Collective Leadership??

I have been meaning to write this for a while now. Today being a holiday I thought I’d snatch a bit of time and write it.

Well, we’re doing reasonably well till now and are in the title race due to being very consistent so far. Yes we lost a game in the FA Cup, I only hope that doesn’t derail our title bid, I can only hope. What I wanted to discuss apart from the normal Who played well – Who didn’t – Who should we buy or not is a more general question – How important is “leadership” on a football field?

I’d like to draw a bit of a parallel between football and cricket(coz that’s what I have been more exposed to for over 20 years). In cricket everything goes through the captain – he gets the time to think, consult, plan in advance and talk to people about strategies. There are drinks breaks, intervals and even mid inning breaks in the newest format. All in which plans can be reassessed and course corrected if nothing has gone according to plan. So the point being – A captain has a huge role here to play in strategising and in being a tactician. Sports like baseball from what I saw in the USA are even more remote controlled with a coach per base? So strategy I guess is a big part here as well. Now a quick look at football.

The manager is the closest thing that comes to a captain in other sports. He is the one who strategises etc. If it flops he is the fall guy, not the captain.. ever. The only time a captain is the fall guy is when his performances are bad. Which leads me to the question of the thread? What is the need of the captain at all in the first place? As per me the tune that Arsene sings all the while – ‘Collective Leadership’ is very valid.. from a footballing perspective. No its not another KoolAid article , let me explain.

Who were the most inspirational leadership figures (football) that you remember? Why? Is it possible that a guy would ever be made captain if he wasn’t up to scratch on the field – relatively speaking? No I guess. The role of the captain, tactic wise is very limited on a football field. Sure you learn a few tricks about positioning and movement and intelligent fouling with experience but all that still translates to ability. A captain in a football field really is just one type – One who can lead by example. Lift the team with his own performance – and implement what the manager says. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I’ve watched Arsenal since maybe the 2000-01 season and seriously followed it only after THAT WILTORD GOAL. I’ve seen a few leaders since then. Paddy who would destroy midfields , Gilberto the passive leader who upped his game and scored goals, Titi who was well a moody genius and now Cesc who is showing signs of shall we say a more skilful Steven Gerrard? But this being such a young team.. yes still…. Cesc cannot do it on hos own. And that is where the other people .. Gallas at CB, Rosicky, Arshavin, even RVP come in and all lead.. not the men.. but by example themselves. It does not have to be the captain who does it every time – the others can sense and lift the load off his shoulders whenever a problem that they can solve comes up. Really that’s what all successful teams do as well – its just not been said in the terms Arsene did.

In a nutshell – I think Arsene’s idea of multiple captain in football .. makes total sense – especially when you have a team growing together and when evryone takes that extra step and wants more at the same time. You can’t make em all captains but you got to keep them happy. It all points to distributed leadership – forget the armbands ; those are nice but not the end.

Lastly this season I think we’ve season various people step up at multiple points. RVP, Cesc, TV5 , Gallas, Rosicky… hell even the much maligned Denilson who once got into a fight. Oops taboo ;) .. how can Denilson do anything good?

Anyway forget the last point?.. What do you think? Collective Leadership. I’d love to hear your thoughts. DAG – Can you delay the preview a bit so we get feedback on this? Or if not.. lets repost this after this weekend maybe where there is a one week gap.