Andy Murray may need more mental map-making for Open success

Andy Murray has shown a willingness to learn through his new coach Ivan Lendl.

We examine how the learning will require reframing not of broken racquets but of mental maps

As Murray was heading for defeat against Tomas Berdych at the Monte Carlo Masters event [April 20th 2012] he smashed his racquet in frustration at his failure to find a strategy to cope with his opponent’s muscular game.

Coping with the unexpected

The defeat was not particularly unexpected. Although Murray is higher ranked, Berdych’s game is suited to Monaco’s clay court surfaces. Murray’s preparation has been hampered by unusual circumstances (withdrawal of three opponents through injury in the last few weeks, including in his last match). But the unusual has also to be coped with. The manner of the loss suggested Murray had not found a plan to deal with ‘events’ and with Berdych.

The post-match interview

We can examine the post-match interview for signs of the Scot’s mental state. I borrow from the principles of mental map-making which are being taught to business students including those at the Miami location of Manchester Business School programs not far from Murray’s own training facilities. The mapping approach attempts to examine the way an individual (or a group) may be ‘reading’ a situation and making sense of it by testing assumptions, and maybe changing his or her mind through mental reframing or conceptual map-making.

In post-match interviews Andy usually shows evidence of an acute mind actively engaged. That is in itself unusual, and compares well with evidence from interviews with top sports figures generally (I am thinking of the vast majority of interviews with fooball players and many managers). I have added my own ‘map testing’ interpretations of Andy’s maps.

“At some points today in the match I did well, and at some points I didn’t do so well,” said the Scot.
[Map reading]

“Today is a good match to learn from because I was playing a top player who played very, very well.
[Recognising the need to learn by map-mapping]

“I hung in, in the first set. Then in the tie-break I got a few lucky bounces. He missed a couple of shots that he hadn’t been missing.
[More map-reading]

“At the start of the second set he obviously started playing better and my level dropped – as the scoreline suggests.”
[map-making? He concludes that Berdych gained an advantage by playing the better better and that his own level dropped. He bases it on the evidence of the scoreline. He lost the set heavily].

Some tentative conclusions

A post-match interview may only reveal a glimpse of a player’s thinking processes. There may be deliberate withholding of information. And there is the possibility of ‘knowing more than can be said’. Just on the evidence, it seems to me that Andy Murray has untapped potential which if released will increase his chances of winning his much-coveted first Open Championship. He shows he has the mental equipment to reflect and develop his game further.

Although not obvious in the snippet of interview above, he is adequately motivated (over-motivated, some may say. His reflections stop short of acknowledging the dilemmas he faces. Can he rely on his exceptional defensive skills or should he attempt to be more aggressive, for example?
Maybe some more reframing of his mind sets will produce less reframing of his racquets.

Acknowledgement

The image could have been of Andy’s racquet. I suspect it’s not. It comes from the excellent tennis blog This tennis.

Update

A few months later Andy Murray won the US Open, with ample evidence that he has developed the necessary mental reframing.

Sir Philip Hampton shows ethical leadership or perhaps cautious pragmatism

Future Manyumba

Royal Bank of Scotland Chairman Sir Philip Hampton [right] turned down a £1.4 million bonus in January. Was it evidence of a ‘wind of change’ or a self-saving political statement?

On the 28th of Jan this year, Sir Philip Hampton announced that he would give up his £1.4 million bonus as Chairman of Royal Bank of Scotlan. Few people may disagree with his actions, accepting that the RBS team is doing a tough job. Indeed some would question why he should take such a personal sacrifice when his colleagues in the private sector are still getting astronomical bonuses by comparison.

Frontline leadership

The decision was symbolic in nature. His actions could prove to be a watershed moment in the history of the finance sector in the UK. Sir Philip Hampton has previously held successful positions with Sainsbury plc (chairman), Lloyds Banking group plc, BT group, British Gas and British Steel.

As the head of a bank which is 83% owned by tax payers, public opinion is something that bears a strong influence on decision making. What does it say when bank executives pay themselves huge bonuses when in essence the shareholders (tax payers in the case of RBS) are having to bear with the pains of the Government’s austerity measures?

