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'Managing the Media': The Changing Relationship Between Football

Managers and the Media
Article in Sport in History · June 2007

DOI: 10.1080/17460260701437045
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Sport in History
Vol. 27, No. 2, June 2007, pp. 217 240
‘Managing the Media’: The

Changing Relationship Between
Football Managers and the
Media
5 Neil Carter
O
PR
This article examines how the relationship between the media and football
managers has evolved over the twentieth century. In particular, it argues that
D
before the late 1960s, the print media largely shaped perceptions of managers
but after this period, television became the dominant medium in framing
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10 their image. In a wider context, this relationship has reflected changes in the
media as well as mirroring football’s association with it. The transformation
of football managers into celebrities, for example, has reflected the so-called
EC
‘tabloidization’ process of the media. Not only have tabloid newspapers gone
‘downmarket’ but also both quality broadsheet papers and television
15 broadcasters have ‘dumbed down’. The article highlights not only how the
changing role of the manager has been partly due to changes in the media
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industry but also the impact managers themselves have had on media
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developments.
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Introduction
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20 The day after England won the World Cup in 1966, the journalist Ken
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Jones approached Alf Ramsey, the victorious manager, for an interview.

Ramsey famously replied ‘Sorry, it’s my day off ’ [1] and he meant it. It
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seems inconceivable for a football manager to take a similar attitude

today. Ramsey’s reticence and indifference spoke volumes. England, even
AQ1 Neil Carter, De Montfort University. Correspondence to: ???
ISSN 1746-0263 print; ISSN 1746-0271 online/07/020217-24 # 2007 The British Society of Sports History
DOI: 10.1080/17460260701437045
218 N. Carter
25 in the 1960s, was of another time and place. Ironically, it was England’s
victory and its extensive television coverage that brought Ramsey and his
role as manager into greater focus: 1966 was a turning point. Television
henceforth increasingly determined the media’s relationship with the
manager.
30 Managers from Ramsey’s era and before had been seen as respectable
and deferential figures, enjoying relatively cordial relations with reporters
who concentrated on football matters rather than looking for scandal.
Through the increasing coverage of football on television from the late
sixties, however, this image changed considerably in a relatively short
35 space of time. Television had been at the heart of football’s cultural
transformation into the country’s national sport, taking over from cricket.
O
Managers subsequently became emblematic figures for the clubs that they
managed and later part of an emerging celebrity culture. Such is the
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power of some managers such as Alex Ferguson and Sam Allardyce that
40 they have chosen to whom they will or not speak in the media. [2]
This article examines how the relationship between the media and
football managers has evolved over the twentieth century. In particular, it
argues that before the late 1960s the print media largely shaped
D
perceptions of managers, but that after this period television became
TE
45 the dominant medium in framing their image. In a wider context, this
relationship has reflected changes in the media as well as mirroring
football’s association with it. The article highlights how the changing role
of the manager has not only been partly due to changes in the media
EC
industry but also the impact managers themselves have had on media
50 developments.
In a number of ways, the transformation of football managers into
R
celebrities has reflected the so-called ‘tabloidization’ process of the media.

Especially since Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of the Sun in 1969, not only
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have tabloid newspapers gone ‘downmarket’ but also both quality

55 broadsheet papers and television broadcasters have ‘dumbed down’.
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This process has been described as

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the trivialising and sensationalising of news coverage accompanied by

a greater emphasis in news stories on human interest rather than the
public interest, the prominence of ‘softer’ consumer stories above
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60 ‘hard’ policy-centred news and a preference for short, pithy news items
above sustained, lengthy and detailed analysis. ‘Infotainment’ has
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increasingly become the staple diet of news bulletins. [3]
As a result, the ‘broadsheets’ and television have devoted more attention

to sport, along with scandal and other forms of popular entertainment, at
Sport in History 219

