Today Bolton Wanderers face West Ham, but they do so without the leadership of my Sam. There’s little to add to the commentary that has unfolded over the past week, all I can add are my experiences of him and my summation of his achievements.
When he started work at the Trotters, they had nothing apart from a state of the art stadium. Their training ground was a joke, there were no medical records, no proper medical or other facilities for the players at the Reebok, so sense as to how performance would be leveraged in order to get the club back into the Premier League…with no money. Through his focus on sports science and use of Peak Performance when he left the club they are now seen as top of the table finishers and genuine contenders for European football. They have managed to attract top players who have fallen out of favour with their clubs and to keep them. The effort that goes into achieving and maintaining this is awesome and is built on one of the best-qualified staffs you will ever see. But it’s not just their possession of a vast array of professional and technical skills, it’s the ways in which they interact with each other to create new knowledge, new ways of working that has given them the competitive edge. And that has come from the top.
The appointment of Sammy Lee is therefore a sensible one because he’s been introduced to and immersed in these ways of working. I hope he can take the club even further – the fact that he is one of the warmest, passionate people you can find can surely only help.
But I will miss my gaffer, the man who told me I was ‘family’. To someone who has lost both parents and has a somewhat odd family, this has meant more than I can express. I hope that he’s enjoying his holiday in Spain, and I look forward to the next chapter.
But come on you whites!
5 comments:
Through you, Big Sam has become an honorary member of the Aliens Road Community!
Good Luck Big Sam!
And he'd really like that! He'd fit in well. I can easily see him sitting at your table with a glass of red taking the piss, shooting the shit and engaging in our favourite pasttime of talking bollocks.
I know of few people who have bigger hearts or brighter minds.
He is more than welcome to come and do that anytime!
But he has to watch football with us first, with all the screaming, swearing and shouting that entails!
Actually, I've watched him watching games on the box and talking the play through with some of his staff. This is when you realise that you know nothing. Couldn't even make out what they were on about. Talk about seeing it differently...
But he'd love it - especially the swearing. He'd probably even cook nibbles for half time...
No need for him to cook.
That's why we have a tame Crisp-e!
I would love to see how he 'sees' a game!
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