Decision Dilemma

Sir Philip Hampton demonstrated restraint by example, demonstrating the subtle and pervasive powers of symbolic leadership. He faced the dilemma of either taking the money or suffering personal loss and alienation from fellow executives in the banking industry. Accepting the money at a time when the bank is cutting jobs (cost cutting measures) would have made him look hypocritical but giving it up risked demoralising other executives (within RBS) who ultimately may feel pressured to emulate him. I believe that his choice sent out a compelling ethical view point for business and industry.

The force of sacrifice

Within days of this action, the RBS CEO, Stephen Hester decided to emulate his chairman (some may say he was left with no choice). Within a week, executives of Network Rail also decided to forego their bonuses . Through his ethical symbolic actions, Sir Philip Hampton may have started a chain reaction which is going to transform the banking and private businesses landscape. The momentum is building with politicians and business community now calling for a public debate about the morality of executives’ bonus scheme during tough times.

Challenging times – Adapt or Die

A leader does not necessarily have to ‘stay the course’ just because it is his/her natural style but has to have the flexibility to adapt to the changing times.

Hero or Villain?

It is difficult to see the actions of one man changing the bonus culture of banks in the short term. However, his actions have shown participative and visionary leadership likely to have momentous influence in the long term. He has chosen to make his actions congruent with his beliefs. Now he can stand up and talk about the need to cut bonuses of bankers with moral authority.

Acknowledgements

Future Manyumba, a LWD subscriber, is originally from Zimbabwe, and is a Process Engineer with training and experience in hard rock mining in Southern Africa (gold, nickel and copper). His interests include geopolitical global issues, leadership and football.

Image of Sir Philip Hampton is from the RBS website.

Pasties, Porkies and Petrol Panic

The political story of the week in the UK is the proposed strike of tanker drivers and the public reaction at the petrol pumps. But for a while, it jostled with the budget backlash triggered by the tax imposed on pre-warmed food in the budget

The two stories when taken together illustrate the dilemmas facing political leaders when attempting to ward off adverse publicity.

Pastygate

The pasty story begun with questioning of the chancellor George Osborne about his proposal in the budget to add tax to takeaway preheated foods. This issue was personalized by a question at a Parliamentary committee hearing. It challenged the feasibility of imposing VAT on a cooked product according to its temperature ‘relative to ambient’ [i.e. whether it had cooled down]. But it also implied that he was too posh to understand popular eating habits and therefor to help run the country. This continues the opposition attack about the Prime Minister and Chancellor being out of touch with the needs of public.

Mr Osborne stepped cautiously between dismissing the question as a joke, and trying to deal with its potential for political damage. But a day later [March 28th 2012] the Prime Minister David Cameron made a calculated effort to address the issue. He was, he noted, an enthusiastic consumer of such snacks. But with the ad-man’s instinct for vivid speech, he created a narrative in which he fondly remembered his last such pasty. Unfortunately for him and his advisors, the background research had managed to identify a company location that had gone bust at the time of the alleged pasty-snacking. The story and inevitable clichéd headlines (such as mine) took off.

Don’t panic

How not to be a leader. In England, the concept of inept leadership is captured in the classic TV series Dad’s Army. The bungling officer Captain Mainwaring is mimicked by the even more gloriously inept Corporal Jones who spreads panic in each episode accompanied by his catch-phrase ‘don’t panic’.

Enter Corporal Maude

Francis Maude for the Government addressed the tanker strike’s consequences but seems to have triggered panic buying at the pumps.

The Corporal Jones theme was widely deployed in the media, with Francis Maude lampooned as Corporal Jones. Here’s BBC correspondent Nick Robinson:
Ministers risk looking like Corporal Jones in TV’s Dad’s Army as their insistence that there is no need to panic about the possibility of an impending strike by tanker drivers looks like, well, panic.

It’s clear that Francis Maude went more than a little off-piste when he suggested motorists might consider filling up a “jerry can” and putting it in the garage, as well as filling up their tank.

