by Jake McMillan
Whilst the FA ponder my application to be England Manager, which they would be foolish to ignore, I have to confess there is one person who would make a better manager of our national side than me. His name is Alan Latchley and he is a mentor to me. He is more than a mentor, he is an inspiration, an acquaintance and someone I once saw on television.
Alan is from Scunthorpe, ”a Scunny man through and through” and the person that taught me all I needed to know about football. ”Football, she’s a cruel mistress, she’s, she’s more than a mistress. She’s a wife, she’s a mother, she’s a daughter, she’s an errant child. She can make you laugh, she can make you cry.”
An expert on motivation, he pioneered the course ‘Dare to fail’ and whilst managing Manchester City he developed the concept of “equal playing”. ”Namely,” he explained, “that if you had skilful players on your team, that was no excuse for them playing better than the others. ‘Cause it makes the other ones feel inferior. And my tactic was to get them all down to exactly the same level.”
Watch his legendary interview with Clive Anderson:
