Strength of a Woman: In praise of my modern Amazons (Vol. III)

(This is the final entry in a 3 part series begun on Monday)

...Kemdibe, my better half (that says all really, and I do mean the better part). When Kemdibe, moved to New York in December 1996 to continue her Medical Studies, she had to get stuck in and got actively involved in running a household, managing her finances, and paying her way through a degree education. She learnt to make sacrifices and rather than be a burden became an asset to everyone she was involved with.

When she moved back to Nigeria ten years later, with a barely two year old son in tow, she focused her energies on raising our son, while managing her time and commitments. She would travel to the States every 6 months or so and utilise her time away working, providing much needed Nursing care in difficult and challenging fields like Intensive Care and Substance Abuse. I remember barely weeks after our daughter was born, she was back on her feet and in her scrubs, heading out to catch the bus to work, to meet her patients with a smile and with the iron will that has seen her succeed at everything she does.

Like my mother, she typifies the expression “a hands-on” person. Soon after we returned to Lagos after our daughter’s birth, she got her hands busy, taking her inspiration from something she had seen from her time in the States. In late 2008/early 2009 Simply Fruity^TM was born from her desire to address a niche that was going largely unserved and from her passion to promote wellness and healthy lifestyle choices. Her business has grown incrementally from an idea in her head to bouquets and trees in people’s homes and at their events, to the opening of our first Simply Fruity^TM Shop last September. Never one to rest on her laurels, she’s already trained her sights on the location for our next few shop fronts, on expanding our market reach and growing the brand.
                     

                                 Opening the Simply Fruity store                             With her human replica

With her discovery of Life Coaching and after getting certified as a Health Coach, she is pushing her agenda to see people live more fruitful and fulfilling lives and is soon to be crowned Africa’s foremost Health & Wellness Evangelist. A separate but aligned industry looms and she has developed the skills, and has the tools to engage it and provide the service a nation so badly needs but is yet largely ignorant of. She singlehandedly refurbished our apartment, taking sole ownership of the Project Manager role and three years later she would do the same at the bidding of our Landlord for our neighbour’s apartment. Her mom says she should consider a career in interior decoration.

OluwaToyosi is mini-mummy in every sense, but she’s also got a healthy dose of her grandmothers as source material. A flair for fashion, a confirmed diva and a budding athlete at her core, the world is her oyster and there is no doubt that she will achieve whatever she sets her mind to. I keep reminding her that there is no "can’t" and she and my son know that our family mantra as believers is, “I can do all things through Christ”. I remember she was barely two years old when a string of beads she was playing with fell apart and suddenly we saw her stringing the beads back with meticulous and painstaking precision. Since then my daughter continues to astound me with her sense for the creative like her mother and grandmother.

 

                            My little Diva (in red)                                              Miss style-me-famous

She’s always trying to design a new dress for her dolls, never satisfied with what they come with out of the box. Her keenness to experiment with their hairstyles has seen many a Barbie doll get the chop and quite a few experience a facelift beyond what they might have bargained for! But there’s no denying that she has an eye for beauty. She loves to read and can be found after night prayers and goodnight kisses still reading a novel or asking for stories to fire her active imagination.

                            

                                     Audrey Hepburn 2015                             Jemima’s creations

She started writing and illustrating her own book and has so far completed “Mita and the Dragon Mouse” a short fantasy book that only a child’s imagination could conceive. I don’t know if there is a sequel in store but I do know that she’s already working on many more stories.

She loves art and loves to jump and dance, when she’s not walking on her tippy toes, she’s doing cartwheels on my bed or in the family living room. So this summer she has enrolled in a Creative Arts Camp where she will be able to express better some of her abilities and desires, and hopefully will receive some additional guidance as she grows to develop her God-given talents. She is no doubt the female Michelangelo.

For the record I also have two fantastic sisters (the Athlete and the Communicator) who are the embodiment of intelligence, wit, graft, dedication, diligence and strength of character. As I watch them evolve, I take pride in seeing them become the women they were made to be and making their mark in the world. I feel blessed to be their brother. I can only imagine how my Father feels about his princesses.

                

                               Omobola, the Athlete                                  Temidayo, the Communicator

These are 4 generations of strong women who can hold their own in any group in any conversation, in any field with any man. When will we recognise the strength of our women and start to give them the credit, honour and responsibility that is their due? We often make light or cultural reference to women’s innate ability to multi-task and speak of it as though it were a useless skill that bears no place on a respectable resume. I’m certain that if this came more naturally to men, we would wear it on our sleeves with pride like the Congressional Medal of honour. But I realise just how amazing women are from my direct experiences with them.

When my wife used to frequent the States more often and leave me in charge of the house, there were certain things that never went done even though we both agreed at the time of her leaving that they were priorities. I could certainly blame my inability to get them done on the fact that my job was too demanding and I had no time. But a few months ago she travelled for a month and I decided to take some time off work in order to be at home with the kids who were on vacation for most of the Easter period. All through her four week long absence, I could barely keep track of our two children, run the house, manage Simply Fruity^TM, as well as meet up with the many other commitments and engagements I was supposed to. This was largely in spite of the fact that there are two drivers and a Nanny to make my task easier.

By the time my wife got back, school had just resumed, so reviewing homework (which I dread) was now part of the equation. It’s a wonder that there was any house for her to come back to! To be honest I was actually relieved to be going back to work, which is a cakewalk compared to the task of trying to replicate my wife. I sincerely wonder how she does it. And to think that she’s also the fitness guru and has just signed up for a dance class!

I was raised by and have benefitted from the help and support of strong, proud women and I know there are countless others like them out there either getting the job done without taking any credit, or waiting for a helping hand, a word of recognition or just the right timed support and encouragement to carry on being the best they can be. I’d like to encourage everyone to spot a talent, lift them up whenever you can and help them to bloom, to blossom and to fly. You can either be a part of their success story or a sad footnote on their path to global conquest and world domination; which will you choose?

I already made my decision and I chose wisely. Now it’s your turn.

                                                                                                                                        IamMaverick           

                                                                                                                                                                                      © 27072015

Strength of a Woman: In praise of my modern Amazons (Vol. II)

(2nd part in a 3 part series: continued from yesterday's post)

Theresa Ifeanyi (or Teresa Ifeanyi Catherine as she now prefers), has always been a great mother (In my biased mind, she, Kemdibe, and mama Rose vie for that role). She always managed to make me feel special even in the midst of all our disagreements. She taught me love and compassion, faithfulness, and the grace to channel my emotions. She taught me how to trust and have faith in God and was the one who helped me learn how to read. She taught my siblings and I how to find our way around the kitchen and the sense to remember people’s birthdays, appreciate them with a card, how to choose and wrap a gift, and to enjoy the celebration of Christmas in all its glory.

From a rustic background in Asaba, she went to school in Ogun State, completing her secondary school at Our Lady of Apostles, Ijebu Ode, just a stone’s throw away from her future husband’s father’s house (small world, eh?). She excelled in Languages and taught Secondary School students in Lagos. She took on a role in the Army Signals Corp, Apapa (I remember soldiers delivering flower pots to my house in Festac in the early 80s) and gave up on the opportunity to work in the organised private sector when she joined Nigeria Airways.

Serving with the National Carrier, she moved from movement control to bilateral Air Services and soon crafted a reputation for being a hard as nails negotiator, diligently serving several Chief Executives of Nigeria’s premier airline. Her knack for languages and keen business sense set her apart as the airline’s principal negotiator as she continued to rack up the air miles and traverse the globe in a bid to see the flag of Nigeria hoisted ever higher.

But she was always an industrious woman, in the early 80s we lived in Festac Town, as the government of the day imposed austerity measures and restrictions on certain items in its mis-guided response to the looming recession, a ban on certain items created a new regime of essential commodities. One of the primary victims of this ban was bread, as the Federal Government had decreed that one of its vital ingredients (I struggle to remember which) could no longer be imported. In order to ensure we weren’t denied our staple, my mother swung into action and started baking her own loaves at home using an alternative. I remember my brothers and I moaning about the taste of this bread, but in time the quality of her product improved and we were relieved from a potential crisis.

     

                     Mama                                                 With the Alpha himself

I remember her making chin-chin in commercial quantities which she would then bag and package and I would take to one of the retail outlets she had negotiated with in 5^th Avenue for sale to end-users. She was always willing to try something new and different. When she was at Nigeria airways, she would use her travel allowance (the so-called estacode) to buy items in demand for sale back home, whether it was jewellery, clothes or whatever the market required. When we moved out from GRA in Ikeja, she soon set up her rental business running it out of a rented complex before, time, chance (and a heavy dose of her cousin’s wise counsel) so her fashion her own office from the ample space within her premises.

She’s grown her business and customer base, moving it from a standard char and table rental company to a full blown events management firm. She has mentored several young people, many going on to succeed in their own right, while her own sense of enterprise waxes even stronger. She’s participated in network marketing exploits and continues to identify and explore opportunities to diversify her streams of income. She joined the Lions in the 2000s eventually rising to become Chapter President (or is it Charter?), championing a string of causes including education for the under-privileged and health initiatives for the poor and needy. And even at the height of swapping hotels, planes and airports, she was still able to successfully play the roles of wife, mother and caregiver to her husband and 5 children, in particular to three troublesome, robust, demanding, adventurous, stressful and trying boys, and one wily, cunning and infinitely clever and manipulative boy genius.

                             

                                                            The picture that started it all!

                      4 generations of Amazons! Kemdibe, OluwaToyosi, Great Grany and Mama Rose

Her sense of adventure is mirrored by Mama Rose, my mother-in-law, a queen, a diva and a peach. She is expressive, full of life, and full of heart. She is an unrepentant giver for which many have sought to abuse her generosity and take her for granted. She took the bold step to move to New York in a pursuit to further enhance herself and believes you can never stop improving yourself and getting better. She is a bastion of medical knowledge and a first rate caregiver. She sees business opportunities where others see only challenges and has successfully sold cars, sold jewellery, electronics and clothes.

She has an eye for a good bargain and drives herself harder than anyone could logically demand. She seems to grow younger by the year and is a source of great companionship and counsel to her friends, family and neighbours. Her local church has come to depend on her as the go-to person when they need to get things done, and her enthusiasm for service means she will drag every and anyone close to her into her web of service to get the tasks done. She is a great source of inspiration for me and for...

(Look out for the closing part of this post tomorrow)

Strength of a Woman: In praise of my modern Amazons (Vol. I)

I’m not very big on numbers and statistics (blame this on my partial dyslexia), but they are roughly one half of the population; one half of the human race. They are Woman. They are the paragons of beauty, the symbols of God’s divine artistic majesty; they are a sight to behold, eye-candy for the visually active. They are from Venus, they are lithe, graceful, elegant, emotional, sweet, gentle, kind, and they are the physical embodiment of that most loosely used word “beautiful”. They are Women.

It’ has always baffled me how through the ages we’ve largely managed to subjugate them, marginalise them and disenfranchise them as second class citizens. They are relegated to the back in domestic and national affairs as though their views didn’t matter and don’t count or as if they have nothing positive to contribute to humanity and the human experience.

In the early 1900s women had to fight to get the vote, which men as a matter of course exercised on their behalf. In parts of Nigeria, and Africa and India young girls (sometimes not even in their teens) are routinely given out in “marriage” to men sometimes three times their age. Female Genital Mutilation is a phrase that has become popular in the west as a source of shame and reproach for cultures that still practice it – of course the victims, it goes without saying are women. Mortality statistics reveal that many women sufferers of abusive relationships have died at the hand of their husbands, partners or ex-lovers. And cases of domestic abuse, physical and emotional are on the increase; again guess who’s on the receiving end? Female drivers are the butt of our sexist jokes, and on it goes.

And sadly the most blatant case of female segregation is in the workplace where women have had to toil for the better part of their existence to gain the heights and earn the respect of their peers and colleagues. It used to be that women weren’t considered good enough to be anything but secretaries and typists even as recently as the 60s and 70s. The advent of the Female Manager was something we finally began to see more of in the 90s, and even then it didn’t mean that the glass ceiling was forever shattered.

The workplace is still largely male dominated; there are certain fields that do not require physical endeavour that are still male dominated; gender diversity in leadership teams and several Fortune 500 boards is still way of the mark for a sex that represents half of the human experience and through whom every single person originated. And finally there is the issue of compensation with female employees, earning anywhere from 10% to sometimes as much as 30% less than their male colleagues for doing the same role.

Personally, my position is to advocate for women to be seen as equals, to be seen as partners, to be seen as complementary and for full gender inclusion. I’m not about sexism and certainly not one to postulate that women take on roles that only men are suited to (for example being a father), but I believe that they bring a unique insight and perspective to the workplace, and societal experience that men can NEVER provide, no matter how much in touch they are with their feminine side or metrosexuals as I hear they are now called. I’m sure everyone has a story or two to tell about their own female heroes and role models, let me share mine.

I come from a strong stock of males (my Dad is the quintessential Alpha Male) but have also been privileged to have around me some of the most phenomenally amazing women through the course of my short life. My grandfather (God rest his soul) was born at the start of the 20^th Century, a polygamous Muslim, he had a harem of wives and fathered close to 90 children (Dad was no 12, captain of the B-team). But the old man was particularly fond of one wife in particular. His office was in her house, which was where he had his meals always with her, in these silver dishes. Every day when he was walking up to her house, you would hear him call out “my dear”, to which she would reply in turn “my dear”. The affection between them was strong and deep, you didn’t need a soothsayer to tell you how close and dear to him she was. But I digress.

Janet Solabomi was also known as the Nigerian Florence Nightingale. She was trained as a Nurse and had practiced her career diligently across Nigeria before, setting up shop in Oluseyi Lodge (her home) where she had a maternity ward and clinic, incidentally my older brother; my parent’s first born was born there. She was a paragon of strength, fortitude, faith, devotion, love, honour and service. She gave her time and resources to her family and her community, she helped create jobs, mentored younger women, played a leadership role in her local church (paving the way through prayer for her husband’s eventual salvation) and exemplified family and duty for her children and grand-children. My brother and I joke that her children are soo tightly knit; they are like members of a cult.

I had amazing childhood memories from vacation times spent in her home, with cousins over the Christmas-New year break, smashing records, having breakfast and lunches, and just the general atmosphere of kin that she created for us. Notably though, she did all these in her capacity as mother, wife and caregiver, while still running a tight ship in her business and workplace. This is an area where men continue to struggle.

On a personal level, she also set the template for how a mother-in-law should relate with her daughter-in-law, and my mother was a principal beneficiary of her friendship, openness and counsel. I have no doubt that Mama JS (as some called her) left a major mark on her first son’s wife, the woman I call “mum”.

(I will post the second part of this series tomorrow)

What Makes A Successful Coach (Vol III)

(This is the final part of my 3 article series on this subject)

I agree that there are exceptions to this premise; David Moyes' promotion from “little league” management status (Everton) to the big Leagues (Manchester United), has already been talked about, memed and blogged to death, so I won’t dwell on the topic. What I would say though (and this might sound trite with the benefit of hindsight) is that many people were unconvinced from the on-set that David Moyes was truly the right man for that job. While his Everton side had done creditably well even finishing in European places, and while he was hailed as a good manager of very little resources, there were better managers, like his Everton replacement, Roberto Martinez and Swansea’s Michael Laudrup, both of whom had impressed even more over a shorter period of time doing great exploits with even smaller teams, with nowhere near the same level of pedigree that Everton had. If anything Moyes seemed to condemn Everton, a former great of the English game, to ten years of mediocrity, saddling them with the satisfaction that they maintained their Premier League status season after season without aspiring to anything of meaning, including the FA or League Cup.

