# The Manager's Role · Football Level 7: Upper-Advanced

Football · Level 7: Upper-Advanced · Insporta Book (https://book.insporta.app/football/level-7/the-managers-role/)

The Manager's Role in Football (Level 7: Upper-Advanced) on Insporta: 100 sourced facts behind 10 tests. Covers: manager or head coach: two club model.

The people who run a team: the club models, the staff around the head coach, conduct on the touchline, the media, the captain, and what happens when a manager goes.

## Test 1: Manager or head coach: two club models

- The English manager picked the side, ran training and also bought, sold and signed players, which is why the title carried so much power. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- In the continental model the head coach trains and picks the team, while signings are the sporting director's department. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- The recruitment department works to a club profile, so the squad does not have to be rebuilt every time the coach changes. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- The coach still picks the team, but the squad is built by others, so he may inherit signings that do not fit his ideas. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- In Germany the coach is the Trainer; the Manager, later often called sporting director, ran the business and the transfers. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Coaches and sporting directors propose, but the money belongs to the club, and its owners or board sign off the budget. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- When scouting, contracts and the academy run through other people, a change of coach disturbs the rest of the club less. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- The board appoints the sporting director, who appoints and works with the head coach, who leads his own assistants. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- The need comes from the coach, the names from the scouts, the negotiation from the sporting director and the money from the board. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- A sporting director above a head coach who trains the team is the continental model; the English manager would sit directly under the board. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))

## Test 2: The backroom staff

- The assistant often runs the sessions the manager has planned, leaving the manager free to watch, judge and plan. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- A staff who share his ideas can put them into training from the first day, instead of learning them over months. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Training load is planned around the match days, which is the job of the fitness or performance staff working with the coach. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Standing back, the manager sees the whole session and every player in it, which is harder while he is running a drill. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- A club works with its players every day; a national team meets them in short windows, so most of its staff is needed only then. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Houses, schools, language lessons and paperwork fall to the liaison officer, so a new signing can think about football. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Group sessions cannot fit every player, so an individual coach takes one player's technique or decisions and works on them separately. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Watching comes first, then the findings reach the coach, who turns them into training, and the players get the summary before kick-off. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Sessions build from preparing the body to technique, then the team work the coach wants, and finish by bringing the players down again. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Goalkeepers do much of their work apart from the outfield group, with a specialist coach serving shots and crosses. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))

## Test 3: The technical area and touchline conduct

- The Laws describe the technical area in general terms and accept that its size and position differ from stadium to stadium. (Source: IFAB Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 1 (the technical area))
- The Laws leave the number of occupants to the competition, which also requires them to be identified before kick-off. (Source: IFAB Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 and Law 12)
- The Laws let one person give instructions and then expect him back in his position, behaving responsibly. (Source: IFAB Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 and Law 12)
- Players may take a drink at the touchline during any stoppage as long as they do not leave the field to do it; the formal drinks and cooling breaks that competition rules may allow come on top of that. (Source: IFAB Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 and Law 12)
- Law 5 says the senior team coach in the technical area receives the sanction when the offender cannot be identified. (Source: IFAB Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 and Law 12)
- The referee stops play and waves the medical staff on; entering without that permission is an offence. (Source: IFAB Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 and Law 12)
- A ban from the touchline keeps a coach out of the technical area and the dressing room, so he watches from the stands. (Source: UEFA Champions League regulations and media guidelines)
- Minor offences by team officials get a warning; more serious ones a caution, and the most serious a sending-off. (Source: IFAB Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 and Law 12)
- The card is shown at the next stoppage, the official must leave the area around the field, and the competition's disciplinary body deals with the rest. (Source: IFAB Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 and Law 12)
- Clearly or persistently not respecting the confines of the technical area is on the Law 5 list of cautions for team officials. (Source: IFAB Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 and Law 12)

