Midland fans living in a fantasy world says Tom Ross

Feb 25 2009 Birmingham Mail

IT’S quite amazing that when teams start to lose games or perform poorly out come all the comments about the gaffer from us Monday morning managers.

One of the favourites is “he’s lost the dressing room”. “He can’t motivate the team” is another belter, as is “the players don’t want to play for him”.

One you hear a lot, is “he’s tactically naïve” while “he’s lost the plot” is another that is used frequently.

However, they have one thing in common: they are generally only used when a team loses.

“He’s lost the dressing room” is used even when the team has won the week before.

This has come in the main from Baggies, Blues and even Wolves fans recently.

I understand perfectly that we Monday morning managers all believe we can do the job better than Tony Mowbray, Alex McLeish or Mick McCarthy.

Part of what makes the game so compulsive and addictive is that we can all have opinions on any aspect of the game, from the boardroom to the boot-room.

However, we are all playing fantasy football, while the managers do it for real and yes, in the wonderful foolproof world of hindsight, they do make some mistakes.

There is not a manager alive or dead who is or was infallible.

What I have come to realise over the years is that managers shop either at Harrods or Aldi depending on their club’s financial situation.

This buying policy dictates the quality of the team that is put out on the pitch and of course its limitations.

Some clubs have a policy whereby they will pay good wages but shy away from big transfer fees where possible. Others will have a wage structure that they refuse to break, despite being willing to pay a transfer fee.

Therefore, you sometimes see a manager working with a team he can afford rather than a team he wants.

I am sure even extremely wealthy Aston Villa would refuse to pay any player £100,000-plus a week.

Therefore, the reality is that they cannot compete for the really big players while the teams they are in direct competition with – Manchester United, Liverpool Chelsea and Arsenal – can and do.

To get back to the point the game has always been about players. The clubs with the better players win more games. It’s as simple as that.

Oh, and by the way, can someone explain to me how a player needs motivating for a derby game?

In my opinion if a professional footballer needs lifting to play a big local derby then he should be got rid of as quickly as possible

What is wrong with a player giving it all for his wages, personal pride or for the fans?

I often wonder if players ask themselves on a Saturday night after a bad game result “did I do enough for the team and my wages today”.

If a player comes off the pitch having given everything he can then fans can ask for no more.

n ONE of the things that really gets to me is this culture of total encouragement in the game.

On Sunday I saw a Baggies midfielder send a pass out to Gianni Zuiverloon. It went 20 yards over the defender’s head and out for a throw-in.

Zuiverloon immediately applauded the midfielder. Why? He should have had a go at the midfielder and refocused him.

I cannot imagine Ally Robertson applauding a really sloppy pass; in fact, he would have had a right go especially in the dressing room at half-time.

I saw the same thing at Coventry on Saturday and for the life of me cannot understand this new culture of acceptance of lesser standards of excellence.

Every player should start a game in pursuit of excellence, only then will he maximise his performance.

If his team-mates applauded him for sloppiness then he will not be motivated to improve when he next gets the ball.