The tragedy of Moyes’ appointment is that Sir Alex Ferguson failed his succession planning test. He had a significant number of assistant coaches, many of whom went on to manage teams in their own right, and sadly, he wasn’t able to groom a single one of them to take on his old job.

Personally I like Barcelona’s Louis Enrique; I was a great fan of his when he played for Barcelona and for Spain (For the record, I do NOT like FC Barcelona: if they were the last team on the planet I’d just watch netball). But much as I admire Lucho, I truly question his “great” coaching ability. His time at Roma was a mess and still sticks like a trapped fishbone in one’s throat. If he had done creditably well there, his eventual triumph at Barcelona would have felt slightly, deserved. Like Andres Villas Boas, I feel they had one lucky break too many and will soon be found out, as Vilas Boas was at Chelsea, but by then it’ll probably be too late or it won’t matter because he now has “Barcelona coach” on his CV as well as the medals his team managed to haul in this year.

I’d rather give greater credence to coaches like Diego Simeone who revived a sleeping Spanish giant in Athletico Madrid and took them to the league title and within 30 minutes of winning their first ever Champions League title. Or for Roberto Martinez who’s swashbuckling Everton side did the double over Manchester United and the man who he had replaced in the coach’s seat. Or Jurgen Klopp who revived Borussia Dortmund and pulled them to the summit of the German League two seasons in a row despite stiff competition from Bayern Munich. In Italy, I admire Vincenzo Montella who has helped Fiorentina re-discover their style and swagger on the pitch.

Of this lot, I think only Mourinho truly earns the title, “special”. His rise from a “smaller” league where he coached three different teams, to his move to Chelsea, where he became a household name is well documented. But he fulfills what would seemingly be my sole criteria for determining who makes a good coach – organic progression.

I struggle with the idea of an overnight success. Imagine the club as a Fortune 500 company with the Coach as the CEO. If it’s a family owned business, it would not be unexpected if the Chairman (and owner) decides to name one of his children as the CEO’s successor. However, the expectation would be that for that child’s ascension to that senior role to be well received, it usually has to be progressive. Many families (and businesses) have by now mastered the art of “grooming” their children for senior management. In fact I believe that some of the leadership programs utilised by multi-nationals like GE and Ericsson, stem from this approach. The young heir apparent starts off in a lowly position in a lowly department, learns the ropes of the business and moves from one department to another getting better insight into the family’s business. As he moves about he also gets handed increasing amounts of responsibility until he is deemed to be ready to take on the mantle of leadership.

In a country short on successful stories of family businesses surviving from one generation to the next, it is with great pleasure that one is able to point to Diamond Bank, who’s founder and pioneer CEO was able to see one of his son’s successfully take over the top job in 2014, several years after the father had left the day to day running of the firm to younger men.

Obviously we like a meteoric rise, stories of people who rose to the top in one single bound. But the reality is that far too many are equally looking out and hoping for a spectacular fall from the heady heights to shame, scandal and infamy.

Why do I champion a more progressive and organic approach to identifying capable leadership talent and “promoting” them into higher levels of leadership? It’s about sustainability. The impact of well-groomed and seasoned coaches on the job is there for all to see. In any management team, you can always tell who’s been in management roles longest, and made the most of their time, just by how they react to different scenarios and manage crises. Andres Villas Boas got fired from Chelsea barely 8 months after he was hailed as the “new Mourinho”. Lucho Enrique mis-managed Roma so poorly they were unable to qualify for the Champions League or even mount a credible title challenge. Barely half a season into his role as Barcelona head coach, there were already stories of a major rift between him and the team’s star player and it got to the stage where he was virtually one match away from being sacked.

