Understanding and developing relationship in the modern football hierachy

The official magazine of the Football Medicine & Performance Association

football medicine & performance

Issue 31 Winter 2019/20

Feature

Karen Carney A Pioneer for the Womens’ Game In this issue Injuries in Football: It’s Time to Stop Chasing the Training Load Unicorn Cautious Return to Play Could Prevent Muscle Injuries FMPA Conference 2020 Neurodegenerative Disease Among Former Footballers

Legal Ţ Education Ţ Recruitment Ţ Wellbeing

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CONTENTS FEATURES

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Injury Mitigation in Team Sports. Part-2: The risk management approach Colin W. Fuller

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What to do and When to do it? The Tricky Question of Specialisation in Youth Football Laura Finnegan

11

Injuries in Football: It’s Time to Stop Chasing the Training Load Unicorn Franco M. Impellizzeri, Aaron J. Coutts, Maurizio Fanchini, Alan McCall

33

Training the Semi-Professional Footballer Daniel Bernardin, Dylan Mernagh

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Karen Carney A Pioneer for the Women’s Game Sean Carmody

39

Wrist Injuries in Goalkeepers Raj Bhatia, Adam Esa, Sam Haines

45

Neurodegenerative Disease Mortality Among Former Professional Soccer Players – Summary Emma Russell

49

Job Insecurity: Reducing Its Negative Effect on Your Wellbeing Caroline Marlowe

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FMPA Register

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ABOUT

Cautious Return to Play Could Prevent Muscle Injuries in Professional Football Håkan Bengtsson, Jan Ekstrand, Markus Waldén, Martin Hägglund

22

Generalised Joint Hypermobility – Why should it be screened for within a football setting?

Adam Johnson

24

FMPA Conference 2020

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Understanding and Developing Relationships in the Modern Football Hierarchy Dr Daniel Parnell, Professor Barry Drust

Football Medicine & Performance Association 6A Cromwell Terrace, Gisburn Road, Barrowford, Lancashire, BB9 8PT T: 0333 456 7897 E: info@fmpa.co.uk W: www.fmpa.co.uk FMPA_Official Officialfmpa fmpa_official LinkedIn: Football Medicine & Performance Association FMPA_Register FMPARegister fmpa_register Chief Executive Officer Eamonn Salmon eamonn.salmon@fmpa.co.uk

Design Oporto Sports www.oportosports.com

Executive Administrator Lindsay Butler admin@fmpa.co.uk

Photography PA Images, FMPA

Project Manager Angela Walton angela.walton@fmpa.co.uk

Contributors Colin W. Fuller, Franco M. Impellizzeri, Aaron J. Coutts, Maurizio Fanchini, Alan McCall, Håkan Bengtsson, Jan Ekstrand, Markus Waldén, Martin Hägglund, Adam Johnson, Dr Daniel Parnell, Professor Barry Drust, Laura Finnegan, Daniel Bernardin, Dylan Mernagh, Raj Bhatia, Adam Esa, Sam Haines, Emma Russell, Caroline Marlowe

Marketing/Advertising Charles Whitney 0845 004 1040

Print Media Village www.media-village.co.uk

Administration Assistant Amie Hodgson amie.hodgson@fmpa.co.uk

COVER IMAGE England’s Karen Carney during the FIFA Women’s World Cup Third Place Play-Off at the Stade de Nice, Nice.

Richard Sellers/PA Wire/PA Images

Football Medicine & Performance Association.

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No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system without prior permission except as permitted under the Copyright Designs Patents Act 1988. Application for permission for use of copyright material shall be made to FMPA. For permissions contact admin@fmpa.co.uk

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feature

UNDERSTANDING AND DEVELOPING RELATIONSHIPS IN THE MODERN FOOTBALL HIERARCHY FEATURE / DR DANIEL PARNELL & PROFESSOR BARRY DRUST Over the past two decades, football has developed into a hyper-commercialised multimillionpound industry involving a range of stakeholders including investors, global media, sponsors and supporters. One strategy aimed at creating more sustainable football operations, embraced in European football but received more reluctantly in English football, is the recruitment of a Sporting Director. Sporting Directors in football are strategically adopted to broadly protect an owner’s investment and provide a competitive advantage. Undoubtedly, there have been both early successes and failures associated with the position in the sport, yet for many in the game we are now beyond the time when the role is simply a transient trend. As a result we can expect to see Sporting Directors become more popular and mainstream across the game in the United Kingdom over the next few years. Given the importance of this

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role in overseeing all sporting strategy, inclusive of performance (sport science and medicine) it is important to consider this context and how individuals working in professions allied to sport and exercise science and medicine may be able to further strengthen these relationships.

Despite more and more clubs adopting this strategy, the role of the Sporting Director remains shrouded in mystery.

Such uncertainty is partly associated with the inconsistency in both the title and the roles and responsibilities associated with the job. As a result the role of the Sporting Director is somewhat ambiguously understood externally by fans and media and internally by club employees. Broadly, the Sporting Director can be described as a senior executive with a sports-specific management remit.

The role Sporting Directors are often responsible for the overall performance of all sporting

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departments. This extends from the first team, Under-23s, academy, and scouting, through to the medical and sport science department. The Sporting Director regularly assumes a board level position and is responsible for the delivery of the strategic plan for the club to achieve its sporting aims. A number of key aspects of the role includes: ~ ~

~ ~

Support the first team and head coach; Employ the best talent to assume leadership over the various sporting departments; Manage the movement of players in and out of the club; Oversee the performance of all sporting departments including medical and sport science.

