words and logic. It comes from touching people’s hearts as a coach, and ensuring that the fabric of the team is woven tightly together so that during periods of stress, the whole thing does not unravel, but instead gets stronger because of the belief which grows when difficulties are overcome, and the strength of the relationships reveal a deep connection between people. This cannot be manufactured. It is not a cosmetic process, spun out by PR people or players ‘talking a good game’ at press conferences. Strengths or weaknesses are revealed during stressful moments in time.

England’s players appeared to turn in on themselves and complain about the manager’s regime during the tournament. The lonely hours of preparation and rest between games seemed to compound the problems they were experiencing and deposed Captain John Terry took it upon himself to break ranks, and speak publicly about his frustrations before the final group game.

John Terry’s unilateral actions highlighted why he is not a leader, as he undermined the management and also compromised his teammates, and implicated others in the process of ‘sounding off’. Such selfish, self-indulgent behaviour, is not the mark of a quality leader in my opinion. By saying that ‘‘if the Coach doesn’t like what I have to say then, so what’’, revealed an unbelievable arrogance and a dis-regard for authority.

In any team, discipline and cohesion are vital to successful performance. The key is to connect people to a compelling vision which is far greater than ‘self’.
England’s Football Team were lacking in resilience and quality when the pressure was at its greatest. Their performance revealed a decay in the system which develops young footballers, both as players, and as men. No doubt the system will protect itself and the nation will be promised a ‘root and branch’ review which will present the findings about what is wrong with English football, and then the new season will begin, and another debacle will be consigned to history.

I imagine that our 1966 World Cup-winning Manager Sir Alf Ramsey, and legendary Captain Bobby Moore must be looking down from on high in dismay.

Ultimately, will key people (with the passion, experience and intelligence) be entrusted with the responsibility of providing quality leadership based on a new vision for English Football?

Will a new set of values underpinned by a sound philosophy become a living organism and set new standards of behaviour to help make our nation proud of the people who represent us at football in the future.

Will a new level of excellence in coaching be established? Will our National age-group teams succeed consistently at International Tournaments? Will our players burst with pride at the prospect of representing their nation? Will our players (upon maturity) be sought after by countries around the globe to add value by showcasing and bestowing their ‘world-class’ status as proud exports of English Football?

Bobby Moore was my hero. He was an immaculate player, and an immaculate man. He inspired me as a youngster to become a professional sportsman. He loved England and he loved football. He loved captaining England. He retired from playing and experienced a difficult post-playing career while his counterpart Franz Beckenbauer was utilized by the German Football Federation and his club Bayern Munich as an Ambassador. In my opinion, our administrators displayed a lack of respect towards Bobby and his World Cup Winners, which is possibly where the decay set in.

So where does the responsibility and blame for failure lie?

It is never as simplistic as sacking the Coach or removing senior players in favour of promising youngsters. The answer lies in the quality of player and coach a nation can develop. Strength in depth is wonderful too, but this can be no substitute for quality of the highest order in the key positions.

England Football’s problem is one of systemic failure.

England has under-achieved in tournament play (and occasionally in qualification) relative to their wealth, population and sporting history. The hiring of an expensive high-profile manager is not the answer, as they just inherit the problems generated by the system, a culture which places wealth, profile and the myopia of club football above international success.

The English Premier League and the big clubs dominate the game, and England being successful as a National team is of secondary importance. Debt-laden clubs chase the dream of European Champions League qualification, while others incur big risks to stay in the league as the threat of relegation from the Premier League can lead to meltdown. Last season, Portsmouth experienced this fate and in the recent past, Leeds United and Newcastle have been high-profile casualties, while West ham United have teetered on the brink of collapse for several years.
The fear that permeates clubs in such circumstances is an unhealthy environment for talented young players to develop. Most managers who fear the sack, will not turn to a youngster who is excelling in the Youth Team or Reserves, preferring to sign an experienced player to help shore up the deficiencies of his team. If the top clubs aren’t playing the best young England players, and if the bottom clubs fear risking young players in a relegation dogfight, where are the young players going to learn the game at professional level? Overseas?