Conversely, on the other side of the divide, Carlo Ancelotti the wise and well-travelled coach of Real Madrid, didn’t feel the need to prove himself to his players, but invariably he earned their respect and admiration and got the best out of an unbalanced side. In his first season, the Italian had melded the bunch of star players into the squad that would finally bring home the elusive 10^th Champions League trophy. In 2006, the silver fox of Italian football, Marcello Lippi, led a highly underrated Nazionale to victory at the World Cup. Lippi had garnered experience coaching teams like Juventus, Inter, Atalanta, Napoli, Cesena, Siena and Sampdoria and this was brought to bear as he willed his team of underachievers over the finish line.

Need more proof? Luis Aragones (the cantankerous old man of Spain), led his Spanish national side, Europe’s perennial underachievers, to their first major senior level victory at Euro 2008. His successor, Vicente Del Bosque, another wily seasoned hand, would go one further and bring home the top prize in global football, the FIFA World Cup and in 2012, he’d repeat European success by beating Italy in a thrilling final game.

As a young man myself, it’s not my intention to posit that young people be denied the opportunity to aspire to leadership roles. It’s certainly not my view that young folks can’t aspire to big jobs. But there is a time tested formula that’s been proven to work. Even in biblical times, Joseph, David, Daniel, and the Lord Jesus himself all had to wait for their due time before they could enter into the fullness of God’s ordained ministry for them. What troubles me is that when this becomes the norm, we may unwittingly create a sense of entitlement in other young people, and wind up having to choose from a pool of half-baked young managers who are, incapable of dealing with the assignments they have received and invariably setting them up for failure. The resulting effect is that someone may eventually be forced to pull the plug on what is then perceived as a poorly conceived experiment; thus shutting the door to other potentially better prepared and better suited young leaders, and denying young leaders, who had taken the time and effort to work hard, stay relevant and remain prepared. Am I making any sense?

As we seemingly race against the clock of age, the 21^st century has seen the advent of possibly the most entitled generation of humans there ever will be on the face of this planet. They are fuelled by an irrational sense of expectation that this world owes them something. I’m yet to figure out how they came about this conclusion, but it is high time that someone brought them back to reality, by cutting their expectations down to size and freeing them from this grand delusion. To allow them to continue to wallow in this self-centred quagmire, would be to mortgage our collective future to the hands of "me-first" leaders who’s warped values can only guarantee one certainty…the mere thought practically makes me shudder.

So what makes a winning coach? I’d argue it’s the guy who’s taken the time to hone his skills and develop his craft. I’d say it’s the guy who believes in the value of providing a first rate service before worrying what people will pay for that service. I’d wager that it’s the chap who’s passionate about his job and would rather quit than have someone rubbish his legacy. It’s the guy who’s taking the time to build a career and not just seeking to make a name for himself merely for its sake. For me that’s what makes the professional; the consummate chap whose arduous preparation sets him up for success. 

You don’t have to take my word for it but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Now tell me; what’s yours?

                                                                                                                                                                IamMaverick 25/6-2015 ©

What Makes A Successful Coach (Vol II)

(This is the 2nd part in a series of 3 articles)

But I need to stay on message. Allegri did the Italian double in his first season as Juve coach, going one better than he did in his debut season as Milan coach. On the other hand, in his first season, Lucho Enrique won the treble, like Guardiola before him, both achieving this amazing feat as coaches of Barcelona. Jose Mourinho did the treble in his spell at Inter Milan, having previously done the double in Porto and in his first spell at Chelsea. With his work so far at Bayern, Guardiola seems out to disprove any remaining critics to his abilities as a premier coach alongside the very best the modern game has ever seen. If Enrique and Allegri continue this winning streak with their current sides, which seems entirely plausible with their current roster of players and the peculiarities of the leagues they play in, they will soon reach the same god-like status of Pep and Jose. And we will soon start to talk about them in the same breadth and take it for granted that they are spectacular talents and coaching greats.

