Essay Sample on Football Coaches & Managers: A Historical Journey

The historical development of soccer managers and football coaches began in the 19th century with the rise of modern football. The first football-like sport dates back more than 2 millennia back in time, during the time of the Chinese Han dynasty (Football History, 2019). Medieval Japan adopted the Chinese game and gave more importance to technique than to force. In Europe, football began in the 19th century, especially in the British Isles and France (Football History, 2019). By the middle of the 19th century, the rules governing the different types of games in Great Britain began to be regulated. It was also at this time that soccer manager careers began to take root (Carter, 2006). The rules became official based on the Cambridge football rules, whose university had regulated its way of playing since the sixteenth century.

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Introduction: Job Outlook

There are many other jobs and positions in football. These include coach assistants, physical trainers, and referees, as well as other administrators and staff who run competitions, associations, clubs, schools and camps, both inside and outside of schools, colleges and universities. The areas of general management, finance, and marketing also offer job opportunities. Jobs in FIFA, UEFA, AFC and other international football organizations are often as coveted as jobs in national associations and local football clubs. Because football continues to grow in popularity, opportunities are in abundance. Soccer schools and successful training camps earn a good income and so do the trainers who work there. During major parties, merchandise sellers abound and many part-time jobs are available. Recruiters abound, some dedicated exclusively to football.

Management and Leadership: Strategies

There are several leadership and management strategies that are related to a football manager career. The coach has a series of managerial skills, which he must know how to handle in the most effective way, to achieve the best team results and work on the development and qualities of each player (Weese & Chelladurai, 2017). These qualities are those that every responsible leader of a group of people must possess to perform their work in the best possible way, making each one of their assistants grow personally and professionally. A good soccer coach should learn to observe and listen, acting at all times with judgment and intelligence. The coach's motivational strategy must always be positive and must be reflected by positive stimuli directed to the team and players continuously while maintaining the firmness in the message conveyed to the players.

Management and Leadership: Situation

Management and leadership are often confused when in fact they are very different. Management is a set of techniques of organization and management of a company in order to obtain satisfactory performance. Leadership, on the other hand, can be defined as the ability of an individual to administer or lead other individuals or organizations. Management and leadership are not incompatible (Weese & Chelladurai, 2017). Quite often, both are essential in running any organization or team. A leader makes sure to motivate the team, while the manager organizes the activity of the team effectively. These two personalities have a common goal, the development of the company, but do not have the same way to achieve their ends.

In the scenario that a great player has lost confidence, is playing poorly, and needs to be motivated, the coach will have to be a leader rather than a manager. A leader is a person full of energy who transmits the desire to commit to his colleagues and team members. He communicates his enthusiasm and motivation to others. A leader is able to gain the trust and respect of the group thus achieving maximum performance of the team. In addition, he is a great communicator who understands the work of the media and above all, is an excellent motivator.

Management and Leadership: Differences

Knowing the differences between leadership and management is fundamental because it helps to understand the roles played by the leader and manager in organizations. Recognizing the differences, skills can be perfected and thus reach the maximum human potential in each of those positions (Bargau, 2015). Knowing what separates managers and leaders can also help determine how to achieve the best balance between leadership and management qualities. Leaders are oriented towards the vision, mission, and objectives of the company. Managers look at the bigger picture and find new ways to update the mission. Whenever leaders attempt new things, they relate their ideas to the vision and mission of the company.

The manager focuses on the present, on the "how", on the administration and seeks to keep things in order. The leader is visionary, thinks about the "what" and the "why" and addresses the emotional part of the interactions. The power and influence of the manager come from his position while the leader is much more personal, people choose to follow the leader and help them achieve the set goals. The manager reacts, the leader creates opportunities (Bargau, 2015). The manager gives instructions while the leader guides the people.

Marketing: Strategies and Activities

Football marketing is a set of activities deployed by football organizations to meet the needs of fans of this sport and meet its institutional objectives. Marketing helps clubs manage relationships with all their markets in a lasting way to ensure continuity, as well as football not only as a sport but also as a spectacle. Clubs are authentic brands, which depend largely on their image, and as such they must manage their actions from the point of view of strategic marketing (Crust & Lawrence, 2006). Clubs not only depend on a good coach, but also know how to manage all their strategies. Bad planning can spoil the work of an entire season, so a good vision of strategic marketing helps to reflect on the philosophy and values of the football club. There are several marketing strategies and activities within soccer management that a football coach would be involved in. One is by being a brand ambassador of the team tasked with the global positioning of team all over the world. The positioning of the brand ambassador focuses on the local and international environment in which the team wants to obtain results.