The systemic problem needs to be addressed. Otherwise, good people, conscientious and gifted coaches, and talented players, will continue to be victims of the inherent failure (over many decades) of the governing body called the Football Association. When problems run deep, the root needs to be identified and removed. Unfortunately, the FA is a moving target at present with accountability nigh on impossible, because the organization is without a Chief Executive, and without a Chairman, but facing a serious challenge to restore the nation’s faith in our national game.

Now is a time for fresh thinking to activate change. Transformation is needed.

Would you trust the same body which delivered the fiasco of ‘The New Wembley’ where the delays and spiraling costs meant the FA had to take extra loans out to finance the £798 million stadium. Annual interest payments of around £20 million are crippling the game and have meant that a variety of events including Rugby and pop concerts have taken place and contributed to the destruction of the pitch, which has been re-laid a dozen times so far at a significant cost each time. The FA have yet to commence The National Football Centre in Burton-on-Trent, nearly a decade after its approval. Canny businessmen remain horrified that a committee of people are charged with the responsibility of running the FA, and making the kind of employment decisions which allow Fabio Capello and Sven Goran Eriksson to receive contracts which are financially way above market rate, and incur significant penalty clauses for the employer for early termination.

Now is the time to address the shortcomings and empower the next generation to become intelligent, self-reliant players who are raised to be fully accountable for their individual performance, and committed to developing a greater respect for the game, the country, and fulfilling their role in ensuring the collective effort brings better returns in future.

Do you trust the same body of people to come up with the new vision for English Football?

Between the years of 1967 and 1973, John Wooden coached UCLA to 7 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship consecutive titles. No other team had won a total of 4 NCAA Championships, let alone consecutively. Coach Wooden led his UCLA Basketball team to unprecedented success by inspiring his team to 10 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships in 12 years.

He created the greatest dynasty in the history of college sports. Once, his team went on an 88 game winning streak during the seasons 1971, 1972 and 1973, the longest winning run in any sport at top level. He is arguably the Greatest Coach who ever lived.

‘Just Winning’ was never his standard of success, his creed went beyond winning. He inspired so many athletes who passed through his charge and his legacy lives on in all those whose lives he touched:
‘‘I thank John Wooden every day for all his selfless gifts, his lessons, his time, his vision, and especially his patience. This is why we call him Coach’’
Bill Walton (ex UCLA Basketball Player)

His maxims are timeless leadership lessons:

John R Wooden: My Definition of Success (composed in 1934):
‘‘Success is peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable, and only you as an individual, will know whether you did that, or not.’’

Coach Wooden on ‘Competitive Greatness’:
A real love for the hard battle, knowing it offers the opportunity to be at your best when your best is required.

Coach Wooden on Team Spirit:
‘‘An eagerness to sacrifice personal interest, or glory, for the welfare of all’’

Despite falling just short of a century in terms of a life lived, Coach Wooden’s legacy will live on forever.  Having read ao much about him and his work, I wish I could have met him. It appears that a remarkable human being has just left this world.

The narrowness of focus in my life helped to contribute towards achievement in several sports from a young age, but most notably in cricket. I do wonder how my life would have turned out differently if I had a broader focus at an earlier age, but the inspiration for me was in the sporting challenge, rather than the academic one. The joy and range of experiences a sporting life has offered me have been life-changing, and the opportunity to learn about life as opposed to going through a more formal education process from the ages 17-25 has provided me with benefits which go beyond words. Whoever said education had to be undertaken at a particular age and stage of life anyway, or what form education should actually take?

In the past few years I have come to understand that people learn when they are ready to learn, and they respond best when the learning environment allows for individuality to be nurtured, and where the culture of self-discovery is actively encouraged.

Becoming a professional cricketer at 16 with Essex County Cricket was the fulfilment of a childhood ambition for me, a local lad born and raised within an ‘Ian Botham size’ six-hit from The County Ground, Chelmsford. Playing in a Championship-winning team for the Club I supported for as long as I can remember, will remain a cherished experience. Playing alongside, and learning from one’s childhood heroes like Graham Gooch is an experience afforded to very few in life.