However, it’s also clear that the government has had a strategy since the weekend – and well before the Tory funding allegations emerged – of encouraging stories which might persuade car drivers to stock up with petrol.

Tory folklore recalls that one reason Mrs Thatcher defeated the miners’ strikes of 1984 was because she had made contingency plans and built up coal stocks outside the mines.

Leadership Lessons

The news on Friday [30th April 2012] was that the proposed strike had been postponed. However, panic at the pumps continued into Saturday, with reports of bizarre and dangerous attempts to obtain and store petrol. An unsurprising leadership lesson: it is much easier to start a public panic than end one.

That’s better. Amazon updates its information on Dilemmas of Leadership

Updated materials from the Dilemmas of Leadership textbook can now be found on the Amazon website

Read on to find the connection with the image, which shows a scene from Cruft’s dog show

You might say this post is a publicity pitch for Amazon’s services. Or you might consider it a self-interested advertising pitch, or the author’s cry of gratification. Whatever, I can report that from today [March 30th 2012] a data search for Dilemmas of Leadership on Amazon will reveal information about the new edition which was published towards the end of 2011.

The old words behind the new cover

From time to time over the last three months, as newly published authors do, I would return to the Amazon website to see whether it has updated the pages announcing the 2nd edition of Dilemmas of Leadership.

Over that period of months, I remained disappointed to find the Amazon image was of the cover of the new edition but with the text inside from the older version of the book.

Portrait of the author as an old dog learning new tricks

The extended period waiting did not diminish the sense of frustration or motivation to return to the site time and again. Today I felt those extended efforts had been rewarded at last.

In dog training, this is referred to as the process of behavioural shaping through the gratification afforded by periods of extended play…

Images

The first image shows a border Collie assessing a group of judges at the UK’s annual doggiefest at Crufts. It has some connections with the main story, but mainly it’s there because I like the unconscious irony in the picture which is from Real Dog Training, Scotland and was taken in 1996.

The second image shows the book cover behind which Amazon sneaked in text from the earlier edition of Dilemmas of Leadership.

Lei Feng is a Chinese role model and an example of servant leadership

March 5th is “Learn from Lei Feng Day”. A self-sacrificing soldier, Lei is celebrated in China as a role model of selflessness and modesty. Similarities with Servant Leadership are noted

Many LWD subscribers will be unaware of the story of Lei Feng and the esteem he is held in China. Lei’s fame arises from the days of Mao when he became a popular icon for the ideal soldier as ordinary hero. His fame remains today although the State now is opening up debate on such historical stories, for example through social media sites.

The Chinese social media site Sina Weibo is now providing an English language service

Sina Weibo correspondents were quoted extensively in a “China Daily article on Lei Feng recently [March 5th 2012] on the 49th anniversary of his death.

“While Lei Feng’s name still resonates in China and elsewhere, some begin to wonder whether the spirit of the Good Samaritan is still relevant in an age of intense materialistic pursuit and whether the image of helping grandmas cross the road is somewhat outdated.”

@Guaiguaideayuan Radio host at Zaozhuang Station:

There is nothing wrong with Lei Feng Spirit. It’s not the fault of those “Lei Fengs” (those who follow Lei’s example) that the spirit is now challenged and even doubted by some. It’s the reality and people’s perception of the reality: we want more from the others and from the society, and when the desires can’t be fully satisfied, we blamed something or somebody [other than ourselves].

@Wenxinfoshan Sina Weibo user

Today the new definition for Lei Feng Spirit should be as follows: 1. Try to do good, no matter how small it is; 2, try to be responsible; 3, try to be independent and do regular self-introspection; 4, try to put yourself in the others’ shoes, as often as possible; 5, and try to persevere in everything you do.

Global values and ordinary heroes

Western readers tend to reject stories from the time of Mao as State propaganda. There is even debate about the very existence of Lei Feng as portrayed officially. We can liken this to Western ‘ordinary heroes’ such as Robin Hood whose existence is challenged but whose story is accepted and romanticised.