65 the expense of serious news, thus implicating sport in wider debates about
‘dumbing down’. Their output has become increasingly tabloid-like,
featuring human-interest stories and the personal and private lives of both
celebrities and ordinary people. [4] Other academics have attacked critics
of tabloidization for elitism, arguing that it represents a male-dominated
70 news agenda and, as a result, ‘dumbing down’ has mythologized a past era
of ‘quality journalism’ that never actually existed. By contrast, it is argued,
there is more news and journalism circulating in the public sphere than
ever before. [5]
However, as Williams has pointed out, any arguments over the recent
75 demise of public service and serious news assumes that there is a process
of change taking place. [6] A number of academics have drawn attention
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to the historical continuities over debates regarding ‘tabloidization’. [7]
For instance, Tulloch has argued that the history of journalism since the
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late nineteenth century has been punctuated by debates over the standards
80 of journalism in four separate periods, with newspapers reinventing
themselves each time. [8] Former journalist Roy Greenslade, in opposi-
tion to Anthony Sampson’s argument that ‘the media could no longer
claim to provide the first draft of history’ and were guilty of presenting to
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readers a ‘sense of a discontinuous, disconnected world’, has countered
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85 that, based on his reading of the broadsheets over a fifty-eight-year
period, ‘they have always presented a sense of a discontinuous,
disconnected world’. [9] Sparks argues that changes in news media have
been part of a long process in which serious newspapers have attempted to
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come to terms with the constantly changing social make-up of their

90 readership due to rising educational levels plus changes in family
structures and the labour market. [10] Furthermore, competition for
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audiences has usually been ascribed as the main reason for any downward
shift in the media. Barnett, though, has argued that there has been
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vigorous competition for readers in all sectors of the newspaper market

95 since before the First World War and in broadcasting since 1955. [11]
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Importantly, the nature of the audience at which football journalism

has been aimed has highlighted the different context in which the
C
relationship between football and the media has taken place when
compared to other news areas. Football’s traditional audience has been
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100 a largely male one. Garry Whannel has argued that because sport is
gender-specific, i.e. male, sports are bound up with the ‘production of
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masculinities’, something that has been reflected and reinforced through

the sport’s representation in the media. [12] Nevertheless, different
markets have developed on social lines. In recent years, whereas
105 the tabloids have continued to cater for young working-class men,
220 N. Carter
broadsheets have attracted the intellectual type of fan. Television, on the

other hand, has aimed for a more classless type of audience in trying to
attract viewers across the male social spectrum. [13] It seems that football
generally has been turned into a ‘male soap opera’. [14] In this sense,
110 football managers, who have represented a certain type of masculinity,
have been part of this process. ‘Personality’ and ‘character’ are two of a
football manager’s most important attributes, and this seems to appeal to
the sensibilities of the game’s mainly male audience. Within the media,
therefore, the image of the British football manager has tended to fit a
115 certain type an authoritarian, bluff and charismatic figure.
Early football-media relations
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Although there were early pioneers such as William Sudell at Preston
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North End and Tom Watson of both Sunderland and Liverpool, the figure
of the football manager did not really emerge until the inter-war years,
120 when the first generation of former professionals began to take up
positions. Up until then clubs were ran, first, by committees and then
boards of directors. They saw picking the team as a perk of the job and
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this tradition continued well into the twentieth century. Professional
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football and the press had quickly developed a symbiotic relationship
125 from the late 1880s. [15] The press, both local and national, became part
of the sporting subculture, lending the game a cultural legitimacy. [16]
The game had its own trade journal, the Athletic News, known as The
EC
Times of football, and it had a circulation of 170,000 by 1919. [17] To a

certain extent, football reporting reflected trends in the press following the
130 Northcliffe revolution. The Athletic News’s editor from 1900 to 1924,
R
Jimmy Catton, for example, was an innovator among football reporters,

pioneering a more chatty style. [18] Early managers did develop relations
R
with the press. When he left Sunderland for Liverpool in 1896, the local
reporters presented Tom Watson with an inscribed, carbuncle gold pin
O
135 and a silver matchbox as mark of their good relations. [19] Nevertheless,
by the inter-war period football managers, or secretary-managers as most
C
were called, remained largely local figures and match reports revolved
around what happened on the pitch.
N
U
The inter-war years

140 It was Herbert Chapman who essentially invented the role of the modern
football manager. Chapman became the model for future practitioners: he
picked the team, spent record transfer fees on players and devised playing