As a youngster, flirtations with professional football as a schoolboy with Leyton Orient and Tottenham Hotspur opened my eyes further to the world of professional sport, and some winters spent training with my beloved West Ham United during my time off from Essex and Somerset, gave me access to different approaches to coaching, man-management, and player behaviour in a variety of situations. Being in the company (on a daily basis) of the legendary, late John Lyall, and his ‘apprentice’  Tony Carr, (who has become a legend in Youth Coaching by developing a core of England’s current World Cup squad), was a privilege for an individual such as myself, and helped to shape my thinking about how best to develop myself as a player and as a coach.

I began my professional coaching career alongside my professional playing career at 16, by working in the Essex CCC Indoor Cricket School during the winters alongside Ray East and Bob Richards, to supplement my playing contract. Time spent in South Africa from the age of nineteen brought me into contact with another culture and sporting philosophy, and access to ‘world-class’ coaches such as the late Bob Woolmer, on a daily basis as colleagues working in the coloured townships and in the Western Cape regions to develop talented young cricketers. Spending regular time in the company of the late Eddie Barlow, Robin Jackman and the late Stuart Leary also expanded my thinking and horizons as a young professional.

Subsequently, I have come to understand how significant some of these early interventions were for me with experienced practitioners. Their ability to challenge my assumptions about myself and the game, and my response in coming back for more ‘fuel’ to stoke the fires that burned inside me has enabled me to journey through sport in a slightly chaotic, but ultimately very fulfilling way.

The benefits of ‘The New Paradigm Leader Programme’ under Dr Ken Jennings’ mentoring have been significant for my development in recent years. It has been an awesome experience to move through, and has transformed my thinking, which in turn has led to me developing different actions, and building better relationships with people (especially myself), than at any other time in my life.

I have always been prepared to stand apart from dominant opinion (if I disagreed) due to the strength of character nurtured in my elder brother and me, within our family environment from a young age. On issues of principle, my parents provided a shining example of the way to be by always aligning themselves to their values. Such transferrence is an important part of learning, and I am lucky to have been born into a home where the quality of example meant that many of life’s lessons were absorbed without words needing to be exchanged.

I admire greatly the discoverers, inventors, and philosophers of the past who must have spent many difficult weeks, months and years looking into ‘darkness’ with little sign of light emerging. Anyone who has a talent but is in a different culture (such as the superb film ‘Billy Eliot’) can feel out of place and unable to pursue their dream.

The importance of dreams must never be under-estimated. Encouraging the young to explore what is in their heart is an important attribute for us as adults, to develop. The loneliness of pursuing a dream or an alternative path, can be tough at times (especially for the young), but a necessary discomfort to endure, if one is to stay aligned to  a vision, or way of working in one’s adult life. However, if one stays true to what one believes in, I believe that people will respect the individual’s strength of character to be able to keep believing in themsleves when others maybe doubted their wisdom or choice. Earning the respect of oneself (as well as others) is where true wealth lies.

Stayting true to one’s vision and values is a key leadership trait prominent in the best ‘Leaders in Life’, and making others aware that on certain, important issues, a non-negotiable stance will be taken to ensure the philosophy which underpins one’s work or organisation can never be compromised. Such a characterisitc can hold a leadership position intact during difficult times, and also provide comfort to others who are in need of believing in the ‘Leaders in Life’.

My wish is for more and more of our top sportspeople to behave in a manner which sets high standards both on and off the field for our next generation to aspire to follow as they mature into adulthood. Sadly, many of those entrusted with leadership positions in society today have fallen short and abused the responsibility of power, such as some leading politicans. I believe in the power of sport, but first, we (as adults) would be well-advised to ensure that we allow young people to experience what it is really like TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN SELF , and for shaping the team and environment they are part of in a healthy way. This process can introduce them to the concept of what true adulthood will be one day. The by-product of this experience is that young people are likely to become quality performers as their character is more formed. This will lead on to creating greater opportunity for themselves to excel within the sporting arena. There will never be enough room for quality people who are top performers in sport.