Marketing: Industry Trends

There are several methods that this career supports the aforementioned marketing strategies in navigating industry trends. For example, in the World Cup Brazil 2014, 31% of viewers watched the games on a mobile device. This percentage shows a high growth perspective. Therefore, it is very important to perform actions on these devices, such as the following: geolocation in places where matches are transmitted or at airports, thus arriving at the right time to influence followers (Weese & Chelladurai, 2017). Other activities include sending interactive messages, and segmentation and personalization of the fans. Likewise, football marketing welcomes all forms of marketing of products and services related to the consumption of this sport, whether as a practitioner, amateur or spectator.

Marketing: Spectators, Investors, and Talent

A soccer manager has the ability to attract new spectators, investors, and talent. A great manager will attract great players to a team. When the clubs and soccer players become great commercial brands that generate a lot of value, marketing plays a fundamental role in maintaining this market. To reinforce a particular brand, the campaign created must be supported by football plans (Schyns, Gilmore, & Dietz, 2016). This can be done using a variety of existing tools that help in attracting fans to the stadium, such as static publicity in stadiums, sponsorship of a sponsor-style shirt, sampling in games, relating the product to the name of the team, and using athletes for brand image (endorsement), etc.

When it comes to the sale of shirts and other merchandising articles, often, a team uses one of their renowned players as their public image and earns income. Selling equipment and objects related to the athlete's image is one of the five most important sources of profit for any large club. Exclusive and/or official sponsorship on shirts, team equipment, on-site advertising, naming rights, etc. is also undoubtedly one of the most important strategies of sports marketing (Schyns et al., 2016). Moreover, there are now many stores that specialize in soccer merchandise or have special sections. Those companies sell soccer shoes, balls, shirts, shin guards, goalkeeper gloves, socks, souvenirs, and other items.

Finances: Business Practices and Principles

There are several finance-related business practices and principles used within the sports industry. The promotion and advertising department is responsible for developing the club's communication content. Creating institutional, promotional materials, creating own club product launch strategies, sales catalogs, designing fan supporters campaigns, halftime promotions, developing sales support materials, creating electronic radio calls and also other events (Weese & Chelladurai, 2017). Licensing is the authorization a club gives a company to use its trademark and symbols under a contract. In the US and Europe, licensing is widely used by small, medium and large companies with excellent results. Using a well-known brand and of great penetration in the consumer market, the organization adds a differential to its name and the products it sells.

Finances: Profitability

The sports industry has become a multi-billion dollar industry through the promotion of events and tournaments, product licenses, sponsorship of teams, clubs and athletes, naming rights and several other related business aspects. Football uses the content offered by sports to offer services and products in different ways to the target audience in question. The aforementioned finance-related business practices and principles have impacted profitability within the sports industry. Sports sponsorship can be maximized by companies, taking advantage of the entire spectacle offered. The creation and development of products, the dissemination of images of athletes and brands and other things, alone do not hold. Sports marketing must act to make the connection between passion, entertainment and the pleasure of living, feeling and witnessing the sport in the search to provoke emotions in individuals and at the same time profit and turnover for the companies involved.

Finances: Career

There are several particular business practices and principles that I would be involved in within my chosen career. The good administration of any organization, including sports federations, requires adequate financial management, which includes the preparation of budgets, accounting and the verification of accounts or audits. I can also work as a treasurer of a football federation tasked with planning financial management, including the preparation of an annual budget, keeping up-to-date records of all financial transactions, and collecting all the money due to the federation and extend receipts for the amounts received.

Conclusion: Skill Set

There are several skills that I possess that make me a fit for the position of a football soccer manager. First, I know how to listen and communicate. Players want to be partakers of strategies and solutions to problems. It is important for the coach to let them propose solutions or ideas and then filter them and decide if they are appropriate to his style or prefer to find other solutions different from what they propose. Communication becomes the key between the coach and each of the team's players, paying more attention to those who are in moments of low...