Xinghuaqi, the biographer of Lei Feng puts it this way:

We promote Lei Feng Spirit because Lei Feng is an “ordinary” hero. His “heroics” were done in his daily life, and we can do the same if we wish. His spirit isn’t about communism or socialism – nothing ideological – but about the basic human nature. If everyone could follow Lei Feng’s path, the community will become much healthier.

The similarity to the work of Robert Greenleaf on servant leadership is clear. According to Dilemmas of Leadership, [p 190] servant leadership is essentially about “the development of followers into morally responsible and autonomous leaders”. This idea cuts across 20th century leadership “maps” which place emphasis on “the fallacy of the industrial paradigm” [p 239] and subsequent ethical dilemmas.

David Cameron’s anguished decision

It fell to the Prime Minister to authorise a rescue mission which resulted in the deaths of a British and an Italian hostage. The action took place before the Italian authorities were informed. Could something different and better have been done?

The background to the story is the rise of the violent militant group Boko Haram in Nigeria and the seizure of two civilian hostages last May [2011].

The group’s official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, [which means] “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”. Residents in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, where the group had its headquarters, dubbed it Boko Haram. Loosely translated from the local Hausa language, this means “Western education is forbidden”

The location of the hostages appears to have been confirmed recently. They were on the point of being moved. Nigerian forces with British support considered immediate action to be necessary.

Life and death decisions

The latter in particular are schooled in the general principles involved. Each such incident has its special features, so are there more general lessons in leadership to be learned?

The decision to act was quickly followed by news that the rescue had ended in tragedy, and that the two hostages were dead, whether in cross fire of through execution by their captors was not clear. Mr Cameron could do little beyond expressing his extreme sadness and condolences to the bereaved family.

The President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, who appears to have been alerted too late to contribute to the decision-making to provide the Italian perspective, was understandably dismayed at the outcome and shocked at the process.

The ‘inexplicable’ decision

The BBC later reported the events and the reactions of the Italian President:

It is “inexplicable” the UK did not tell Rome of a bid to rescue a Briton and an Italian held in Nigeria, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano says. Islamist militants took Chris McManus, 28, of Oldham, and Franco Lamolinara hostage in north-west Nigeria last May. The engineers died as Nigerian and UK forces tried to free them on Thursday [8th May 2012]. UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said Rome had been told of intelligence behind the rescue attempt and informed “as the decision was taken to act”. Mr Napolitano said the British government needed to explain why it did not inform the Italian authorities ahead of the operation.
“The way the British government has behaved is quite inexplicable. To have failed to inform or consult Italy, with regard to a military action which could have such consequences. A clarification is needed on both the political and diplomatic levels.”

The dilemma

The primary dilemma for Mr Cameron was whether to accept the military assessment that a rescue attempt was required. Keeping the Italians informed was of secondary importance. It remains to be seen whether, prior to the fateful decision, the military leaders and political leaders had not put in place communication channels, in anticipation of fast-changing events. It seems plausible to argue that the difficulty at the end, came about from actions (or inaction) earlier on.

The Italian political scene was in disarray after the appointment of a new President. David Cameron had become embroiled with the leaders of the European Union over a period of months. The military seemed to have requested permission to take action without setting up communications that would have led to some hot-line at just such a crisis point.

Conclusion

The complexities of the situation are beyond the scope of this brief analysis. The action itself was only partly under the control of the British military forces on the ground: The British defence secretary, Philip Hammond later noted that “when a window of opportunity became available, a well-trained Nigerian force with British support went in and tried to rescue them”.

Military historians and leadership analysts will have their say. Until then, we are left with a few general principles to examine and test for their credibility.

“What would you have done?” Mr Cameron might well ask his critics. “We wouldn’t have arrived at where you ended up” could have been the answer. Better planning in advance may or may not have improved the decision taken, but it would possibly have improved the overall decision-making processes.

Acknowledgements

Image from The Blaze is of Imam Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram’s leader.