## Test 4: Press conferences and media duties

- UEFA's media rules ask for the coach plus a player the day before the match, so both sides are heard. (Source: UEFA Champions League regulations and media guidelines)
- Flash interviews are taken pitchside or in the tunnel within minutes of the end, before the formal press conference. (Source: UEFA Champions League regulations and media guidelines)
- Klopp's line played on Mourinho's 'Special One' and set the tone for a manager who sold himself as approachable. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Ferguson fell out with the BBC over a 2004 documentary about his son and did not speak to it again until 2011. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Comments about the fixture list, the officials or a rival's nerves are meant to put pressure on the other camp. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- A club channel lets the club choose what is asked and how it is presented, alongside the questions from the press. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- The press officer picks the questioners, keeps time and calls the last question. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- The official press conference comes on the eve of the match, the broadcaster talks to the coach before kick-off, and after the whistle the flash interview comes before the full press conference. (Source: UEFA Champions League regulations and media guidelines)
- Comments are reviewed after the event, a charge follows if they cross the line, and the sanction comes at the end of the process. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Players walking out after the match pass the journalists in the mixed zone, where they may stop to talk or walk on. (Source: UEFA Champions League regulations and media guidelines)

## Test 5: The captain and the leadership group

- A captain the dressing room picked starts with its backing, which a captain imposed from above may have to earn. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Many clubs have a handful of experienced players beside the captain who carry the squad's views and set standards. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Individual deals are between each player and the club, but the squad's collective bonuses are often agreed through the captain. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Ramos took over the armband after Casillas left in 2015 and captained three finals in a row, all won. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Schmeichel wore the armband in his last match for the club and lifted the trophy after the late comeback against Bayern. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Mikel Arteta removed Aubameyang as captain; Lacazette wore the armband afterwards and Aubameyang left for Barcelona weeks later. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- The federations stepped back on the day of the first matches when FIFA warned of sporting sanctions, starting with a caution. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Moore lifted the trophy in 1966, Maradona in 1986, Deschamps in 1998 and Messi in 2022. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Clubs name an order of captains in advance, so the armband goes down the list as each one leaves the field. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Law 3 says the captain has no special status or privileges, only a degree of responsibility for how his team behaves. (Source: IFAB Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 and Law 12)

## Test 6: Sackings, caretakers and interim spells

- A caretaker, often an assistant, steps in for a few matches; an interim is usually named for a set period, such as the rest of the season. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- A member of staff can take training the next morning without having to learn the players, the facilities or the fixture list. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Hiddink combined the Chelsea job with Russia from February to May 2009 and won the FA Cup before leaving. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Gardening leave keeps a departing manager on the payroll and out of a rival's hands until the agreed period ends. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Boards rarely feel the need to back a manager who is safe, so the statement tends to arrive when his position is already in doubt. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Unless the contract says otherwise, the club owes the remaining wages, usually settled as a compensation payment. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Assistants are usually hired as the manager's team, so the club lets them go together, often paying them off as well. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Villas-Boas went in March 2012; Di Matteo won the FA Cup on 5 May and the Champions League final in Munich on 19 May. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Kovač left in November 2019, Flick was made permanent in April 2020 and Bayern won the Champions League in August 2020. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Solskjær replaced Mourinho as caretaker in December 2018 and was given the job permanently in March 2019. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))

## Test 7: The new-manager bounce

- A handful of matches can swing on chance, which is why researchers compare many clubs with a control group. (Source: Research on managerial change (Bruinshoofd & ter Weel 2003; van Ours & van Tuijl 2016))
- Results per match, before and after the sacking, are the usual yardstick, compared with clubs that did not change. (Source: Research on managerial change (Bruinshoofd & ter Weel 2003; van Ours & van Tuijl 2016))
- Bruinshoofd and ter Weel, and later van Ours and van Tuijl, found the improvement also came without a change; the size of any real effect is still debated. (Source: Research on managerial change (Bruinshoofd & ter Weel 2003; van Ours & van Tuijl 2016))
- A run of poor results is partly bad luck, and luck tends to even out whoever is in charge; that is regression to the mean. (Source: Research on managerial change (Bruinshoofd & ter Weel 2003; van Ours & van Tuijl 2016))
- Studies that report a real lift find it short: results drift back towards the club's usual level within weeks. (Source: Research on managerial change (Bruinshoofd & ter Weel 2003; van Ours & van Tuijl 2016))
- Everybody starts again under a new coach, and players who had been left out have a reason to prove themselves. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Each manager brings his own staff, signings and ideas, so a club that keeps changing never sees any of them through. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- The comparison group is what turns a before-and-after story into a test: without it, recovery after any bad run looks like a bounce. (Source: Research on managerial change (Bruinshoofd & ter Weel 2003; van Ours & van Tuijl 2016))
- If the dip was partly luck, results would have come back anyway; the sacking simply happened in between. (Source: Research on managerial change (Bruinshoofd & ter Weel 2003; van Ours & van Tuijl 2016))
- Results often jump in a new manager's first matches and then settle back; how much of that is real is debated. (Source: Research on managerial change (Bruinshoofd & ter Weel 2003; van Ours & van Tuijl 2016))

