Paul Lambert's Effective Communication 7th NOVEMBER 2009

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

If I listen very carefully I can just about decipher Paul Lambert’s Scottish accent when he speaks to the media but it isn’t always easy. Nor indeed are most Middlesbrough fans going to find the musings of their new boss particularly straightforward listening over the coming months. One can only imagine how difficult it must have been for some of Gordon Strachan’s former charges at Celtic (those who had been signed from big European clubs) to cope with the language barrier. Just imagine taking a course of English lessons, difficult at the best of times in Glasgow, I should think, only to turn up to work the next day to find out that your boss was actually talking in a completely different tongue! Former Norwich man and now Lincoln manager, Chris Sutton, must have faced a similar problem when Kenny Dalglish was the gaffer at Blackburn and no doubt the Liverpool players under Bill Shankly and those who have played for Alex Ferguson over the years (who compounds the problem by further strangling his vowels with a wad of Wrigley’s finest) did so, too.

To be honest, though, who cares? Whether or not television and radio audiences find their utterances pleasing upon the ear matters not a jot to successful football managers as long as their players do what is required of them. Dalglish’s Blackburn team spoke for him far more eloquently than he could, Ferguson’s collection of titles speaks for itself and although Shankly is famous for a few priceless quotes it was the passion and performance of his players that created for him a permanent place in Liverpool legend.

Paul Lambert seems to be a very thoughtful speaker. He doesn’t ramble or drift off topic when being interviewed. I have yet to hear him publicly make negative criticism of his players and he is quick to praise them when such credit is deserved. Likewise he regularly pays tribute to Norwich City’s supporters. Prior to the potentially tricky Paulton Rovers FA Cup tie he said all the right things, didn’t he?  Things like, ‘We’ll be treating them with respect... They’ve done well to reach this stage. ..I cannot afford not to pick a full-strength side. ..We will approach the game just as seriously as if it were a league game.’  In fact, it was  all a bit predictable wasn’t it? His post-match interviews tend to be along the same lines every week at the moment, too, especially as City keep winning. ‘Grant Holt has been terrific for me since the beginning...Chris Martin is developing well...the youngsters we have brought in have shown great maturity...I thought the lads were terrific again today.’

Personally, I would be more than happy to hear him say the same things every week between now and May and I couldn’t care less how hard I have to listen to make sense of his Paisley accent or how many times I’ve heard it before.  Because what is clear, and never more so than in the clinical, professional performance of his players at Paulton, is that Lambert gets his messages through loud and clear where it matters – in the dressing-room. Whether or not Gary Doherty understood the words of the last three City managers before Lambert I don’t know but it’s abundantly clear that he gets the message now – stay on your feet, stop using your arms all the time, don’t give away needless free-kicks , concentrate – and his game has been utterly transformed. Darel Russell has been reminded that he does not need to draw attention to himself with reckless challenges and petulant behaviour but can do so with solid, reliable quality performances, based on fair tackling and sensible distribution. Wes Hoolahan appears to have been told to stop drifting in and out of games and to keep demanding the ball, keep trying to win it back and never to fear attempting to be creative. The whole team is constantly reminded (often by a highly motivated, passionate presence in the technical area) to keep its defensive shape. There was never a hint of arrogance or posturing by Norwich City’s players before, during or after the Paulton tie. The players seemed aware of the job in hand, and of the need to approach the game with caution and respect for their opponents. Once the game was underway they weathered their opponents’ first wave of energetic enthusiasm before settling to reproduce their confident measured football of recent weeks.

Both on and off the field we are seeing the evidence of Paul Lambert’s effective communication.