Creative leadership needed for Remploy

The economic squeeze in the UK has hit Remploy, a government-backed scheme for people with disabilities, and a long-established component of the welfare system. The leadership dilemmas are clearer than satisfactory courses of action

The BBC takes up the story in March 2012

Remploy, which provides work for people with disabilities, is planning to close 36 of its 54 factories, putting more than 1,700 jobs at risk. Minister for Disabled People Maria Miller said the sites could be closed by the end of the year as they were not financially viable.

Remploy factories were established 66 years ago as part of the creation of the welfare state. Its workers are employed in enterprises that vary from furniture and packaging manufacturing to recycling electrical appliances and operating CCTV systems and control rooms. The government says “non-viable” factories should close, with the money, part of a £320m annual budget for disability employment, re-invested into other schemes to help disabled people find work.

It follows an independent review conducted by Liz Sayce, chief executive of Disability Rights UK, into the way in which the government spends its disability employment budget. Her report recommended that government funding should focus on support for individuals, rather than subsidising factory businesses. She recommended the cash should be diverted into the Access to Work fund, which provides technology and other help to firms for the disabled, whose average spend per person is £2,900.

The Department for Work and Pensions said about a fifth of that budget was currently spent on Remploy factories, but added that almost all of the factories were loss-making and last year lost £68.3m.

Remploy’s official website announced the change of policy [downloaded March 8th 2012].

The Remploy Board has proposed a series of significant changes to its operations as a result of the Government decision to reduce current funding for Remploy – this was announced to Parliament as part of a package of reforms to maximise the number of disabled people supported into work.Remploy will now consult with its trades unions and the management forums on the proposed closure in 2012 of 36 of its factories which it believes are not commercially viable, and on the potential compulsory redundancy of 1,752 employees directly or indirectly involved with these businesses.

During this consultation Remploy will consider all measures to avoid redundancies. Remploy will issue a consultation document on the proposed factory closures and will start discussions with the trades unions and the management forums to begin formal consultation on the proposals.

In the second stage, Remploy will work with the Department for Work and Pensions to explore whether the remaining factory-based businesses and CCTV contracts could exit from Government ownership and, if so, agree how this might be achieved.

Dismay and anger

Unsurprisingly, the story has been met with dismay and anger from those affected. One source with experience of the Remploy factories told Leaders we deserve “It’s a difficult one. Remploy started after the war [of 1939-1945] for disabled soldiers, but that’s changed over the years.”

Creative leadership

The debate will rage on. Many who engage in it will be close to the pain. Others will be close to deeply held beliefs about socialism, and the nature and level of state intervention. There is still space for creative leadership here.

Developing global leaders: the 21st century corporate challenge

Professor Bill George

Harvard’s Bill George argues that too many multinationals are still ignoring the need to identify and develop global leaders equipped for the challenges of the 21st century

Tudor Rickards

Professor Bill George suggests that a new era for global leadership is developing which requires greater focus on emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and empowerment. We examine and test his ideas as published in Harvard Business Review and compare them with experiences from a major exercise developing such leaders within the Manchester Business School’s executive programme.

Synopsis of the article:

Too many multinational still concentrate vital decisions in the hands of a small group of trusted leaders from their home country. They rarely promote [local staff] Instead, they groom future global leaders from the headquarters. In order to adapt to local cultures and market needs, companies must shift to decentralized, collaborative decision-making. That requires developing many leaders capable of working anywhere. Rather than concentrating on the top 50 leaders, global companies need to develop hundreds, even thousands, of leaders comfortable operating in a variety of cultures. Developing such leaders with cultural sensitivities and collaborative skills requires greater focus on emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and empowerment than on traditional management skills.

Coke’s global leaders

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola is one such pioneer in geographic diversity. Since the 1960s Coca-Cola has had South African, Cuban, Australian, Irish and its current Turkish-American CEO Muhtar Kent.

Nestle & Novartis

Over the past decade, Nestle and Novartis have made dramatic shifts from Swiss-dominated boards and executive leadership to a diverse set of nationalities.