tactics. More than anyone before, he helped to establish the manager as an
important figure in the eyes of the media, someone who could make a
145 difference. By focusing on him, the media reinforced this image. When he
was manager at Arsenal from 1925 to 1934, he transformed the London
club from a mid-table side into the most successful in the land. [20] The
season before he became manager, Arsenal had finished 20th; the
following year they came second. Jimmy Catton declared: ‘The power
150 behind a good team is the power of Herbert Chapman.’ [21] However, few
clubs followed Arsenal’s lead and in general directors continued to have a
major say in team matters.
During the inter-war period, developments in the media had assisted
football’s nationalization process. [22] In addition to the press, the
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155 broadcasting of games on radio widened football’s potential audience. The
impact of the BBC on football was not as great as the press, but its
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influence grew steadily throughout this period. The expansion in news-
paper readership continued, however, among the national dailies and the
Sunday papers. At the same time there was a decline in the number of
160 papers and also a fall in the readership of provincial newspapers. [23]
Football was aware of the advertising potential of newspapers. In 1921,
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for example, the Football League decreed that matches were to kick off no
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later than 3.15 p.m. following complaints by newspapers who wanted
enough time to provide full match reports. [24] But newspapers needed
165 football just as much. The game was a significant selling point for popular
Sunday papers such as the News of the World and The People as they
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carried the results and reports of Saturday’s games, something that was
important to fans. [25] Partly due to a developing circulation war between
popular dailies such as the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, the Daily Herald
R
170 and the Daily Mirror, there was an increase in hyperbole accompanied by
stylistic changes. Headlines were bigger while sentences and paragraphs
R
were shortened and the language used in match reports became more
aggressive and sharper due to the American influence of ‘Sportuguese’.
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[26] The People, in particular, developed an anti-establishment tone and

175 on one occasion referred to football administrators as ‘buffoons and
C
museum pieces’. [27] One victim of this more populist approach was the
Athletic News, which was reduced to the back page of the Sporting
N
Chronicle in 1931. Local papers continued to make an important

contribution to the game’s health, however. They also diversified their
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180 coverage, and included more human-interest stories about the players.
Moreover, sports papers such as Saturday evening ‘greens’ and ‘pinks’
acted as forums for fans to vent their sometimes forthright opinions on
their teams’ performances. [28]
222 N. Carter
As the game’s image changed, public relations became part of a

185 manager’s job. Directors, who feared of being made a scapegoat for poor
results, preferred to stay in the background, and it was the manager who
gradually became a football club’s public face as well as the first point of
contact with the press. In addition to the increase in football coverage,
reporters needed a regular source for their weekly stories and the manager
190 was the obvious choice. Directors were too remote and also resented any
press intrusion, while clubs usually forbade the players to make any
comment in public. As a consequence, the press, had an interest in
managers having sole charge of the team, as the more autonomy managers
enjoyed the more inside stories reporters were likely to get. Stephen Wagg
195 has contended that by the 1930s the football manager, through the press,
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was becoming more closely associated with the team’s performance, and
that manager-reporter relations had become institutionalized. [29] Dave
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Russell has also recognized how during this period the press began to
report on a club’s performance in terms of its ‘managerial activity’.
200 However, Russell is also aware that the press constructed reality as well as
reflecting it, and that the powers that managers actually held did not
always reflect the media’s perception of these powers. [30]
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Chapman had realized the worth of good relations with the media and
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used it to promote Arsenal as well as himself. Highlighting his stature, he
205 had his own column in the Sunday Express, the key newspaper of the
1930s. He embraced football modernity and saw the press as an extension
for advertising; in 1929, Arsenal hired a publicity agent. Perhaps
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Chapman’s shrewdest move was to persuade the London Electric Railway

to change the name of its Piccadilly Line station adjacent to the Arsenal
210 ground from Gillespie Road to Arsenal in 1932. [31] On the suggestion of
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the Daily Mail cartoonist Tom Webster, Chapman changed Arsenal’s

shirts from all red to red with white sleeves to make them more distinctive
R
and modern. [32] Chapman’s successor, George Allison, was more

publicity-conscious. [33] He had been a journalist, at one stage working
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215 for William Randolph Hearst, and in 1938, he and some Arsenal players
featured in the film The Arsenal Stadium Mystery.
C
Allison had also been an early football commentator for the BBC; the
first professional game broadcast live had been Arsenal v Sheffield United
N
in 1927. Allison himself brought a populist element to the microphone,

220 sprinkling his commentaries with cries of ‘By Jove’ something that ran
U
contrary to the corporation’s Reithian principles. [34] In fact, during the

war there were complaints about the Americanized style of some of the
BBC’s commentators. Frank Carruthers, writing in the Daily Mail,
remarked that games were being ‘made up of an unceasing succession

