Du Malone writes: In a previous post our manager, Grigor Pasha, has outlined his approach, as a club manager, to stakeholder management.
By stakeholder he means, apparently, any party that influences, or is influenced by his club, Neftochimic 1962.
Principally, he means staff, players, former players and staff, club directors/owners/investors, sponsors, football authorities, match officials, agents, affiliates, other clubs, the media, the local community, and the natural environment.
Oh, and the fans. I nearly forgot them.
Grigor’s already explained his approach to agents. Here he considers his approach to match officials.
Grigor Pasha writes:
Reacting to the referee
When preparing for a match, I like to take note of who will be officiating it.
I focus on the referee’s record — in particular the ratios between the number of (a) matches, (b) yellow cards, and (c) red cards.
I don’t let these ratio s dictate my approach to the game, but I do like to give them consideration.
For example, if the record shows that the ref is card-happy, I might consider telling my players not to dive in. And I might switch a midfielder from a ball-winning role to a less aggressive role. And if a player is one card away from suspension, I might just consider omitting him — especially if he has a high level of aggression.
I look particularly at the ratio between yellow and red cards. If, during the match, a player picks up a yellow, I need to know how much to worry about a subsequent red. Should I consider a substitution?
Influencing referees
It’s possible to have an indirect influence on referees by commenting in the press on their performance.
One option is to play mind games. For example, if a ref knows he’s likely to be subject to criticism he might be exercise caution in making decisions against us. This, though, is a risky game: by consistently criticising refs we might create enemies.
My policy, therefore, is never to criticise the ref.
My reasoning is this: we might, as a result, sometimes lose out by refs being insufficiently wary; but we’ll gain from goodwill created by our professionalism and expression of respect.
On balance I reckon we come out of that at least quits.
