The Football Association has demanded that England’s new manager makes concerted and innovative use of sports psychology to build mental resilience in the face of the “world’s most intensely passionate” press.
After suggesting that the naming of Roy Hodgson’s successor – expected to be Sunderland’s Sam Allardyce – is “getting close”, Martin Glenn, the FA’s chief executive, outlined his remit for Roy Hodgson’s successor on Wednesday.
“The British press, like it or not, are probably the most intensely passionate about the game in the world and that has a spill-over effect,” Glenn told the BBC. “The consequence of which is people probably play not to make a mistake, as opposed to play to win.
“So the new manager’s got to be someone who can inspire people to get the best out of themselves, build resilience and unashamedly adopt the kind of psychological techniques that other sports and other football teams have done. To really to inspire people that when they put their England jersey on they play as well for England as they do for their club.”
Glenn said he and his fellow headhunters – Dan Ashworth, the FA technical director, and David Gill, the vice-chairman, who hope to reveal their “preferred candidate” at a meeting of the FA Board on Thursday – had “consulted widely in the game and spoken to a handful of people”. Such feedback, frequently from former internationals, kept reiterating one message: the need for mental toughness under media scrutiny.
“Speaking to ex-players that have performed well for England it’s a pretty consistent theme, which is resilience under pressure,” said Glenn, whose insistence that media pressure is more intense than in South America or even other parts of Europe is, nonetheless, highly contentious.
“Why is that? We need to understand it better. It’s two things: it’s confidence in there being a match plan and it’s personal resilience especially now at a time of massive social media.”
While Allardyce – who, tellingly, has pioneered the use of psychology in English football – was formally interviewed, the recruitment panel held less formal discussions with Steve Bruce, the Hull manager, as well as speaking to at least one other candidate on a shortlist believed to also include the United States coach, Jürgen Klinsmann, and Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe. Glenn said he had spoken to “a handful” of contenders.
Apart from being well versed in psychology, the new manager must not be a “short-term mercenary” as he will be handed a brief that extends well beyond the senior side, the FA says. Significantly, such a job description will be of immense appeal to Allardyce.
“We’re not after a short-term mercenary, someone just to do the job for a couple of years,” said Glenn. “I want someone to come in to the England role to really work with not just the senior team but to make sure all the great work with the Under-16s, 17s, 18s – look at how well the Under-19s are doing now – continues and to knit all that together. We want someone to do a great job for the England national team but as well make sure all the development teams are laddering up to something more effective. We’re clear about what we’re looking for and we’re making good progress.”
