man management

Another possible player unrest looms with rumours of Green.

I tend to keep my own counsel on matters at the club and come on to the forum to enjoy the light-hearted banter and opinions of like minded fans of Torquay United.
But one thing that keeps cropping up is this persistent idea that PB’s man management skills are lacking because we see so-called 'player unrest' and assume that it is caused by the manager's failure to a) meet the demands of the said player or b) he somehow rubs the said player up the wrong way and then doesn't have the required ability to sort the problem out in the correct manner and therefore ending up with a player who is dissatisfied and shows this dissatisfaction.
I don't pretend to know how skillful and successful football management works otherwise I'd be leading a team myself. But I think we can all agree that one of, if not the most, successful managers of all time in the game is Alex Ferguson. And there is one aspect of Ferguson's management that he shares with our own Paul Buckle. Neither take bulls**t from their players, and any player that tries to push the boat out, get his own way or tries to cause disharmony is soon put into the picture as to who is the boss. Fergie has had certain problems with players over the years, players who have been critical of his team selections (notably when that player has been left out), players who have blagged to their friends and/or the press because they didn't like the way they were being treated, players who had quiet words in the ears of their colleagues in the hope of causing a rift or two. The list is fairly long and all found to their cost that there was one man in charge, one man who called the shots and one man who had to show that he was in the right.
What Fergie did was to rid the club of these players in a ruthless manner and nobody questioned his reasoning. To him the team was more important than the individual.
Two names that keep cropping up at our club; Phillips and Rayner. Both were supposed to have gone because they fell out with, and didn't get on with, our manager. Who really knows but if true then in that case surely he did the right thing in shipping them out. If Mr. Ferguson had been the manager of our club he would've done the same and been applauded for it. It's not for the manager to show weakness, he has other players and staff to deal with.
One or two of our players have tried the 'I'm hard done by route' and been told in no uncertain terms that was not an acceptable action to take, and after some thought have buckled down (no pun intended) and tried to make a go of it. Although we may all have mixed views on Roscoe's performances, he is a case in point.
A player is supposed to have stormed away yesterday because he didn't believe the manager's selection was correct and word is there is disharmony. How would Fergie deal with it? Probably the same way as Paul Buckle will...

Yes as BudleighGull has said Another possible player unrest looms with rumours of Green.


There are four players who now seem to have had problems with the manager Paul Buckle, the question is why? The answer is a simple one, each one of those players has been dropped from the team or substituted during a game and has responded in a way that the manager feels is not acceptable.

Running this forum means that I do get information from many different people, some comes from good people who are in the know, some is just the rumour mill pieces of information that has been heard around the ground or in some pub after the game.

I'm grateful for all the information, it helps me to decide what should get put on the forum, what is best to leave alone, one thing I try to avoid is anything that by having on this forum will serve no real purpose and as a result of it being discussed may end up doing more harm that good for the club.

While BudleighGull may liken Bucks to Alex Ferguson. the players Alex has to deal with are ones who are super stars and will have such bigger ego's than any player in the BSP, maybe there are some things similar in the way Alex has handled some players, but that is where it ends.

I would add Mark Ellis to the list as well, a young man who I know is unhappy at this time, to be fair to Mark he has not made a big fuss about it and as far as I know walked out of the club in any stroppy moods. It does seem to me that five players having problems in what is such a short space of time, begs the question is Bucks man management skills working as they should.

Merse has a wise old head and talks from his knowledge at the club, the problem is times have moved on and so has the way people need to be handled and also how people view and respond to any boss. The old attitude was that the boss was the boss and would let every know he was and while I feel any boss needs to be seem as the one in charge and making decisions etc, in today’s world he will get some respect by rights and the rest even he will have to earn.

When I think back to how things were when I was young and in work, it really is so different now, If you were called into see the boss, you were greeted by a man who wore a suit and you sensed his power and you called him sir, a man who was able to put fear into you and you sure knew where you stood in the order of things.

Maybe because as I have got older and felt that I have learnt my own worth’s in life is the reason that I have taken the view that no matter what job you do or how rich you may be, we are all equal and I never feel anyone is better than me, just because of their job or where they are in life.


You take my boss, he has had to change his attitudes to me over the years’ I have worked for him, he felt from the start that he had chosen me and that I somehow had to be grateful to him for giving me a job. Well yes he had 40 people after the job and I was selected, in the first few weeks when he felt the need to tell me, I was quick to say that I had five offers on the table and therefore I had made the choice really as far as I was concerned.

He also only ever saw me as just a driver, now six years on you will hear him say that I'm so much more than a driver and yes I am and I have made sure he is fully aware of those facts. My boss always felt those back in the company’s work place were the important ones, they did the repairs and I was just a person who drove a van and picked them up and delivered the repaired ones back.

How wrong could he be, I was the ambassador for our company, the only person ever seem by our customers, the one they would want to talk to face to face, after they felt they were unhappy with the outcomes of any contact via the telephone to those back at Toolfix and how many times did I have to go and talk customers back around after having phone calls to my boss that all went wrong, you see so much more than just a driver.

It all came to a head two years ago, a man wanted to buy into the tool company he was working for, he was refused and so he left and set up a rival company 300 yards away and went to work trying to steal all the customers of his now former boss. It was nothing to do with me and my only interest is to get work for my company where I can and so I called on both company’s looking to get tools in need of repair.