IBM’s revival

Samuel Palmisano reorganized IBM into an “integrated global enterprise” based on leading by values and collaboration, using special bonuses to empower leaders. Its former chief learning officer recently estimated that the company will need 50,000 leaders in the future.

Unilever

Unilever has undertaken a major initiative to develop 500 global leaders in intensive leadership development programs to prepare them for expanded roles. According to CEO Paul Polman, “Unilever’s Leadership Development Programme prepares our future leaders for an increasingly volatile and uncertain world where the only true differentiation is the quality of leadership.”
Such global roles require experience working and living in multiple countries. German chemical maker Henkel insists its executives live in at least two different countries before being considered for promotion.

More than international experience

Developing global leaders necessitates a shift focusing on helping leaders increase their self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and resilience. It’s not [even] enough just to work overseas. To process and learn from their experiences, individuals should utilize introspective practices like journaling, meditation or prayer, and develop support networks of peers. There they can consult confidentially with people they trust about important decisions and have honest conversations about their dilemmas, mistakes, and challenges. These methods are still in their nascent phase, but there is little doubt that they will have a profound impact on developing global leaders in the years ahead.

The Global Events and Leadership module

The Global Events and Leadership module (GEL) introduces the Manchester Business School’s executive MBA programmes around the world. Its basic messages chime with those suggested by Bill George, and his Harvard colleague Teresa Amabile, studied as part of GEL.

Ten thousand leaders and more

It is worth noting that the point about the need for ‘tens of thousands of leaders’. This implies a major rethink in many corporate boardrooms on the nature of leadership and the further split between traditional modes of top-down cultures and structures.

Dilemmas, mistakes, and challenges

GEL, like Bill George, emphasises the dilemmas of leadership through its course textbook, and its ‘learning through doing’ project-based workshops. global leadership is inherently a process
requiring what has been described as a Yes And approach to challenges. This involves an openness to change and a commitment to ‘authentic’ ethical values.

Acknowledgements

To an increasingly diverse and skilled group of associates dedicated to facilitating global leadership through exploration of its practices.

Mitt Romney’s ‘Potholed’ Road Map

Mitt Romney appears to be the front-runner as Republican candidate for the next Presidential elections. His journey towards nomination has been described as ‘a potholed road-map’. Leaders We Deserve examines the metaphor

The metaphors of map-reading, map-testing, and map-making have been applied to leadership ‘journeys’. The metaphor also crops up in political writings as ‘road maps’ leading to peace.

The Fiscal Times applied the metaphor to the road to be travelled by Mitt Romney who appears increasingly likely to be the Republican candidate to oppose President Obama in the next Presidential campaign.

In the view of most political professionals, the race for the Republican presidential nomination is essentially over. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney … has a 20-point lead [Jan 5th 2012] over his nearest rival in recent polls [which suggests that] most Republicans will quickly coalesce around him as the inevitable nominee… Of course, that doesn’t mean that Romney’s road to the nomination is free of potholes.

On maps and journeys

It is more precise to say that the map is of territory through which a journey must pass. The map indicates the road to be travelled. The Fiscal Times believes the road will be one which will not be easy on to travel, hence the pothole reference. Students of leadership may have noticed how in in everyday speech we may mix up the map with the journey. (Kark Weick likes to say that ‘the map is not the territory’.

The Fiscal Times has written about the likely political journey for Mitt Romney and examined the map and the route to be taken. This is mostly Map reading. The article then attempted to understand the journey better (map testing).

A complication: maps within maps

This map-testing suggested that the road would be a potholed one. Note how the author of the article has to outline a personal map, and incorporate a ‘reading’ of Mitt Romney’s possible mapping processes. And you may also have noticed, that I am now reading and testing the article’s maps. Don’t get too hooked on these ‘maps within maps’ . They conform to a systems theory of recursiveness which means the ‘maps of maps’ replicate the structures found in the simpler ones. You can satisfy yourself on this point if it an unfamiliar concept, by doing more ‘map-testing’. You will find that the basic structure will stay the same, although some features will change from higher level to lower levels of recursion.

