Why did the football manager become a position of such credibility and media focus?
With the dawn of increased media saturation following the inception of regular live top flight football on Sky, which has now gotten to the point of unprecedented coverage of four PL matches per week, more if there are midweek fixtures. This has afforded managers a greater voice within the game, and more opportunities to court controversy, which in turn adds to their voice via newspaper/TV coverage of their remarks made post-match or in press conferences. Ironic that you mention Cloughie, I believe he was quoted as saying that so much nonsense was spoken about tactics, which in a sense was both devaluing his own profession whilst at the same time highlighting the importance of the other side of management i.e. charisma, man-management, at which he was peerless. The war of words phenomenon is also attributable to increased media saturation, and it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Managers use the media as a tool to gain a psychological advantage often through controversial means, because t