Despite this, each club approaches the role in a unique fashion and it is often unclear what the exact role a Sporting Director is undertaking. As such, the lack of clarity surrounding the role has prompted

football medicine & performance

speculation and concern by stakeholders in the game. Our recent research on the Sporting Director outlined some interesting findings related to the title and job role of Sporting Directors (Parnell and colleagues, 2018). Sporting Directors explained that some stakeholders assumed they had control of recruitment: “Titles in the football industry can be confusing but providing that the functions and responsibilities are clearly understood within all of the football structure of the club then the title becomes less important.”.

“The biggest challenge is that the industry gains a better understanding of the role. Boards and Owners appear to have difficulty understanding […].

More help for the Board/Owner to understand the requirements will be necessary to achieve this”.

(Director of Football) This can have a consequence for both external and internal relationships: “…If the press and fans, or even just the lads in the academy think you have an influence on recruitment [i.e., transfer in and out of players], when you don’t, then basically your head is on the line.

At my last club, because no-one really knew who was in charge of transfers, it ended up with other clubs and agents [i.e., intermediaries] getting caught between me, the Chairman and the first team manager.

It was a bit embarrassing and not good for business. This stuff has to come from the top and needs to be communicated”.

(Head of Football Operations) The majority of those in football leadership positions highlighted that the role was most important to them, rather than just achieving the Sporting Director title. This is important, as some may seek to attain the Sporting Director title given the kudos associated with the role and the implications that this may have on their employability: “If you have the title, regardless of role, it means that you [your CV] are on the table for any new jobs at that level” (Director of Football) “Once you have the title, then you are immediately on the radar of recruitment companies. It’s a lot riskier for them to put someone in [recommend someone for the job] who has never had the title, than someone who has” (Director of Football)

Therefore, those working in the game must look beyond the title and focus explicitly on the role. One previous senior football leader outlined:

have highlighted potential issues. This is especially true of medical and sport science departments in elite football environments, where multiple stakeholders are involved:

“There are many titles and yet there is little consistency in job descriptions. In my case I am Vice Chairman of Football.

I believe my job description is more important than the title. I also believe I am by definition the true Sporting Director…

“What strikes me is the number of people with a stake in a player’s health and wellbeing. Naturally, we all want the best possible support for players.

However, we now have a situation where players have their own doctor and in some case whole support team.

[…] The Sporting Director ‘Directs the Sport’ and that should be everything to do with the sport. Using and selling players, hiring and firing managers and coaches, setting targets and objectives within the culture, values and philosophy of the club and providing guardianship of that culture and those values.

Where sports performance is concerned the true Sporting Director is the ultimate decision maker and holds responsibility and accountability for that performance. I think many incumbents of the role under this or any of the other titles rarely have this full level of responsibility. They are rarely Board Level Directors and most often the big decisions regarding players and coaches and budgets are made by other Executives ( CEO’s) or Owners / Chairpersons. Big decisions aren’t made by inexperienced or non-sporting directors.

(Vice Chairman of Football) Given this, there is no surprises that there is considerable vagueness regarding the roles and responsibilities of those within the role. This can have consequences internally across the club. Role ambiguity can also create confusion with the fans and media.

This creates a number of concerns given the evidence that suggests poor communication and/or blurred lines with respect of roles and responsibilities can trigger stress, role duplication and repetition, which can result in the failure of the organisation to achieve its strategic aims and objective and nodoubt the overall performance of the people and organisation.

Interestingly, in performance environments, leaders must consider the implication of confusion in role. The lack of clear identity, shared visions, and behaviours, may result in an environment or ‘team’ of individuals, with multiple and variable motivation who may be more focussed on performance irrelevant and self-interested agendas, than a performance focused common purpose (see Cruickshank and Collins, 2015; Drust, O’Boyle and Gillett, 2018).

Ultimately, this lack of clarity has the potential to cause internal communication challenges when the organisational structure is not clear and roles and responsibilities are undefined. This could be especially the case as medical and science departments continue to grow.

Current Sporting Directors in elite football

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I am sure this is done with the best intentions, and is sometimes led by the player and other times by their intermediaries. But this has meant dealing with sport science and medical staff is becoming a huge headache, whether it’s related to training, contracts, loans or teamselection - it impacts an organisation’s decision-making and performance. In an efficient organisation, you would expect to consult with one voice as part of a collaborative management, but we just haven’t got that.”

(Sporting Director) What can be done?

Get to know people. This seems the most obvious recommendation to many, yet in the fast-paced, busy world of football, this simple notion can be missed. We recommend that those in the game explore the wider context of club structure, people and their roles and responsibilities. This will help identify misunderstanding, dualrole, duplication and gaps.

Get channels for communication. The importance of communication is often undervalued within any organisation. People simply don’t know how important it is for creating flows of information and innovation, whether its new ideas, new ways of doing things, or making sure the strategy is put into practice on a day-to-day basis. Create methods to flatten the organisational structure through within group, across group and across hierarchy communication channels.

Cruickshank, A., and Collins, D. (2015).

Illuminating and applying “the dark side”: insights from elite team leaders. Journal of applied sport psychology, 27(3), 249-67.

Drust, B., O’Boyle, A., and Gillett, M. (2018) Managing Performance in elite professional football. In: The Routledge Handbook on the Business of Football, edited by Simon Chadwick, Daniel Parnell, Paul Widdop, and Christos Anagnostopoulos. Chapter 12.

Parnell, D., Groom, R., Widdop, P., and Ward, S. (2018). The Sporting Director: Exploring Current Practice and Challenges within Elite Football. In: The Routledge Handbook on the Business of Football, edited by Simon Chadwick, Daniel Parnell, Paul Widdop, and Christos Anagnostopoulos. Chapter 13.

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feature

football medicine & performance

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