So back to Mitt Romney’s journey

The Fiscal Times tests the suggestion that the Romney road is full of potholes by pointing to the challenges from other candidates who have become front-runners from time to time. These are metaphorically the potholes or challenging aspects of the journey.

Potholes and dilemmas

It sometimes helps map-testing to look out for a leader’s dilemmas. Here the potholes are signals of implied dilemmas. The article tests the pothole theory by describing Romney’s support, which is sticking stubbornly at 25%. Romney needs some way of dealing with the dilemma of low support, while being hailed as the front-runner.

Divide and rule (and ‘map-making’).

The article addresses this dilemma by citing an earlier article suggesting a leadership strategy for Romney. The suggested strategy is to avoid attacking other candidates, leaving them to attack one another. It is a divide and rule strategy. It is also an example of map-making.

More about divide and rule strategies

By coincidence, a similar map briefly became headlines in the UK, where the divide and rule strategy also figured. It involved the politician Diane Abbott in accusations of racism after an exchange on Twitter. There may be some value in comparing the two maps and the bumpiness of the journeys ahead for those involved.

Sir Alex Ferguson: He’s only human (like Desert Orchid)

It was a week when North Korea reported supernatural events on the death of their dear leader. It ended with a reminder at Old Trafford that even great leaders like Sir Alex Ferguson are only human, and will make mistakes from time to time

Let’s make this personal. Susan and I settled down to listen to the game between Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers, the mid-day match on New Year’s eve. The stated odds were twenty to one against a Blackburn Rovers win. For arcane contractual reasons there were no Premier League football matches televised that day.

More injury worries for United

We listened to the team news with surprise but only slight concern. United’s injury problems seemed to have become even worse with makeshift arrangements in defence and mind-field. And the latest casualty was Wayne Rooney, by general agreement United’s most gifted attacking player.
Still, Blackburn Rovers were in turmoil. They were bottom of the league. Their hapless manager was the target of a vociferous campaign to have him sacked. Sir Alex said Rooney would miss the game but would probably be back for the next one. Rooney watched the game from the Directors’ box.

The crowd sang Happy Birthday

The press had built up the occasion as the day when Sir Alex Ferguson would celebrate his seventieth birthday, and when United would leapfrog their ‘noisy neighbours’ Manchester City to head the league table at the start of the New Year.

The nightmare begins

Sometimes you can anticipate when a team that starts badly is going to get worse. This began to seem one of those times. United were playing as if it were only a matter of time before Blackburn would drop out of the two horse race, leaving the thoroughbreds to canter on to the winning post. But Blackburn defended grimly then broke away and scored. “That’s what the neutrals wanted” said the commentator. “Now we’ve got a game on our hands”.

The nightmare continues

At half time the game remained one goal in Blackburn’s favour. United’s patched-up team had begun to run out of attacking ideas. Then the next blow. Another breakaway goal. The inexperienced defence exposed again.

A brief time of hope, and then

Unlike proper nightmares, there was a brief time of hope. United scored within minutes of conceding Blackburn’s second goal. But then the nightmare continued. Yet another piece of poor defending by United and Blackburn score again. The Old Trafford fans were silenced, as their lambs were despatched. The game ended Manchester United 2 Blackburn Rovers 3. “It’s a disaster” said Sir Alex

The story behind the story: bend it like Beckham?

Within hours the story behind the story broke. Wayne Rooney had mightily displeased Sir Alex, and had been dropped as a disciplinary measure. It all sounded a bit like the famous David Beckham episode resulting in Beckham’s injury from a flying boot, not on the field but in the dressing room.

Perhaps coincidentally, Rooney had made a very public joke about that incident a few days earlier. He had also broken the strict training regime having dinner with a few players and wives after the last United match. A confrontation with the notoriously prickly Sir Alex, and some punishment was inevitable.

He’s only human

I couldn’t help remembering the words of a stable girl after another great sporting personality, Desert Orchid, failed surprisingly. “He’s only human” she said in Dessie’s defence.

Maybe we should remember the same point about Sir Alex. Even the greatest leaders sometimes struggle with the dilemmas they have to deal with.