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It is an onerous task being a chairman of a modern professional football club. The demands from his manager, players and supporters place great stress and expectations on the man in the high chair at the top end of the boardroom table.
The days of privilege and easily granted respect that the position once generated are, like the old sliding tackle, mere memories of a distant era.
The clever chairman quickly understands the necessity to have the club carpenter construct a chopping block that can facilitate more than one neck. The further and rather hastily acquired ability to promote a very public democratic regime in the club's 'Department of Blame and Retribution' also offers a tangible sign that Mr Chairman, as many like to be called, is becoming conversant with the rudiments of his position.
If I am conveying to you the suggestive thoughts that chairmen, of all types and trades, are capable of possessing the enormous propensity to be people of vagarious views and chameleonic considerations, it is not an accidental or arbitrary act on my behalf.
I actually like chairmen. However, within that statement lays a lie, well, an element of a lie. Not a lie per se, more a lie in lieu of an outright admission that I actually admire chairmen, if you know what I mean.
I have to be careful here. I have no wish to create difficulties for myself in the future. It is never my desire to create a scenario where a chairman offering me a position in the future might perceive me too open to a very open relationship.
I accept that I am in danger here of appearing complicated, but I know where I am attempting to go, it's just the getting there that is proving to be somewhat circuitous.
The point I am attempting to offer for your dissection and analysis is that if a chairman can assemble the pieces that form the fortifications for his own self-survival, or for the survival of the club itself for that matter, surely a good football manager must at least possess the wherewithal to be able to rock, or at least rotate, the roots of those fortifications if only as a means of testing the strength contained therein.
To formulate a secure chairman-manager relationship, much work and energy, and consistent proof of each other's worth, must go into the melting pot before the ingredients begin to bubble enticingly. Neither party should take anything for granted.
Some chairmen waffle. Some speak openly and honestly. The rest are somewhere in between. The trick for a manager is to identify who his chairman is because ultimately, it is he who holds the manager's footballs in his hands.
This relationship between chairman and manager is of vital importance. If this is built on trust and compatibility then the club has serious opportunities for success. Trust requires honesty, while compatibility needs the solid understanding of the other's position.
The modern and sometimes intrusive position of 'Director of Football' can be detrimental to this relationship. Where the lines of responsibility lie can become complicated and conversation between chairman and manager restricted.
However, I have to admit that a talented Director of Football can free much important time for his manager and use his experience to the benefit of the chairman.
Some professional people question whether the tried and tested two-man relationship of chairman and manager can be re-programmed into a trio.
Any ménage-a-trois, irrespective of its circumstances, can be eminently capable of causing complications simply because trust between three is more difficult to achieve than between two, and especially so in professional football where ego and insecurity are such strange and often inseparable bedfellows.
The most important person in any full-time professional football club is the chairman. It is he who dictates the policy and the personality that permeates through the club as a whole. Everybody else reacts to and operates within the resultant atmosphere.
The next important person in the chain is the manager. If there are any problems between the two it will be perceived by all concerned.
A weak chairman oversees a weak club. No matter how strong or talented a manager is, the terms and conditions he operates within are set by the chairman and his directors.
A good and experienced manager will rarely stay with a club if the man in charge is not to be trusted, for whatever reason. An experienced manager is also well versed in the art of self-survival. Otherwise he would not be an experienced manager.