In the difficult times the world is facing currently, the need for resilience is great. Panic is easy to give in to when under pressure. Calmness helps generate carefully considered options, and sporting challenges can create some wonderful moments which test young people’s ability to think on their feet. From an educational perspective I am blessed to have travelled a tough path by choosing a professional life in sport as the lessons available to me have made me who I am today. Some of my lessons have been very painful, but the most important one has been to find my own way. It is the main one I would recommend to people, as it supports the view that to trust oneself, one first has to come to know oneself. The ongoing challenge is to be oneself.

‘Stand for something, or fall for everything’ is a quote a highly respected friend once shared with me in a book he gave me as a present. He signed it off with a generous message of support which I valued highly. The book was an inspirational read about Ernest Shackleton, and his ‘way of being’. Shackleton’s leadership was all about deeds, an example followed by my friend who bought me the book. Like Shackleton, he has put himself in tough situations to support others. In doing so, he taught himself about himself.

The ‘nanny-state’ has much to answer for in English society, and I fear that in sport, we may be creating a similar self-fulfilling prophecy with the numerous people involved developing talent. I have seen examples where the insecurity of a coach leads them to intervening too often, in order to display their ‘merit’, (in front of their employer) irrespective of whether the player needs the intervention, or not.

For every player who aspires to reach the top, the answers to their needs and progress are inside themselves. I believe it is our responsibility as coaches, parents, or teachers, to determine if an intervention is best, and what form it should take. My hypothesis is that if one decides upon ‘non-intervention’ it may be the best choice. This way, we allow the possibility of an individual’s learning about themselves to increase. It may be an old-fashioned view, and one championed by the late Sir Alec Bedser that ‘you gotta work it out for yourself’, but I sense more and more (as I become a more experienced coaching practitioner myself) that he was right. The wisdom in the elderly must never be dis-regarded as they have seen and heard so much, and witnessed fashions, fads, and theories come and go. However, the timeless principles of life, and leadership remain.

To enhance the effectiveness of my coaching, I decided to base my work on certain psychological principles. The nature of the professional mentoring support I provide to others in sport is based on Dr Ken Jennings’ therapeutic conversation model. Enabling others to understand their own narrative, happens best through careful listening to facilitate deeper insights in the individual I spend time with. Offering my own interpretations of their ‘story’ by ‘framing’ it in a particular way can be unhelpful to the process. Reflective listening can be described as a form of non-intervention, but I have come to understand that the power of such a skill is that when another person feels ‘heard’, their sense of their own ‘story’ becomes greater.

Providing support by re-directing a person who may have got ‘lost’ is a wonderful gift for anyone to offer a fellow human being. Helping a person to help themselves, has to be the way when confronted by another’s struggles. Merely taing their pain away has a short-term benefit exclusively. The old saying: ‘feeding a hungry man will only last a day, but teaching a man to fish will satisfy him for a lifetime’ has much resonance with my philosophy on developing people and cricket coaching aligned to psychological principles.

Quality observation is critical to supporting another’s ongoing self-discovery. The wisdom John Inverarity once shared with me in 2005 on this subject will never leave me, as it came from a deep experience of one’s subject (Cricket and Education in his case) and a genuine desire to share, and help me to progress my ideas on developing people to grace the game. Providing quality reflection from a ‘non-expert’ position is an acquired, and much-needed skill if one is to empower people to develop themselves more fully, understand, and achieve their human potential.

I was the beneficiary of good quality professional coaching from an early age in both my football and cricket. Former West Ham and Charlton Coach First Team Coach Mervyn Day, and former Aston Villa player Harry Gregory were influential in my football. In cricket, regular access to Essex senior professional Ray East (who retired to become Essex Coach), and former player Graham Saville (who went on to become England Under 19 Manager/Coach) offered me the chance to enjoy some regular, good quality conversation about the requirements to produce consistent performance in top sport.

Good basic technique is a pre-requisite to build further upon, but I have come to understand that top performance goes beyond technique. It is about so many factors, but ultimately about one’s character, and responding to the unfolding moment in the best possible way.