225 of thrills, whereas it has more dull than purple patches’. He later remarked
that
Soccer is the game of the people, and they know too much about it to
be fobbed off with stories which are dressed with the artifices of the
showman. The sports commentator should be a reporter with expert
230 knowledge and able to tell an intelligent story. That is what the soccer
enthusiast wants, and not a blustering non-stop harangue to colour
the game grotesquely. [35]
Under John Reith, who dominated the organization from 1922 to 1938,
235 the BBC intended to bring different classes together, promote social unity
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and enhance a sense of national identity through the coverage of major
national events such as the FA Cup Final, first broadcast in 1927. The BBC
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took a keen interest in football, which helped to reinforce its status as a
national sport. Up to 1931, it had broadcast over a hundred games before
240 the Football League banned all broadcasts of its fixtures. [36] In addition,
Allison, with the BBC’s outside broadcast director S.J. de Lotbiniere,
organized a series of football talks throughout the 19323 season. [37] It
not only helped to popularize the game but also brought with it a
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Reithian, educational element. Allison had suggested to the BBC that the
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245 Leicester City manager Peter Hodges give a talk on ‘Team Building and
General Managerial Worries or Practices’. [38] Other programmes
included talks on the referee, the trainer and supporters. [39] Other
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managers were also being brought to national attention through the BBC.
In 1944, Frank Buckley was interviewed by Dennis Moore on the radio
250 programme Strike a Home Note, where he expounded his views on the
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development of football at home and abroad. Buckley was able to

publicize his idea of a British League that included clubs from Scotland
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and Ireland in addition to those in England and Wales, and he also

predicted a European tournament with clubs travelling by aeroplane. [40]
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255 In 1946, a banquet was held to celebrate Fred Everiss’s association of

50 years with West Bromwich Albion, and this was featured on a local
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radio programme, Midland Region. [41]

Through stunts, some managers were beginning to use the media to
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bring themselves to the notice of a national audience. In the late 1930s, for
260 example, Frank Buckley brought notoriety to Wolverhampton Wanderers
U
by giving his players injections of so-called ‘monkey glands’. Before the

1939 FA Cup Final between Wolverhampton and Portsmouth, and in
front of the cameras, a Portsmouth player performed a supposedly lucky
pre-match ritual of clipping on the spats of secretary-manager, Jack Tinn.
224 N. Carter
265 Tinn also had his players photographed by the press apparently also
taking monkey glands. [42]
Post-war modernization, 1945 66

Football management underwent a slow if gradual transformation after
the war. Initially, despite the example of Chapman, there were few
270 managers who enjoyed his status. By the late 1960s, however, the role of
the football manager had been modernized, something symbolized by Alf
Ramsey’s knighthood, awarded in 1967. Partly due to a less deferential
society, football managers themselves became more assertive and
demanded more powers. The abolition of the maximum wage in 1961
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275 accelerated football’s commercialization. It forced directors to relinquish
some of their powers and to hand these over to the manager, especially
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team selection. It was felt that with the extra financial risks, they now
needed a specialist to take a greater hand in the running of the club. In
addition, increasing numbers of managers gained coaching qualifications
280 and became responsible for team tactics. As a result, a generation of
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managerial ‘team-makers’ emerged. Matt Busby at Manchester United
and Stan Cullis of Wolves had been examples from the early post-war
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period and they were followed by the likes of Bill Shankly at Liverpool,
Tottenham’s Bill Nicholson, Don Revie at Leeds, Everton’s Harry Catterick
285 and Jock Stein at Celtic.
Not only was post-war Britain marked by a decline in deference, where
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more people did what they wanted more often than ever before, but there
was an increase in affluence and the emergence of a consumer society.
These changes were both partly brought about by and reflected by
R
290 developments in the media. In 1955, for example, commercial television

(ITV) was born, while the sale of televisions rose dramatically with levels
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of ownership spreading from the middle to the working classes. In 1950,

