The Secret of Success?

On October 14th 2009, Fabio Cappellos England completed their highly successful World Cup qualifying campaign by defeating Belarus comfortably at Wembley. At the same time, that international break came at a welcome time for Ipswich Town, finding themselves firmly anchored to the foot of the Championshp, and with manager Roy Keane seemingly staring down the barrel of Marcus Evans gun.
Fast forward a year, and the anniversary international break brings contrasting fortunes for both managers. Whilst Capello has seen his England side flounder through the World Cup, rendering that qualification success largely meaningless, Roy Keanes quiet revolution at Ipswich Town has continued to gather pace, with the club finding themselves in a far more respectable 5th place in the Championship table.
But the background to Ipswich Towns improvement runs deeper than simply improvements in playing personnel. The foundations of “Roy Keanes Ipswich”, as they are now almost obligatorily known, could perhaps lend insight into where Englands international fortunes have gone amiss on the biggest of stages.
It is a common benchmark for managerial success, particularly in the Championship, to spend significant funds replacing the existing players with superior footballers, resulting in a rapid upturn in club fortunes. The original prototype for such success was Kenny Dalglish’s Blackburn Rovers, and its a type of success thats been mirrored over and over in the intervening years, with Cardiff City being the latest to follow that path.
Yet, despite the sums of money Roy Keane, and indeed Jim Magilton before him, have spent on the playing staff at Ipswich, the improvement in fortunes would appear to stem from far more fundamental changes.
Since May 2009, Roy Keane has gone about a mentality change at Ipswich Town. It was an oft-heard lament of Jim Magilton that “if these players wont perform, then I will find some that can”. But Keane appears to have attempted change from a different perspective, assessing why those players wouldn’t perform in the first place.
Speaking after the abject defeat to Watford in March, Keane said “The media and fans will focus on what goes on on match day, but we train most days of the week as well and it’s about their attitude and mentality in training, attitude to the staff, attitude to wanting to improve as a player. You generally get the rewards on a match day.
“We’re always looking at the overall package, particularly with the players who have been left out of the team. I know they’re disappointed, but you still have to come in, you’re a professional, you get well paid and you have to have that hunger to want to do well. That’s the key area, I need to work with hungry players.”
The sentiments of that statement were not new. Keane has regularly seen fit to challenge his players to perform at all times, to challenge the mindset that was existing; there are no days off, perform each day as if its your last game of football. The changes have clearly been slow in developing. With some high profile players, Keane clearly concluded that those changes were not going to develop at all and they have found themselves at new clubs.
Similarly, Keanes policy when signing new players has also been reflective of this approach. It is with good reason that Keane has opted for players that he has worked with before. It has been a source of frustration for some supporters that Keane has often appeared unwilling to look elsewhere in a market where perhaps better value for money could be sought. Yet, he is bringing in players who buy into his methodology.
The impact of this starts to spread throughout the club. Keanes willingness to blood young academy players appears to be built in the notion that these young players have the desire and willingness to try and impress him, to prove their worth as first team players. Its an attitude that Keane clearly believes should be endemic in each and every player, whether 17 or 37.
So where does this approach help Englands national team? In the BBCs excellent “Inside Sport: Can England Win The Next World Cup?”, Jurgen Klinsmann spoke of the steps he undertook in order to steer Germanys national team back towards the rude health it is currently experiencing.
International managers are often fleeting appointments, employed to oversee a world cup campaign of perhaps twenty matches, before moving on to their next challenge. By contrast, club managers can often oversee a side for several years and through hundreds of matches. This gives them ample time to effect necessary changes across the entire football club. Klinsmann argued that for a national side to be able to achieve the same sort of changes, there had to be continuity in managerial appointments; each new appointment buying into an overall ethos. Klinsmann insisted on evolution, with the appointment of Joachim Low enabling the perfect transition from Klinsmann himself, and the development of the national side has been clearly evident subsequently. It contrasts markedly with the revolution of Englands approach, as Ericksson was followed by McClaren, who was followed by Capello, each bringing their own set of contrasting ideologies.
This approach perhaps resonates somewhat with Jim Magiltons “if these players cant do it....” approach to his latter months in the Ipswich Town hotseat. Simply moving on personnel isn’t necessarily the complete answer.
The approach has clearly worked for Germany and can work for England. In the meantime, the evidence is there that such an approach is just starting to reap the rewards for Roy Keane and Ipswich Town also. Bringing in new players and changing the tactics might help, but changing the mentality of the club is likely to have a more profound impact.
It is also perhaps a notable insight into why Marcus Evans did not see fit to pull that trigger this time last year.