Management lessons I have learnt out of Football ( Soccer ) :-

Introduction :- Football or Soccer is the most popular sports worldwide and no sports generates
such passion as it does. The FIFA has more membership than any other Associations and the
FIFA World Cup , held every 4 years , generates equal if not viewership than Summer Olympics
even. My father late Mr P R Bose, being an ex Footballer who represented India and to whom I
am dedicating this article , football was always my passion. I myself has served on the Board of
Director of a 100 year old prestigious Football club in India. With passing time , I have watched
football in right earnest and have learnt a lot from the game which I have tried in my life
effectively. In this article , I will share those learnings and would be delighted of this is of use to
any reader.

1. Football is a team game and you need 11 players to play the game and everyone’s
participation is equally important :- I once watched a video of Newcastle United scoring against
Ipswich Town in the Sky Bet Championship in a move involving all 11 Newcastle players straight
from kick-off and before the opposition had even touched the ball! This taught me that how
contribution from all members of a team can outplay any opposition , without them getting a
chance.
2. I once read a famous quote from England player Gary Linekar , who said that - “Football
is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans
always win”:- What this signifies is that two teams play the game but Germany always wins
because while Germany always had some stars in their side but they always depended on the
team effort rather than one or two individual stars. I learnt from this that , while it is always
better to have star performers in my team but at the end , it is the team effort that wins. You
can’t run an organisation with only A Listers ; you also need the Bs to form the backbone and
thats how you win consistently.
3. Depending on single star can be disaster :- It seems ( though I am yet to get any
authenticity about it ) before 1966 World Cup , Sir Alf Ramsey, the Manager / Coach of England
side said that if they remove Pele from Brazilian side , he will win the World Cup for England.
Pele got injured and could not play much and England went on to win the championship. Pele
was the star of Brazilian wins in 1958 and 1962 and was heavily dependent on him to win in
1966. His absence made a big difference to the team and they lost . This has taught me not to
depend on any one person or factor in my corporate life - be it a start performer or a single
large customer or a single large supplier. Nothing magnified the essence of not putting all eggs
in one basket to me than this example.
4. Working together as a team for long time works :- In last World Cup , Argentina had the
best line up with Messi , Aguero , Di Maria , Tevez etc in forward but could not win. Reason
primarily was that they never played together for long. In club football , which takes almost the
whole year ; Messi plays in Spain, Aguero in England , Di Maria in France , Tevez in Italy etc,
who came in together for conditioning camp which was for a short period. Similarly for Brazil ,
who despite being the host country , lost badly to Germany in Semis. Germany on other hand 9
players who play in Germany and that too mostly for Bayern Munich. They went on to win the
world cup. Their coordination was much better. Brazil in their Golden period of 60s had most
players playing in Brazil and mainly from Santos. The lesson I learnt is that a steady long term
team is essential for being a winner rather than a fragmented multilocational one.
5. Patience is the key for long term :- Liverpool had brought in JURGEN Klopp as Coach in
2015. It took him 5 years to win EPL. Manchester United had Sir Alex Ferguson as coach for 25
years and Arsenal had Arsene Wenger for 15 years. Those were the Golden period for them.
Even with a very talented team , Pep Guardela took couple of years to establish Barcelona’s
dominance. Similarly, to build a winning team , it needs time and patience and confidence from
Management on the leader & his team is very important to achieve long term goals.
6. Home advantage is the best advantage :- more often than not , teams have a higher
percentage of win in home games than away ones. Many a World Cup has been won by home
teams. Similarly , if we concentrate on our home market or core strength , we will have a higher
probability to come out on top.
7. Internal Developement system is the best growth plan :- most of the long sustaining
clubs or countries have academy system where young talents are coached and groomed for
higher success at top level. Messing joined Barcelona at 12 and so has many of his legendary
contemporaries. Pele came up the academy of Santos. I have seen it in Corporates also that
when a company have a well established system of nurturing internal talents , they not only
have a steady pipeline of supplies of top level managers , they retain their market leadership
over a long period.
8. Competition always helps :- We see more often than not that countries where the
premier championship has more intense competition, increases their standard with every