## Test 8: Long reigns

- Ferguson took over in November 1986 and retired in May 2013. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Wenger had coached Monaco before a spell in Japan, and it was from Nagoya Grampus that Arsenal hired him. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Atlético won La Liga under Simeone in 2013-14 and 2020-21. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Clough arrived in January 1975 and retired after relegation in 1993. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Rehhagel coached Bremen from 1981 to 1995, winning two Bundesliga titles and the 1992 Cup Winners' Cup. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Maley ran the team from 1897 to 1940, one of the longest reigns at any major club. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- More money rides on every season, so boards act sooner, and few managers survive the run of bad results every reign contains. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Busby started in 1945, Shankly in 1959, Ferguson in 1986 and Wenger in 1996. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- The first double came in 1998, the unbeaten season in 2003-04, the Emirates opened in 2006 and Wenger left in 2018. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Guy Roux took Auxerre from the amateur leagues to the 1996 French title, in charge from 1961 to 2005 with short breaks. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))

## Test 9: The manager and the boardroom

- Florentino Pérez's board did not renew Del Bosque's contract after the 2002-03 title and appointed Carlos Queiroz. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- A manager under contract can only leave early if his new club pays compensation, and Potter brought his staff with him. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Parma's wins over Milan in the Coppa Italia convinced Berlusconi to bring in a coach with no top-flight record. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Pérez paired galácticos such as Zidane with homegrown players such as Francisco Pavón, spending the money on the stars. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- An owner who has paid for a club usually wants the man in charge to be someone he chose and trusts with his money. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Contracts are business, so the club's executives agree terms with the manager and his representatives. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- With no league match for a fortnight, the new manager can settle in and work with the players who stayed behind. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- A club interviews before it commits money, and it announces only once the release from the other club is agreed. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Derby won the title in 1972; Clough lasted 44 days at Leeds in 1974 before his board sacked him, and Forest won the European Cup in 1979. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Several clubs, Liverpool and Tottenham among them in the 2010s, decided signings through such a committee rather than the manager alone. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))

## Test 10: Player-managers and managers who played

- Dalglish took over after Heysel and won the double at the first attempt, still playing himself. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Gullit, still registered as a player, won the 1997 FA Cup, the first major English trophy for a manager from outside Britain and Ireland. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Sacchi's line became a standard reply to anyone who doubts a coach without a playing career. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- A knee injury ended his playing career early, and he was 28 when Hoffenheim appointed him in February 2016. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Modern management covers staff, analysis, media and recruitment; nobody can also train and play at the top level. (Source: Club structures and coaching literature (the manager's role))
- Souness arrived from Sampdoria as Rangers' player-manager in April 1986 and won several league titles before leaving for Liverpool in 1991. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Beckenbauer lifted the trophy in Munich in 1974 and managed the team that won it in Rome in 1990. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Cruyff won it with Barcelona in 1992, Ancelotti with Milan in 2003, Guardiola with Barcelona in 2009 and Zidane with Real Madrid in 2016. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Hoddle took over in 1993, Gullit in 1996 and Vialli in 1998. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))
- Zagallo won in 1958 and 1962 as a winger and coached Brazil to the 1970 title, the first man to win it both ways. (Source: Match and club reports (BBC Sport, The Athletic, club statements))

Sources: IFAB Laws of the Game / FIFA & UEFA regulations and technical reports / Opta & StatsBomb definitions / coaching literature / peer-reviewed research

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