Leadership Talents of Soccer Coaches
One of the most highly regarded soccer managers from the UK, Sir Alex Fergurson, has the key charateristics of having a higher than average level of determination to succeed in life and also a natural tendency to lead groups of people. In many interviews, Alex Ferguson has referred to his upbringin in Glasgow as being a key component in these particular characteristics that he posesses.
This upbringing in a relatively poor yet hard working area of Scotland helped bring out his best features and he showed signs of them during his first job on the docks in which he was amonst men who had to work hard to keep their jobs and ensure that the docks remained. He was a steward in a toolroom aged twenty one and this meant that he had to fight for the rights of his people and he says that he needed his natural ability to be decisive during this period of time.
Arsene Wenger is another leading soccer coach plying his trade in the UK. He used his upbringing, which involved meeting lots of different people in the family pub that he was brought up in and was a sort of leadership workshop, to take English soccer forward and increase the playing careers of many of the older player at Arsenal. He used this psychological knowledge to get the best out his players through knowing what makes them tick and so leading them via this.
He places enthasis on his players analysis their performance and being independant in this sense and he also has a natural rapport with people which stems from his upbringing in which he met different people and watched how they acted with each other, particularly after the influence of alcohol which has lead him to educate his players to live healthy lifestyles to become the best athletes that they can.