passing years. It is the competition that brings out the best in the winners. In my 40 years in
corporate life , I have seen exactly this phenomenon and have seen companies performing
better and more innovatively when they have competition hot on their heals as compared to a
monopoly situation. In fact , monopoly often leads to complacence and decay.
9. Proper reward system works best :- When we look at the countries of Latin America and
see how many world class players have come from very poor backgrounds; we realise that it is
the incentive system which tells them that only becoming the best of players is their ticket out
of poverty and deprivation. The lesson I have learnt in life is that a proper merit based reward
system rather than an adhoc policy , motivate people to give more than their best and that
always helps the company out perform the market.
10. Management support is key to success :- When club management have displayed
confidence on coaches , teams excel. When coaches display confidence and extend support in
the face of failure to players , they excel. Henderson , the current captain of Liverpool is a big
example. We have already talked about Sir Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. Leister is a big
example of owner support to become EPL champion out of no where , couple of years back. On
the other hand , we have also seen how the culture of frequently changing Manager in some
top flight EPL clubs have affected them badly. Similarly in corporate management also , long
term support on the top team helps rather than impulsive hire & fire. This is my learning.
11. Building a culture and insisting that the Institution is bigger than any individual is of
paramount importance :- Every club which have weathered bad time and bounced back has
done it through its distinct culture. They have their own anthem and they always believed that
the club is bigger than any single player. we have seen high egos players , who could not stick to
any clubs , despite being a genius and ultimately did not survive long , despite having enormous
talent. Similarly in corporate , I have seen & learnt , whichever company concentrated on
building Institutions with distinct positive culture and stuck to it even in face of temporary
reverses , always comes out winner in long run.
12. Having pride in the club/institution that you represent helps achieve impossible goals :-
Whichever clubs have succeeded over long term , had one thing in common. Everyone who is
part of them are immensely proud of that fact. They give their more than hundred percent
simply because of the pride they have , every time they wear the jersey. Similarly , I have
worked for companies in life where I was proud of my visiting card with the company logo and I
inevitably excelled in my performance there. This is a big learning for me and I feel that every
company should try and achieve a status wherein people working there goes up in social status
because of their association with the company.
13. Only money takes you only upto that much :- We have seen in clubs like Manchester
City or Paris St Gemain ; infusion of serious funds and buying high grade costly players have
helped them win EPL or French League 1 but they could never get the European glory or world
championship. Whereas other clubs like Liverpool or Barcelona or Bayern or Man U have
reached them with lot less budget because of the crucial X factors that we discussed in
preceding points. Similarly in corporate life , money worl as a stimulant up to a point only.
Money is never the be all and end all.
14. Never underestimate the opponent/ competition :- 1954 World Cup, Hungary had the
best team ever with Puskas, Hidekuti etc in line up. They reach final easily decimating all teams
on the way and meets Germany. They had defeated Germany by huge margin in group match
and were somewhat complacent and did not realise the strategy of German coach to shield
some top players away from the group league match. Result - Germany won in one of the
biggest upset in world cup final ever. In corporate life also , I have learnt that , we should never
under estimate competition and study their strategy , products & do their SWOT analysis
thoroughly to remain a step ahead.
15. Retaining talent is more important than acquiring one :– As biggest example of this , I
can quote Barcelona retaining players like Messi , Xavi, Iniesta for life. Santos retaining Pele for
life. Steven Gerard playing for Liverpool for life. While the players definitely benefitted with
their long term association , the biggest beneficiary were the clubs. Similarly , companies which
have been able to retain top flight managers for life , were ultimately the main beneficiaries nd
that’s a big learning for me.

Conclusion :- Being a passionate football fan and also a keen student of management practices
and having spent 40 years now in corporates ; has helped me study incidents and histories in
soccer field and management of football teams ; and I have learnt many management secrets
out of them which are not taught in management schools. I thought of sharing these with the
readers with the hope that these analogies and learnings will be of value.