The kind of informal education I had from experienced sportspeople in my formative sporting years was, on reflection, a special gift to my life. The informality of the conversation and activity, allowed me to pick up on whatever information was meaningful for me at whatever stage I had reached in my developmental years. The quality of the information also inspired me to go and  ’play’ with it, and make more sense of it in my own time. I spent countless hours with a balls of different sizes trying to master control of it, whether it be with my feet, my hands or with a bat. The endless time spent by myself taught me about myself. Little could distract me from playing, watching, or engaging in conversation about sport with others who shared my passion.

As I moved through my 21-year professional career, the qualification of, and the employment of people to coach increased phenomenally. Coach Education became a growth industry, and the opportunity for ‘free play’ amongst youngsters appeared to reduce. We now live in an age where the majority of sporting activity undertaken by young people is within a programe which manages the time element and also the content. Coach Education has contributed to developing ‘best practice’ , and legions of well-intentioned people are committing many hours to developing processes for young people to go through to improve a player’s performance. Structured learning and regular interventions may be helping a player to play better in the moment, but is it limiting his/her ‘self-discovery’? Is the education to play ‘the right way’ preventing people from learning (and trusting) to play their own way?

On retirement from playing professionally in 2003, I decided to commit all of my time to developing my coaching ideas further, and explore the subject, and the psychology of coaching in more depth.  My travels have enabled me to meet some fascinating people in different parts of the globe and I would like to take this opportunity to thank every one of them who has taken the time and trouble to satisfy my enquiring mind.

My research (theoretical and applied) has highlighted the variety of  learning  styles due to the complexity of the human being. Ultimately, I have come to understand that the ‘expert’ position needs to be explored properly, and understood as how it can be a limiting factor in theprocess of development with regard to others. I have concluded that the best developers of talent and people in general are effectively world-class facilitators, who allow for others to be ‘the expert’ on themselves. This facilitation style has at least two major implications:

1) that the individual becomes empowered to stimulate his/her own learning and to trust their intuitive ‘feel’ more, and

2) by not seeing others as ‘the expert’, but purely a resource where another’s experience can be tapped into through asking good questions in a respectful manner, the individual is unlikely to become lazy and sit back waiting for information/answers to how best to move forward.

I hear many coaches speak of their frustration at the lack of independence, or lack of personal responsibility and accountability for performance within players they work with.

I believe the real challenge for the coach is to create a learning process where the coach’s behaviour/management style does not manifest itself in  ’feeding’ the problem they have identified. Because many people like to be comfortable, my coaching hypothesis is that in such circumstances, limited personal growth and development can occur. A different context needs to be created which takes people out of the environment which supported the possibility of old thinking patterns being repeated.

For quantum leaps in the development of performance, a period of confusion or irritation often precedes a breakthrough discovery. It is in the ‘irritation’ phase that ‘mistakes’ are allowed to be made and key learning can come to the fore. Such creative learning approaches can mean that in the short-term, results may not go as planned, but ultimately, a better framework is being created by the performers themselves to find their own solutions to challenges and difficulties. Providing the support through quality reflection and not leaving anyone too exposed in their difficulty is the critical contribution a coach makes in a creative learning environment. Sadly, some coaches who challenge players to leave their comfort zones can become isolated and rounded upon by senior players in some professional sporting environments, as the ‘discomfort’ is not to  the liking of players who are comfortable with the status quo in their life and in the team they play for, as this often allows such individuals to remain in the ‘power’ positions where they can manipulate events to suit their personal agenda.

Ultimately, with all people, learning needs to be self-motivated for it to become embedded and successful over time. Good guidance can inspire and stimulate growth by fuelling an individual’s curiosity around a subject through reflective conversation, or guiding a light towards a place where the individual may be able to explore the subject in greater detail. The old saying that ‘you can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’ is one which has resonated more with me over the past six years, since I developed the modern London County Cricket Club as a professional mentoring organisation. The transformational results London County has enjoyed with the successful Programmes it has created, has been a source of great encouragement to me so far.