One Thursday I had a real bad day on the road, I do not get paid for all the extra hours I do, but as I said elsewhere on here, I have other things that I consider compensates that to my satisfaction, it was nearly ten hours after I left in the morning. I had only two more calls to do and went to the New Company first, he asked for a drill that had been promised would be returned that day, but I had nothing on my sheet or any drill with his name on the paper work. He was not happy, but I used my charm and then went to the other company where he once worked.

I had a drill for them, but guess what, it was not one they had sent for repair and when they looked on the paper work they could see, while it had their name on it, it was the hand writing of the man who set up the other company. I give job sheets to most customers who fill them out and have them ready for when I come, it just saves me time in some lay-by having to write them all out, well when the new company man had filled it out, he forget where he was working and put the old company name down, just a simple mistake but it turned out not to be simply to sort out.

The original company had got a bill from my company that very morning and we had made some big mistakes on it and over charged on it big time, but now due to the drill that had his name on it, he was claiming he was being charged for the other company’s repairs, that was not the case, but it took some time to get him to see that and that the mistake was just something else. Happy that I sorted him out I went back to the new company as the drill was his and I wanted to get it to him. I walked in and he saw the drill in my hand and shouted, I see you can't do your job properly, meaning I had the drill all along, I said to him that if he could remember where he worked then I would have a better chance of doing my job properly.

I got back to Toolfix and now I had worked nearly eleven hours, I started to tell my boss that I had now got the two customers happy and the problems were resolved, he turned to me and said, the customers should not be talking to you, you are just the driver. I threw the van keys at him and walked out, his wife ran after me and put her arms around me and said that Steve did not mean it the way it came out, but as far as I was concerned he said it and he would have to sort it out with me.

I carried on doing my job, but my boss was not prepared to climb down and so we ended up not speaking for over one month, no real problem for me as I'm not there all day and my working life is with the customers anyway. In the end it got to him and wanted to have a talk, it got sorted and since that day he has changed his whole view of the job I do and the big part I play in the company, It would never have changed if I had not fought to get the changes made.

We are now the very best of friends at work, joking and taking the piss out of each other and I am happy to go out on work do's with him, but that’s as far as I will go, my work is just that and I keep it separate from my life after my working day is done. He now fully understands my views, knows he will struggle to find anyone better to do the job and has at last started to appreciate his staff and the role they play in making his company a success, I would say he has had to learn some man management skills and his a better boss for it.

What was the point in writing all that? Well as Bucks is a young manager is he taking the view he is the boss, what he says goes and no one can question his way of management? If it’s true he dressed down Green in front of all the team, then I really would have to ask if that was the right thing to do, I do not believe that making anyone feel small and having it done in front of team mates can ever be the correct way to sort things out.

To me Bucks is trying to make sure everyone knows he is the boss and I would suggest that there has to be some reason why he feels the need to do that. Far better in my view to get the player on his own and have talks with him, explain the reasons why he was not picked and I do know one player who has claimed that he has tried to have talks with Bucks and that Bucks was simply not prepared to talk with him over his feelings.

I only have that from the player and as always there is two sides to any stories, but I care not what you do in life one thing that I feel is important is fair play and everyone being treated equally, is that what is happening with the players at TUFC.?

There well maybe a case for Bucks to learn better man management skills, some people are born leaders and have all they need, others have to learn how to handle people and get the best from them, while keeping them happy and feeling worthwhile. It is never easy and there will always be problems that happen, but a good manager in my view, is one who is not pig headed and feels he is somehow better, but one who is prepared to talk and listen and find the best way forward for the player and in the end the club.

And no, he wouldn't have necessarily known about Phillips's attitude at Exeter, he was in a different relationship with him then. Even so, what did Bucks do wrong here? He brought in a player who did a job for us but proved at the end of the year not to be the man for the following season and was sold. End of story... If anyone made anything of it it certainly wasn't Buckle.

I really think that is a silly thing to say,Bucks was second in command and are you saying that he wold not know or be aware of the relationship between the manager and the player? do they not talk then, or is there some secret world that Bucks was not allowed to be part of. I agree that in the end and for what ever reasons it did not work out for Phillips and Bucks at Plainmoor and Phillips moved on, but I really can't buy this Bucks would not have known just who Phillips was as a person and how he responded as a player to the club management.

On a point of order, the "snub" by Green WAS in public whilst the alleged reprimand by Buckle was most certainly not.................it was in front of the work force.

But then, who knows what went on once the Coventry game was done and dusted for sure. All we have on here is some here say that might have been garnered from some selective leaking from the training ground.

Perhaps it is the players response and attitude since that is bothering the manager. Maybe the player is proving bloody hard work for the coaching staff on the training ground.

Managers and coaches see players in all situations whilst supporters only see them in match situations. Some supporters might be unpleasantly shocked if they witnessed how their heroes behaved in the confines of the dressing room or training ground. Some supporters might be unpleasantly shocked if they were to see how thick and bloody stupid some players are in retaining information and adhering to team tactics, shape and general discipline. Just because a player has "gold" in his boots it doesn't mean that he has a great deal of grey matter between his ears.

There isn't a single professional football club where every player is happy for every moment in time. There has rarely been a player who happily accepts being left out of the side, not too many who like being substituted and for certain any who aren't under the constant scrutiny of the manager.

It's just life with the big boys I'm afraid and some of the little boys need to appreciate that...................it's called growing up.

No, the friendship was there, but sometimes different situations mean the dynamics can change...