The Confidence Coach's Sports Psychology Articles
On The Couch With Dr. Martin
This Sports Psychology column examines the leadership style and psychology of Stuart Pearce. It comes the day after he was sacked by Manchester City.
Stuart Pearce
It’s the Monday after the curtain has fallen on this seasons Premiership. Paul Jewell is exhausted. Sam Allardyce is off to revive Newcastle. And Stuart Pearce is sacked. City regulars are neither surprised or disappointed at his sudden departure. The phone ins are asking the sports psychology experts, how has it come to this for the man, who only months ago, was being touted for the England job?
Stuart Pearce’s style is unmistakeable. Patrolling the touchline. Emanating passion, brimming with enthusiasm. Exhorting his players to appreciate the game’s basics. He appears to be kicking every ball, feeling their pain. Sometimes he strays onto the pitch.
So, no one can gainsay his obvious desire, but has his been an effective touchline strategy? Have his City players benefited from having the boss breathing over their shoulders? Has his presence been an encouragement? An inspiration? Or, could all his starbursts of nervous energy have inhibited his team and made them acutely aware of their failings? It's a question the phone-ins are asking of the sports psychology experts.
Have They Minds Of Their Own?...
The technical area offers advantages for the manager. It’s the place for subtle tactical changes; for encouraging reminders when the pressure is on; for positive reinforcement for the tiring player. So, it can be good for the team. However, when the players cross the ‘white line’ they must be trusted. A constant stream of invective or instruction, or wild gesticulation, suggests something is not quite right.
It’s as if the manager is not convinced that the players will remember the drills which have been perfected in training. As of they have no minds of their own.
Also, it must be mentally and physically exhausting when coaches like Gary Megson play out the whole game from the touchline, rarely leaving the players to their own devices.
Control Freakery...
It intimates that everything must be under the coach’s control. Control freakery made flesh. Little is left to chance. The players are obliged to comply. Stuart Pearce has been doing their thinking for them. It channels his nervous energy. But it doesn’t make for imaginative football. Or goals.
When he lands his next job, Stuart Pearce would be advised to spend a few games in the stand, as Sam Allardyce and others do from time to time. To put some distance between himself and the pitch; to get another perspective. Pearce will remember that his old boss, Brian Clough, would sometimes not even turn up for matches, leaving his team to work things out for themselves.
Pearce, too, could step away and allow his players to implement the match plan. There may be more extremes of emotion, but the players would soon learn how to work things through. Those who won’t or can’t will be let go. A new freedom would enable them to play more with their instincts, rather than by numbers.
The Sports Psychology Summary...
The creative mind flourishes in an environment of nurturing and freedom, not where growth is stifled. Players could envisage a world where creating and converting chances is the norm. Individual ability will thrive and the confidence of the team would rise exponentially.
So, if Stuart Pearce can sublimate his talent to the needs of a club, it will not become just a distorting mirror of himself, but a guiding light to the future
Contact Martin Perry: Confidence Coach & Sports Psychology - 0044 (0) 77897 56425