News
Comment

Tributes Pour in For Town Fan Tom
at 11:34:12

Sad week losing a great player and a great supporter. Hope they can both be honoured on Saturday.
I knew Tom Tomalin from the late eighties, and met him at many matches, including celebrating together on the pitch in 1992. He'd been dealt a tough hand as a child, but I never heard him complain about that. His passion for Town was enormous, inspired by the way we played under SBR. He was intrepid and determined following the team home and away. ' Running towards adversity' was an apt motto for him!
I can imagine his distinctive chirpy voice saying on Saturday 'what really matters is they play as well as they can. Come on Town'

News
Comment

Blues Legend Whymark Dies
at 11:31:49

Sad week losing a great player and a great supporter. Hope they can both be honoured on Saturday.
I knew Tom Tomalin from the late eighties, and met him at many matches, including celebrating together on the pitch in 1992. He'd been dealt a tough hand as a child, but I never heard him complain about that. His passion for Town was enormous, inspired by the way we played under SBR. He was intrepid and determined following the team home and away. ' Running towards adversity' was an apt motto for him!
I can imagine his distinctive chirpy voice saying on Saturday 'what really matters is they play as well as they can. Come on Town'

Blog
Comment

Boxing Days to Remember
at 09:31:40

Thanks for comments.
I recall that Roy Stephenson, in his later days with us, took the field at a reserve match with a ciggy and stubbed it out when the whistle went! And apparently Mark Jones, who died in the Munich plane crash, smoked a pipe when lining up in the tunnel!

Blog
Comment

Building a High Performance Team at ITFC
at 12:28:41

Thanks for that Jaime. You beat me to it quoting that model that I have seen evidenced many times (def not psychobabble!). Very appropriate for where we are at the moment - bad news is that we're not yet into storming AND the model is cyclical ie when the team changes you go back to the start!! The other learning about teams is that you take huge risks changing more than a third of the team at a time! Cook's slash and burn is high risk; you can't short circuit the human process in building team spirit. A football club is different to a business organisation but the people issues are similar. The talent now thrown together in a rapid procession at Playford Road will have their personality clashes, rivalries, 'leftover' issues from previous clubs, and discontent at the layers of cover preventing first team appearances. Cook's Command and Control style will be needed through the storming, but there are many other leadership styles needed to get to performing! https://intenseminimalism.com/2015/the-six-styles-of-leadership

Let's see where we are on the curve by Christmas, if the owners (and fans) patience lasts that long!

Blog
Comment

Power of Motivation
at 13:31:14

Thanks for the thoughtful comments. Very interesting how the hard man/soft man combinations work and why the assistant then so rarely succeeds after the top man leaves. The exception was the Liverpool 'boot room' series of managers that won so many trophies through 60s, 70s and 80s; but then look at the problems Man U had finding a successor to Matt Busby or Alex Ferguson. I did have a conversation with Bobby Ferguson about 10 years ago - he thought he could have carried on the success of SBR but was still bitter about how the great 1981 team broke up by being sold against his wishes.
Perhaps we'll see a 'delayed accumulator bounce' effect! (too long delayed!). Bounce for new Manager, new Owners, new squad, AND new season! We had the Sept bounce in last two seasons, hopefully again but this time sustained for the Spring!

Blog
Comment

Power of Motivation
at 12:27:12

Useful thoughts and additions, thanks. Yes I think the list of positive motivators would include Lyall, Burley (until 2001), and Joe Royle.
And interesting to consider the positive motivation from the relationship between owner/Chairman and manager. As stated, having a Chairman not close enough to the Club but wanting to control decisions can have as much impact as the financial issues. Best practice is for Chairman to be close enough to Club to nurture culture, but to give space (and time) to the manager to do their job. The Cobbolds (John and Patrick), Sheepshanks and, to an extent, Kerr understood that. When that chemistry is positive it permeates all parts of the club, inc the players - and the reverse is of course true too!

Blog
Comment

Power of Motivation
at 22:53:38

Thanks Chaz. Would be interesting exercise to categorise all itfc managers to see who was primarily a 'carrot' manager and who was primarily a 'stick' man!! Of course success lies in recognising your primary style of motivation,
and being able to adopt other styles to fit the situation and the person. Now that Town are into science and analysis (!!), there's more on motivation styles here.
Https://www.toolshero.com/leadership/goleman-leadership-styles/

Blog
Comment

This is Where I Came In
at 13:58:54

Thanks for the responses, kind comments (inspires me to write more blogs!), views on the present situation, and shared memories of the past.
Greenkingtone sounds like a Newport supporter as well, or a past player?
Yes, if only we still had a combination like Ted Phillips and Ray Crawford up front!
Don't know where we can find another Ray, EatonBlue, but I do know where to find the original - fit and well and full of life but sadly not pulling his football boots on anymore!

Please log in to use all the site's facilities

LegendRay

Site Scores

Forum Votes:	4
Comment Votes:	2
Prediction League:	0
TOTAL:	6