4.3 per cent of all households owned a set: by 1962 this had risen to 75 per
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cent, while it was 91 per cent in 1971. At its outset, though, the Football
295 League resisted television’s commercial potential. [43] During this period,
C
there were only a few live games shown such as the FA Cup Final plus a
few international and European games. Yet its potential to directly affect
N
football was shown by the estimated audience of 10 million that watched

the 1953 ‘Matthews Final’. [44]
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300 However, as there was little football on the television, the press still
largely formed perceptions of managers in this period. Newspapers had
enjoyed a boom period up to the mid-1950s before falling into a gradual
decline ever since. However, there were variations. While the sales of

broadsheets and tabloids generally held up, those of middlebrow, middle-
305 market newspapers fell. Through journalists such as Geoffrey Green of
The Times and Brian Glanville, there was an increased interest in football
among the broadsheets, further enhancing the game’s position in the
national culture. Within the popular press, reporters such as Alan Hoby,
Trevor Wignall and Desmond Hackett wrote critical feature articles on
310 football. Although they focused more on the game’s sensational side, any
scandal was restricted to football. The daily reporting of football became
increasingly organized around the figure of the manager during the early
post-war period. Match reports routinely referred to managers of the
teams involved, while there was an increase in stories that focused on their
315 statements and activities in the transfer market. [45] Managers were now
O
seen to be responsible for their team’s performance, creating the
perception of them as important figures.
PR
However, this was a double-edged sword as, in light of the circulation
war, managers became more open to criticism. The press had been
320 particularly critical of England’s 63 defeat by Hungary in 1953. This
defeat, in conjunction with the Cold War and the strident patriotism of
the press, helped to reshape the role of the England manager. Walter
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Winterbottom his remit also including Director of Coaching had
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been appointed in 1946 but at first there was little attention paid to him.
325 The FA’s international selection committee picked the team while
Winterbottom was reduced to making suggestions. [46] As a consequence,
criticisms in the newspapers brought the job of national team manager
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into sharper focus. Desmond Hackett of the Daily Express identified the
selectors as the ‘guilty men’. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, there
330 were increasing calls for a manager who had been a former professional
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player (Winterbottom’s experience was limited), had coaching qualifica-

tions and, importantly, had sole powers of selection. Alf Ramsey, through
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newspaper polls, was the popular choice, and in 1963, he succeeded

Winterbottom. [47]
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335 Following the war, radio had been a more important medium for
football than television and the BBC had been keen to expand its coverage
C
and audience. It also gave more opportunities for managers to increase

their profile. In 1949, Sports Report began broadcasting on the BBC’s Light
N
Programme. Fronted by presenters such as Eamonn Andrews, football

340 results, match reports and interviews usually took up the bulk of the
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programme. [48] In addition to its presentation, the BBC began to place

an emphasis on the personal. De Lotbiniere, referring to a game between
Blackpool and Arsenal in 1946, had said ‘I should like to pursue once
again this year the policy of bringing in local football personalities as
226 N. Carter
345 close-of-play summarisers’, and suggested Blackpool’s manager, Joe Smith.

Although unsure whether it should be the manager or the chairman, he
later added:
All I would say is that whenever possible, we should use someone who
is well connected with league management and also well able to give a
350 match summary. It would probably pay us to do so. People’s vanity can
so easily be tickled by microphone appearances that a 5 minute
‘personal appearance’ can sometimes make all the difference to future
Outside Broadcast facilities. [49]
Managers appeared regularly on other programmes. During the 1950s,

355 Stan Cullis appeared on a weekly local radio show, Talking Football, with
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Danny Blanchflower (then a player). Some managers developed their own
post-match soundbites, a trend further accentuated by the arrival of
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television. Asked a question by Eamonn Andrews on Sports Report, Stan
Cullis would invariably reply: ‘I haven’t got a crystal ball here to tell the
360 future.’
In addition to reporting on the actions of managers, some, such as
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Cullis, were aware of the importance of newspapers as a tool for publicity,
and their relationship was becoming increasingly reciprocal. In 1954
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Wolves beat Honved of Hungary in a game under floodlights another
365 innovation with the second half broadcast live. After this game, Stan
Cullis was (mis-)quoted calling his team ‘Champions of the World’ in a
national newspaper. [50] Despite the misquote, it was a story that helped
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to ignite, albeit in a small way, the establishment of organized European

club competitions. He often spoke to journalists at work and he also took
370 calls at home in the evening and on Sundays. Cullis claimed that ‘the
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services of the newspapers are vital to the prosperity of football which

could scarcely continue in its present position if the papers ignored it’.
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[51] However, this did not prevent him from banning David Jack, then a
journalist, from the Molineux press box for a report that, according to
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375 Cullis, ‘went beyond what might be expected from a Sportswriter of

repute’. [52]
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With falling attendances, football clubs became aware of the need to

‘sell’ themselves and to promote the right image. By the late 1960s,
N
therefore, advertising the club was recognized as an important a function

