Redknapp’s success dominates LMA dinner

I was a founder member, and probably the best illustration of why we needed it was on the day of the first meeting, gathered in a small secretary’s office at Watford FC, along with the then chairman of the Football League, Bill Fox.

The secretary of Watford kept excusing himself, leaving the meeting and coming back in at various intervals, looking more flustered each time.

It was only afterwards that we found out the club was in the process of sacking its manager.

But the meeting was a success in so far as Bill Fox agreed the Football League would help finance the start of the new union.

It was really a breakaway from what was previously in place – a combination of everyone, involving managers, secretaries, commercial managers etc from the football administration side.

However, within weeks of the decision being made, the Premier League raised its head and Bill Fox’s position became diluted.

But the association eventually got started and I well remember the first meeting.

Steve Coppell, who was then out of work and had only recently finished playing, had agreed to become the first chief executive.

At the end of the formalities, questions were asked for and Brian Clough got to his feet to say “Young man, are you one of them, or are you one of us?”

which raised a few eyebrows.

He repeated it. What he meant was ‘are you still a player, or are you thinking as a manager?’ It was a valid point, because there’s a huge difference.

Steve did the job until he got back into management, then Jim Smith did likewise before John Barnwell held the post for 12 years.

On his retirement a year ago, Richard Bevan, who had a similar role with the Professional Cricketers’ Association, has moved into the chair.

He has taken the LMA to another level in so far as some fundraising events have already taken place, at places like the Dorchester and Wembley, which helped not only charities, but also boosted LMA funds.

These funds are needed, of course, because, while there are only 92 jobs at any one time, there are hundreds of others who have fallen by the wayside, or possibly hit hard times, and there are always disputes going on with managers who have been sacked trying to obtain settlements.

The sacking rate, if anything, has become greater now, with three in fact having gone in the last week and I believe about 37 in the last 12 months.

John Barnwell attracted more than one big company to help sponsor the LMA and one of them was a group called F&C Fund Management Ltd.

In return for their sponsorship, two or three functions are held each year in various parts of Great Britain, where F&C clients and staff from a particular area gather and the LMA provide a couple of football figures to join them at a dinner, followed by interviews and a question and answer session.

Over the years, I have helped out on more than one occasion and this week I joined Joe Jordan at the Rose Bowl for the latest.

It couldn’t have happened at a more interesting time for everyone involved.

It was on the day interest rates were cut by an unprecedented 1.5 per cent, which affected most of the people in the room, business-wise.

Of course the football results were also coming through during the meal, with Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham scoring four goals in the latest game of his fairytale arrival at White Hart Lane. There were a couple of Spurs supporters there and more than one Portsmouth follower.

John Duncan, of course, used to play for Tottenham and he now works for the LMA.

One of his roles is his connection with F&C and he organises these evenings.

He himself had a spell in management at Chesterfield and he told a funny story when, in one home game, they went 1-0 down and the crowd started a bit of a murmur.

When it got to 2-0 it got louder and at 3-0 down it was quite clear it was “Duncan out, Duncan out.”

After the game, he went through the ritual of facing the press and having a cup of tea, or glass of wine, with the opposition manager.

But then he realised his chairman was waiting up the corridor with an angry look, telling him how useless he was and saying the crowd were right, he was out, and he would see him on Monday morning.

John got in his car and driving home was thinking how he could face his wife and three children.

He garaged the car, put the key in the lock, opened the door and was greeted with his kids singing “Duncan out, Duncan out.”

How much of this is true I’m not sure, but Joe and I certainly got the message.

After introducing the two of us, we faced a barrage of questions.

It is difficult for anybody supporting Saints at the minute to have to put up with the fact that our near neighbours are on a high, with the FA Cup in their possession.

Fortunately, in some ways, the fact Harry had defected took a little bit of the attention away from our own predicament at present.

Little did the Pompey followers know at that stage that Joe was about to follow Harry out of the Fratton exit door.

But one thing the three football men agreed on, and most supporters, too, is that Harry Redknapp had done a good job at Portsmouth.

He had probably gone as far as he could at Fratton Park and, at his age, after 25 years in management, was right to take this opportunity, which is possibly his last to manage one of the so-called “bigger clubs”.

The question asked was why has he had such an impact?

Joe explained how his man management technique was good, which was especially helpful with the fact there are so many foreign players now.

Interestingly, Joe pointed out that, unlike English players going abroad, the foreign players are different due to their language skills and, in their case at Fratton Park, only had one who was not good with English.

I repeated what I’ve said many a time that, having managed in all four divisions, at lower levels I was 90 per cent a coach and ten per cent a manager, with small groups of 13 or 14 players.

With the likes of Channon, Ball, Keegan, Armstrong, Nicholl, Moran and Williams, though, it was the other way around, where I was 90 per cent managing and ten per cent coaching.

That to me was the fascination and also the blending of youth and experience Harry Redknapp has obviously reached the same stage.

Questions were also asked about managers having to work with owners, chairmen, directors of football etc.

Undoubtedly, the success of people like Ferguson, Wenger and Redknapp, when he has had success, has been that the football decisions have been made solely by them – the manager.

Any other employees can recommend, refer etc, but the final word on players coming in, going out and playing on matchdays must always be with the manager.

Harry has obviously insisted on that in his new club, which has been agreed in comparison to what was happening there only weeks ago.

It is not necessarily a coincidence the results have improved so dramatically since then.