Armangue/AP

Following from yesterdays abysmal attempt from our national football team, I sat and listened to a lot of the response from all types of fans. Some were hard and fast footie fans, others were a bit more like me, not really big into football generally, but patriotic and will support England in whatever they do.

To my surprise, there was only one real reaction that I heard.

Sack the manager.

Really? Is that the best response we have? These players are paid millions, and we blame the man on the sidelines for their atrocious team work? Yes, I know he has to take some blame here, but ultimately it is down to the players once they step onto that pitch to take responsibility for themselves, and for their captain to manage them there.

In business, if a sales team under-performs and does not hit their targets, do we just sack the manager and not hold any other team member to account? No. We look at who the individuals are that did not do well and we ask ourselves why. If they are just not good enough, we get rid of them. We look at whether they have the right motivation to win, or whether they know they are going to get paid irrelevant of whether they succeed.

Should the same not be done with football?

So don’t always seek to sack the manager. Sack those that quite simply did not perform when they needed to.