The Most Disposable People In Football

A respected coach was sacked this week.

As always happens in football, the conversations started immediately.

Was it the right decision?

Who should replace them?

Who is available?

Would somebody relocate?

Would there be suitable applicants?

Within hours, the discussion had moved from the coach who had left to the challenge of finding the next one.

Football coaches are disposable.

That sounds harsh, but it comes with the job.

Contract or no contract, every coach understands the reality.

At some point they will be questioned.

At some point they will be criticised.

At some point they may be replaced.

That is football.

Coaches leave for better money.

Coaches leave for bigger opportunities.

Coaches are sacked.

Coaches resign.

One club's failed appointment somehow becomes another club's exciting new recruit.

Football coaching has to be one of the most unique professions in the world.

Ask José Mourinho.

By now he has probably been sacked more times than I have had hot breakfasts.

Yet clubs keep hiring him.

Why?

Because football has always believed the next opportunity might produce a different outcome.

The same thing happens at every level of the game.

A coach can be considered the problem at one club and the solution at another six months later.

Which is why I have always found football's relationship with coaches so fascinating.

Coaches Understand The Risk

For more than twenty years I have lived in a coaching family.

My husband is a coach.

My two sons are coaches.

One now coaches in Melbourne, meaning I increasingly hear the Victorian conversations as well as the Tasmanian ones.

What strikes me is that coaches generally understand the profession better than the clubs employing them.

Most coaches know their tenure might be short.

Many clubs behave as though finding another coach will be impossible.

The coaches I know understand the risks.

They know results matter.

They know expectations matter.

They know patience is often in short supply.

At some point every coach will be criticised.

At some point every coach may be replaced.

Good coaches accept that reality the day they take the job.

Tasmania Is An NPL Coaching Destination

The idea that quality NPL coaches are impossible to find has always puzzled me.

If anything, Tasmanian football provides evidence to the contrary.

Look around the NPL.

Many of the coaches leading clubs today were not born in Tasmania.

Many were not even born in Australia.

They relocated here because they wanted the opportunity.

They came because they saw Tasmania's NPL as a chance to build a reputation, develop their careers and test themselves in a senior environment.

That is not a criticism.

In many ways it is a compliment to our competition.

People relocate for opportunities they value.

The reality is that Tasmania has become a destination for ambitious coaches.

Post an NPL coaching vacancy on LinkedIn and you probably won't be waiting long for expressions of interest.

Coaches are always looking for opportunities.

For many years Tasmania has been viewed as a stepping stone, a shop window and a chance to build a coaching résumé.

Ambitious coaches know that strong work in Tasmania can lead to opportunities elsewhere.

Which raises an obvious question.

If coaches are willing to move from interstate and overseas to coach in Tasmania, why do clubs continue to behave as though coaching candidates are impossible to find?

Football Is Not A Normal Job

Part of the problem is that clubs sometimes think about coaching recruitment like they are filling a conventional vacancy.

Football does not work like that.

You are not recruiting an accountant.

You are not recruiting an administrator.

You are not recruiting somebody to tick a box in an organisational chart.

Football coaching is not a nine-to-five job.

It never has been.

Nobody becomes a football coach because they are chasing predictable hours.

Nobody becomes a football coach because they want their weekends free.

Nobody becomes a football coach because they are looking for a quiet life.

Most NPL coaches are part-time.

Many earn less than what would be considered a living wage if you calculated the hours they actually commit.

Yet they keep coaching.

Why?

Because coaching is rarely a financial decision.

It is an emotional one.

People coach because they love football.

They coach because they love competition.

They coach because they love building teams.

They coach because they love the challenge.

They coach because there is nothing quite like the feeling before a big game and nothing quite like the feeling after a significant win.

The people attracted to coaching are usually wired differently.

The best coaches I know never really switch off.

Football follows them everywhere.

A family dinner becomes a discussion about selection.

A holiday becomes a chance to watch football somewhere else.

A quiet evening becomes an opportunity to review video.

Most sensible people would look at that lifestyle and decide it isn't for them.

Coaches look at exactly the same lifestyle and think it sounds fantastic.

My husband coached for years with little or no financial reward.

In fact, for ten years he coached without being paid at all.

Not because it made economic sense.

Because he loved it.

Was that unusual?

Yes.

Was the motivation unusual?

No.

Across Tasmania and across Australia, football is full of coaches who continue because they love the game far more than the game loves them back.

Nobody relocates to Tasmania for an NPL coaching salary.

They relocate for the opportunity.

The Question Clubs Need To Ask

Which brings me to the question at the heart of this discussion.

There is a difference between backing a coach because you believe they are the right person and backing a coach because you are frightened you won't find another one.

One is a football decision.

The other is a fear of making one.

Good coaches understand they may lose their job.

They accept that risk the day they sign a contract.

Many boards seem far less comfortable with uncertainty.

The fear of replacing a coach can become more powerful than the assessment of the coach itself.

And that is where clubs can get themselves into trouble.

Because finding the right coach and finding a coach are not the same thing.

There are coaches willing to relocate.

There are coaches willing to take risks.

There are assistant coaches who believe they are ready.

There are coaches succeeding at lower levels who are waiting for an opportunity.

The challenge is not always finding candidates.

The challenge is having the confidence to make a decision.

Stability Or Comfort?

For sixteen years I was President of South Hobart.

For much of that time the senior coach happened to be my husband.

Fortunately, I never had to seriously consider sacking him.

He did an adequate job.

South Hobart never finished lower than third.

Success makes life easier.

When results are strong, clubs talk about stability, culture and long-term planning.

When results are not so strong, clubs start talking about fresh voices, fresh ideas, new directions and opportunities to freshen things up.

Sometimes those conversations are justified.

Sometimes they are not.

But stability is not automatically a virtue.

Sometimes stability is excellent.

Sometimes it is simply comfort.

And sometimes comfort is just fear dressed up as strategy.

Football's Great Coaching Contradiction

Perhaps football's biggest coaching contradiction is this.

The coach understands they may lose the job.

The club is frightened of finding another coach.

One side accepts uncertainty.

The other often tries to avoid it.

For more than twenty years I have watched coaches move between clubs, states and countries.

I have watched coaches arrive with big reputations and leave quietly.

I have watched coaches be criticised one year and recruited the next.

Football moves on remarkably quickly.

If NPL coaching in Tasmania was about money, we would have a coaching shortage.

If NPL coaching in Tasmania was about job security, we would have a coaching shortage.

If NPL coaching in Tasmania was about lifestyle, we would have a coaching shortage.

Yet coaches continue to arrive.

They relocate from interstate.

They relocate from overseas.

They come for the challenge.

They come for the opportunity.

They come because Tasmania remains a place where ambitious coaches can build a reputation, develop their craft and perhaps take the next step in their coaching journey.

Which leaves one final question.

Are clubs backing their coaches because they genuinely believe they are the right person for the job?

Or because they are frightened of searching for the next one?

Those are very different reasons.

And football people usually know the difference.