But with all these accolades pouring in like a Himalayan avalanche it does make you wonder; how would any of these players have fared if rather than coach a top tier team, they had had to start from a lower ranked league side? Would they have attained the same level of success, or would they have done enough to be noticed by a bigger team and then move into the “big leagues”? This is the central thesis of my query. I wonder if the outlandish applause we give to these coaches (and you can substitute that for whatever term you like, you might just be surprised at the parallels) isn’t just an expressive outlet of our need to hero worship; our innate desire to make stars of even underserving people so that we can give our mundane lives some meaning. Stretching the parallels a bit, is Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel the great driver either is touted as, or did they just get to have the good fortune of driving behind the fastest set of wheels on the track?

There was once a time when the average coach would start out with a smaller team and would keep moving up the ranks as it were, either as his team succeeded and got better positions on the league table or as other higher placed teams saw the value in his style, approach and results and decided to take a chance on him. Most of the coaches who led the teams many of us grew up watching in the 70s, 80s and 90s were pre-dominantly of this mould. In fairness, there was more balance to the game then than there is now as clubs were on more of an even footing in terms of the talent pool available to them and the financial resources they had to call upon.

The game has since changed fundamentally. Many of Europe’s leading clubs started as neighbourhood/communal teams and so enjoyed support from their local community. As the game became more global, and with the advent of TV, these clubs began to appeal to a wider global fan base beyond their backyards. Some teams took advantage of globalisation and capitalised on the opportunities that lay farther afield. Clubs like Real Madrid and Manchester United grasped early on that their long term fortunes lay beyond their own shores and today they are better positioned financially for it than most others. On the other hand, globalisation is a two way street and while the first wave of development came from clubs expanding their brand abroad, the next wave began in 2003 when Ken Bates sold off Chelsea FC to Russian Oligarch, Roman Abramovich.

Abramovich’s intervention wasn’t the first time a wealthy individual would invest in or buy into a club; Silvio Berlusconi had taken over AC Milan and Bernard Tapie was once lord and master of Olympic Marseille. The difference this time was the sheer amount of money involved and the fact that even established teams and owners couldn’t compete with the “crazy money” now being introduced into the game. Soon Manchester City would be bought by Emiratis and the Qataris would take over Paris Saint Germain. As results would show over the course of a few years, it had now become possible to “buy” a trophy and “build” your dream team, just by having enough cash. The restraints that rival clubs faced as they tried to run viable clubs and make sure their books balanced at the day’s end were of no consequence to these noveau riche teams.

So what does any of this have to do with our central question? Everything. With the introduction of lavish amounts of money into the game, the new owners seemingly have only one demand; and that is to win and win right away. It appears that the era of long term coaches or patience with a coach’s style and philosophy is long gone as the win at all costs mentality seems to pervade every facet of the modern game. These days, coaches are hired to win, and if they fail to do so, they can count on being fired in the morning. And when the coach is sacked, the club goes out on the hunt for a coach with a “winning” mentality. The patience to get a promising coach and allow him grow into the role is something we rarely see anymore. Even coaches who have proven themselves time and again find themselves on the receiving end of this new-fangled impatience as owners and fans now addicted to instant success, or envious of another team’s overnight champion status start to demand more from their faithful coach. One can only begin to wonder what kept Arsene Wenger going for 9 years as he daily had to keep the Arsenal faithful satisfied that his experiment was on track and they would eventually return to the heady heights he had previously taken them to.

So how can you gauge a truly successful coach? Is it the one who has the best tactical nous and can come up with a problem for every opposing team’s solutions? Is it the one who knows how to get the most out of his players and can make the most of his meagre resources? Is it the one whose team keeps on winning notwithstanding the style of football on display? Or is it the one whose team plays an attractive, offensive all out football game and who score goals like they’re going out of fashion?

Personally I couldn’t argue with the winning run that both Guardiola and Mourinho have enjoyed since they forced themselves into our collective consciousness, what I do question though is whether they would have had the same measure of success if they had been coaching a West Bromwich Albion, a Genoa, a Real Betis or an Eintracht Frankfurt. I question whether each one of these modern day coaching geniuses would have been able to rise to the top if they’d had to manage the task of climbing the coaching ladder, rather than having the reins of an already well established and successful club handed to them (undeservedly) on a platter.