My fascination with the whole topic of learning about ‘self’ ; about others; about group dynamics; and education in general, has been a challenging, but rewarding journey for me. I am most grateful to two people in particular, Dr Ken Jennings and Dr Ken West, who have been inspirational in their support of me, and my ongoing pursuit of excellence within the sphere of leadership development, cricket coaching, and professional mentoring. The personal example of  ‘Ken J’ and ‘Ken W’ where their selfless commitment to guiding others’ learning and development  has enabled me to see why they are very successful practitioners in the field of Transformational Leadership. The need to develop repsectful relationships, and allow others to see a different way for themselves is a central theme in their work in creating new cultures which support the possibility of Transformation occuring over time.

Developing Transformational Performance requires a change in an individual or groups’ historical patterns. Enabling another to see for themselves how their previous patterns have been limiting requires new levels of self-awareness to be generated. Prescriptive coaching styles which are ‘top-down’ in their approach enable the leader to have ‘control’. The paradox for a coach to understand is that by attempting to gain greater control, one actually loses control as people feel suffocated and do not want to participate in such a process as it stifles their own creativity. I have come to understand that such ‘control’ ultimately disempowers the person or group one is intending to develop. This dis-empowerment process can be subtle as well as overt (the ranters and ravers). An example of subtlety is where the coach/manager pretends to give the player ‘ownership’  of a situation or process, but in reality it is a manipulation to get others to ‘buy-in’ to what the leader will impose when things don’t unfold as they believe things should. The mask of subtle manipulation gets removed when a process is under pressure and the coach intervenes to take over, to ensure a desired outcome (for the coach’s results record) is achieved. This is a scenario I am seeing increasingly in youth cricket, irrespective of the damage it may be doing to the medium-term or long-term value of developing the learning processes of others, which may have been enhanced in a losing situation. Pain can be one’s best teacher and is more likely to be experienced when personal disappointment or defeat occurs. Manipulating a performance process to ensure a victory at junior level is rooted in the glory culture of winning a prize or cup in the short-term. Who cares if your professional club’s Youth Team win the League or Cup  if no players go on to play cregularly in the first team one day?

I have come to understand that what you learn yourself, you never forget under pressure. Part of this is that if others take responsibility for the decision-making process under pressure, then it undermines an individual or group and in the future, those who were subjected to such an experience do not have the confidence or the persoanl compasss to navigate their way out of complex situations.

My own coaching style has been transformed by ‘The New Paradigm Leader Programme’ led by Dr Ken Jennings.  It has enabled me to use ‘non-action’ as opposed to forced action during stressful times and allow a process to unfold for longer in order to observe more and enable people to reveal themselves over time. By not intervening too soon, and trusting my own discomfort and learning to sit with it for longer, it has enabled me to empower others to find their own answers, which may or may not be better than any answers I could have offered had I chosen to intervene earlier. The most important thing that I have learnt is that when one learns to trust others, the empowering effect can pay huge dividends in the longer-term.

Observing processes closley, and using ‘non-internvention’,  can open up so many more possibilities for all to benefit from thus creating successful,  meaningful learning, for all those who paricipate in the particular process.

Informal conversation with experienced people can transfer significant learning over time. If education, coaching and parenting continues to provide the answers, or at worst does the work for the young (such as parents effectively winning school prizes for doing the child’s homework), then the possibility of the world’s next generation becoming independent-minded, self-reliant people becomes highly unlikely.

My sense is that young people are more intelligent than us adults give them credit for. I believe they are resilient and resourceful too. Only the molly-coddlying by parents, and a desire for school league table targets to be met by teachers, or the ‘prestige’ of a high finish in a sports league dominating a coach’s agenda can get in the way of the kind of quality learning which underpins accelerated development over time.

My good friend Alastair  Storie, a former cricketer who made a century on his first-class debut, and now works as a university lecturer in Psychology, kindly sent me the following piece of research to support  my thinking and professional work, based on the empowerment of others to direct their own learning and become increasingly responsible for their own development and accountable for their own performance:

‘Self-determination is a macro theory of human motivation and personality. It is concerned with the motivation behind the choices that people make without any external influence and interference. The theory emphasises the need for an individual’s behaviour to be self-motivated and self-determined (Deci & Ryan, 2002)’.