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In the world of football, on field performance is just one side of the coin. There is the flip side as well – the antics that happen off the field; the mind games. How often have we seen managers and some players making seemingly unwanted comments or answering unasked questions? While to the football uneducated these may seem random and unimportant, the truth is that there lies a thinly veiled insinuation or a goading message in the statement aimed at the other team or an official. Mental games are now a part of the game and are something that everyone is aware of. But it was not the case a few years ago.
It can be safely said that Sir Alex Ferguson is the grand architect of mind games. While it is hard to exactly say whether it was Ferguson who started the art of verbal warfare, there is no doubt that he is the one who perfected it and made it famous.
It was back in 1994-95 season that Ferguson’s mind games came to the fore and changed the entire landscape of world football. When the sudden rise of Blackburn Rovers from mid-table mediocrity to title contenders proved a roadblock in Manchester United‘s path to the third successive title, Ferguson, in a desperate attempt, tried to put pressure on Rovers by claiming that the title was theirs to lose. These were the initial baby steps taken by Ferguson into the murky area of mind games. This step, however, backfired as Blackburn stumbled its way to the trophy and Manchester United foundered under pressure.
Despite the failure of his mind games the previous year, Ferguson was back at it the very next year, this time against Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United. With just more than half a season gone, Newcastle were sitting 12 points clear at the top of the table. In April 1996, Ferguson accused Leeds United of raising their game against Manchester United while failing to do so against other teams and sat back as Kevin Keegan took up his bait and came out with the famous meltdown in a sky sports interview where he claimed he would love it if they beat Manchester to the title.
I can’t understand the Leeds players. I’m absolutely in support of their manager. He doesn’t deserve his players. If they had played like that all season they’d be near the top. They raised their game because they were playing Manchester United. It was pathetic. I think we can accept any club coming here and trying their hardest, so long as they do it every week.
- Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alex timed his actions perfectly; as Newcastle were already buckling slightly under pressure, his action and the subsequent meltdown by Keegan all acted as catalysts to Newcastle’s collapse and this time Ferguson emerged victorious.
Coming to more recent events, in the 2008-2009 season, Liverpool were flying high in the league. With Rafa Benitez at the helm and a midfield trio of Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres scoring goals for fun, Liverpool had taken a 5 point lead at the top by Christmas season. With the title fast slipping from his hands, Ferguson dug deep into his old bag of tricks. Bemoaning fixture lists, kick-off time, refereeing decisions and injury list, Ferguson’s excuses were wearing thin to say the least. But Rafa Benitez took up the sword and armed with a piece of paper, read out ‘facts’ of how fortune and refereeing errors had favored Manchester United and how many of Ferguson’s questionable actions had been overlooked by the FA. Benitez went so far as to suggest Manchester United set the fixture list in the future. With his constant emphasis that these were facts (which were true) and that he was not playing mind games, Benitez’s entire action proved to be his team’s undoing. With the team dropping points after points and a more and more frustrated Benitez claiming that United were nervous, Liverpool’s season changed for the worse from that point onwards and United were once again able to win the title.
I think he was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he’ll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous.
- Sir Alex Ferguson on Benitez’s rant.
While adept at playing mind games against other teams and their managers, Ferguson is equally good at using the media as a tool to hide his own mistakes and drawbacks. Earlier this season, a bored and out-of-sorts looking Manchester side took on a determined Swansea and barely came out with a draw. With media scrutiny on the dismal performance ahead of him, Ferguson’s claim that ‘Ashley Williams tried to kill van Persie ‘ all but switched the focus away from the performance as his words filled the headlines. Almost no one talked about United’s performance and sadly neither about the wonderful performance by Swansea. This was neither the first nor the last time that Ferguson had distracted the media away from the team and onto himself, thus taking away the pressure from his side.
While Ferguson is indeed a pioneer in using the ever growing media interest and speculation as a psychological tool, the fact is that almost all managers play mind games now. Last year, with the title race going to the wire and with just a handful of games remaining, Mancini’s claim that the title race was over and that Manchester United had won was at first thought as a surrender by the man, but proved to be the springboard (along with the return of Tevez) that City needed. With the expectations lowered, Mancini’s men were able to play with less pressure and eventually went on the claim the title (albeit narrowly).
Over at the La liga, every El Clasico is met with both sides trying to make snide backhanded comments on the referees and the player antics on the field. The most recent being that of Barcelona‘s current manager Roura, claiming that the match official appointed for the match had ruled wrongly against them in the 2011 Copa del Rey. Trying to influence the refereeing decisions even before kick off is nothing new in the English league or in Spain; it is but an extension of the mind games played by the managers.
It is unquestionably important to be mentally tough as a player or a manager with the crowd and the media on your tail and scrutinizing even the tiniest error and the opposition players trying to get to you on the field (in case of the players). But there are many instances when one simple act or result changed the team’s fortunes. Arsenal lost their way in the title race after a loss to Birmingham City in the League Cup final in 2011. Chelsea surrendered their title hopes after the impromptu firing of Ray Wilkins in the same year.
From all this, one thing is clear. Football is not just about who is more skilful or faster; it is also about being able to keep your head under pressure and working towards your goal without distractions. Unfortunately, this means the best may not always end up winning. The growth of media and interest in the beautiful game has been tremendous and with that we have left behind the old ‘handshake and smile for the picture‘ age. We have moved on to a more cut-throat era where winners can quite possibly be determined by their ability to trade mental blows. We have now entered into the era of mind games.