It may seem harsh and unfair, but I’d wager that there are some teams in certain leagues that even a monkey could lead to Championship victory (yes, Italy, Spain, Germany I’m looking at you). This may not hold true for all leagues, but by the same token, even if the team doesn’t win its league, it will at least compete creditably. If that premise holds true, then you wonder why more clubs don’t take chances on bolder coaches who are making a name for themselves with smaller less established teams. I mean let’s be honest; how badly can an average coach perform if he has the likes of Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Tomas Muller, and Philip Lahm, in his starting eleven? When Guardiola inherited the current Bayern Munich squad, they had just been crowned Champions of Europe and Germany and already had a resolute winning mentality. Allegri inherited a Juventus side who were three times League winners in Italy and Louis Enrique took over the squad that had at its core the team Frank Rijkaard initiated, Pep Guardiola established and Tito Vilanova polished. Truly how hard could it have been to get these teams to win a title again?

Despite my dislike for the English Premier League, it might actually prove to be a more difficult league to win than some of the others in Europe. The reason I say this is because a look at the competition shows that there are at least 3 or 4 teams that start out each season with a real possibility of winning the title, and as the campaign bears out, with points going one way or another, there is more often than not the possibility of a close race all the way down to the wire. In Germany apart from the two season blip that Bayern suffered in 2011, and 2012 it is fairly certain that they will win the league again next year. In recent times in Italy, as much as it pains me to write this, there’s only one Champion and that’s Juventus; the others, be they Roma or Napoli just don’t have enough in the tank to sustain a season long campaign for honours. For them it would appear that their sole aim is to qualify for the Champions League positions. And as for the two disappointing teams from Milan, they seem content for now to continue to implode season after season. Spain has only Real and Barcelona and impressive though it was, Atletico’s campaign two seasons ago was merely a case of them profiting from the slip of the two teams in front. Even their coach admits as much.

So if you’re appointed coach of Juventus tomorrow, how hard can it really be to secure the team its fifth successive title? If you don’t tinker too much and you basically allow the players to carry on as if the last chap were still there, they’d probably not notice his departure and would attain the same results for you. In fact, you could go to training sessions and matches with a mask bearing Max Allegri’s features and that stupid grin of his, and no one would be the wiser. Then when your team comes in victorious next May, would we then unmask you and declare you a revolutionary, brilliant coach? Is that what it takes? Is this now the guaranteed path to coaching success? Is this now the standard coaches are held to? Would that truly make you a great coach?

Jose Mourinho left Chelsea in 2007, barely 7 games into his fourth season in charge of the club. Roman Abramovich had been convinced by his Sporting Director, Frank Arnesen and others that it was his (Abramovich) money and footballing genius that had brought the trophies to Chelsea and not Mourinho’s guile and tactics. They basically said anyone would win with you in charge and with all the money you’ve invested. So Roman believed, and soon he and Mourinho were parting. Despite Mourinho’s departure that season, Chelsea would push Manchester United all the way in both the league and the Champions League, eventually falling short as runners up to United in both competitions. After Avram Grant’s departure in 2008, practically every single coach Chelsea hired would win a title, essentially using the spine of Mourinho’s team. The one exception being Andres Villas Boas (AVB) who only lasted half a season; incidentally his replacement, Roberto di Matteo, would secure Chelsea its first ever UEFA Champions League trophy. So it does seem after all despite Frank Arnesen’s unceremonious demise at Chelsea that he was right about one thing – once you have a winning team in place, anyone can “successfully” coach them.

Need more proof? Here’s another anecdote. For seven years between 2002 and 2008, Ligue 1 side, Olympique Lyonnais, held the league championship trophy with a vice-like grip. No one it seemed cold prise the league from the team. Players came and went, but significantly the team changed its head coach no less than four (yes 4) times, and each one of those coaches won something during that victorious streak.

(please stay tuned for my closing thoughts)