LAMBERT PROVING TO BE HIS OWN MAN AS NORWICH CONTINUE PROGRESS

LAMBERT PROVING TO BE HIS OWN MAN AS NORWICH PROGRESS CONTINUES

As football phone-ins reveal on an almost daily basis, everybody thinks they know how to manage a team. I have recently been particularly struck by the number of Arsenal supporters voicing their dissatisfaction with Arsene Wenger, a man who has played no small part in making their club what it is today. Three Premier League titles, four FA Cup triumphs and a Champions’ League final are not enough, it seems, to grant him immunity from the vitriol of hundreds of ‘Gooners’ who can tell him who to buy, what team to pick and which substitutions to make.

I have never heard Wenger cite the influences on his management methods and style. Perhaps they are simply his own. When most football bosses get asked about their mentors there is usually a stock answer along the lines of ‘I have worked with various managers over the years and taken a little from each of them’. This seems reasonable; most intelligent people glean something, good or bad, from those with whom they work in whatever situation. Occasionally they might come under the influence of an extraordinary character, in football perhaps a Shankly, Stein, Ferguson or Mourinho, and, maybe even unconsciously, undergo a period of particular influence.

Martin O’Neill, it is said, was much affected by Brian Clough. Whether or not this is absolutely the case only he will really know. There might indeed be some common characteristics beyond the tracksuited pitchside look favoured by both, the confident, lucid and occasionally challenging post-match interviews but only those (like John Robertson) who have been present in a Clough dressing-room and one presided over by O’Neill will really be able to confirm or deny the theory.

Norwich City’s Paul Lambert, who skippered one of O’Neill’s sides at Celtic, is now thought by some to be a ‘clone’ of the Ulsterman, against whom he will be in direct opposition this week as he takes his team to face Sunderland at The Stadium Of Light. However, is this just a short-sighted pundits’ view based on little more than an observation that both tuck their socks into their tracksuit trousers?

In fact, I consider that Lambert is very much ‘his own man’ and indeed he has proved this season that it is possible to be just that and to enjoy success. Going against the received wisdom that what you need to do well in the Premier League is players with experience at that level Lambert has moulded together a squad drawn from virtually every echelon of domestic football except the top flight.

In this respect it might be argued that he is like some of the managers of the past who, like Clough, made so-called ordinary players better. However, that would be to miss the essential point that modern football makes different demands upon players and has become a squad based game.

Clough’s ‘invincible’ Nottingham Forest side which went 42 games unbeaten in 1977-8 featured just 16 players, unthinkable in the 21^st century. Yet as recently as 2002-3 Claudio Ranieri earned himself the nickname of ‘The Tinkerman’ for the excessive squad rotation which arguably cost him his job. Here, I think, lies the key to successful management in the modern game at the top level; the ability to rotate players yet maximise performance and, perhaps the most difficult part of the equation, maintain team spirit. This latter aspect means keeping your players not just fit, but happy, supportive and willing. It is this aspect of Lambert’s management which seems to mark him out from many.

Without detailing every new team line-up Lambert has named this season those of us who follow Norwich closely have become familiar with change. The manager has regularly made three, four or even five changes to his team, often accompanied by completely different formations, regardless of previous results. This has made it difficult for opponents to predict the way City will approach a game and meant that it is almost impossible to name Norwich’s ‘best eleven’, if indeed such a vague concept actually exists.

Crucially Lambert has kept his squad focused and, it seems from outside at least, ‘together’. I would suggest that this has not been accidental but the product of inspired management. Faced with the prospect of having a raw 19 year old goalkeeper as back-up for an extended period of time Lambert’s decision to throw Jed Steer into action in the FA Cup win at West Bromwich Albion turned out to be a bold masterstroke. Following a brilliant debut Steer is now twice the man he was, swelled by the trust his manager placed in him.

Against Chelsea at home Lambert decided to leave his most creative player, Wes Hoolahan, out of the side. After a gritty 0-0 draw the manager used his post match interview to praise Hoolahan for his exemplary attitude. Just when you think you know what his next move will be, he surprises you. Who expected Simon Lappin to suddenly feature in the starting line-up at QPR?  Who predicted the extended return to the side of Andrew Surman, let alone the run of goalscoring form that ensued? Who raised eyebrows in the cup tie at The Hawthorns when, with the score at 1-1 and Steve Morison not even on the bench, Lambert replaced  Hoolahan and Holt with Jackson and Wilbraham?

In the early weeks of this season fans’ favourite Grant Holt was regularly a substitute and some began to question his ability to ‘cut it’ at the top level. His response has firmly answered his doubters. His attitude, it seems, has never wavered, he remains the most positive, bullish embodiment of The Canaries’ indomitable team spirit. How exactly Holt has been handled by Lambert we do not know. How he manages to keep his players happy, each believing that they he is still an integral part of what the manager calls ‘the group’ is the secret to his success. He has found a formula, it seems, for keeping his players rested, fit, hungry and contented.

At the end of a week which saw Jonny Howson welcomed into the fold with Lambert citing a player’s character as ‘paramount’ when considering signings, it’s time to applaud once again the quiet Scotsman’s progress. He is unlikely ever to reveal too much of his method, preferring to avoid, rather than court, publicity and never criticising his players publicly. After the dreadful home defeat by MK Dons in The Carling Cup he did manage a comment of ‘disappointing’ but I wouldn’t mind betting he was a little more forthcoming in the dressing room! But his measured inclusive approach to his job has seen City through to the last sixteen of the FA Cup and to a top ten berth in the Premier League.

Whoever or whatever his influences have been they are certainly working!