380 of the manager, and as a by-product of this, he came to be seen as ‘the
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club’. Alec Stock, reflecting on a manager’s increased media responsi-

bilities, said: ‘A manager is not granting a favour when he agrees to a
newspaper, television or radio interview. He is doing an important part of
his job. He is helping sell the game and his club to the public.’ [53] No one

385 understood this role better than Jimmy Hill. As manager of Coventry City
from 1961 to 1967, he instigated the ‘Sky Blue Revolution’, changing the
team’s shirts to that colour, inventing a song that the fans still sing today.
He was very accommodating with the media generally and realized the
benefits of a close relationship with the local community. In 1961, for
390 example, the club held an open day for young supporters, while in 1965
the team went on a European tour promoting Rover cars. [54] It also
helped that he was successful, winning promotion to the first division in
1967. [55]
If Jimmy Hill was more media-savvy, Bill Shankly’s relationship with
395 the media highlighted the link between football and its mainly male
working-class fans. His instant quotability became a staple diet for tabloid
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reporters who were aiming for a working-class audience themselves.
Shankly’s style of providing quick-witted one-liners for the media
PR
established a template that other managers would try to follow. [56]
400 Shankly also had a flair for publicity. When he was manager at Carlisle,
before their home games he addressed the fans through a loud speaker.
After buying Ron Yeats for Liverpool, he nicknamed him the ‘Colossus’
and invited the press to ‘walk around him’. [57] Not only was he
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promoting the club by keeping Liverpool’s name in the papers; he was
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405 also, perhaps unconsciously, enhancing his own image at the same time.
Others, though, like Alf Ramsey, were still uncomfortable dealing with
the press. When, following England’s victory, Ramsey was congratulated
by reporters who had been critical of him his response was to ask ‘Are you
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taking the piss?’ A year later, on a tour to Canada, Ramsey was

410 approached by a television reporter who said: ‘Sir Alf, we’re going to
give you five minutes of CBC time.’ ‘Oh no you’re not,’ he responded and
R
continued to walk on. [58] Soon after, though, football entered the
television age with managers, from being well-known in local circles,
R
becoming national figures, and the need to be media-friendly became part

415 of the job.
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Managers in the television age, 1966 1992

C
Notwithstanding the increasing precariousness of the manager’s job, this

N
was the heyday of the ‘boss class’. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s,
football managers enjoyed more autonomy than ever before or since. They
U
420 devised tactics, spent big in the transfer market, dominated players and
challenged the authority of directors. This set the mould from which
future managers would be judged in terms of their powers and their
accountability. It was an image cultivated further by their relationship
228 N. Carter
with the media. Russell has argued that the period from the late 1960s was
425 a crucial one in football’s relationship with the media, and that ‘the
media, in all its forms, took an ever more important role in shaping
perceptions of the modern game’. [59] In particular, television became the
most important medium and by 1970, most households had a television,
bringing the game to a wider audience and implanting it more deeply into
430 the national consciousness. [60]
Aided by television exposure, managers became more visible, with
some more colourful than others. It was an era of ‘big’ men like ‘Big Ron’
(Atkinson), ‘Big Mal’ (Allison) and ‘Big Jack’ (Charlton). Not only did
they become renowned for their successes (and failures) but some also
435 through their charisma and personality became household names due to
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their frequent appearances on ‘the box’. Because of television, managers
were becoming more central to the coverage of football. It was they on
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whom the cameras would increasingly focus before and after games for
interviews, and during the match itself as the camera tried to catch their
440 reactions to on-field incidents.
Initially, the televising of football had been low-key, with only a few
games broadcast live each year. In 1964, Match of the Day had been
D
launched on BBC2, in black and white, as a compromise to the pressure to
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allow televised football and the perceived need by the Football League to
445 protect live attendances. Its first showing attracted only 75,000 viewers but
by the 1970s, now in colour and with an eye-catching style of presentation
developed by Jimmy Hill, it was averaging audiences of twelve to thirteen
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million. ITV’s Big Match, launched in 1965 and shown on Sunday

afternoons, attracted nine to ten million. More people, therefore,
450 experienced the game through television than actually attended matches.
R
Later, both the BBC and ITV began to compete for the attentions of
football fans. Following an unsuccessful attempt by ITV known as
R
‘Snatch of the Day’ to force itself into the Saturday-evening slot in 1978
and thus replace the BBC’s Match of the Day, a deal was struck between
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455 the broadcasters and the Football League. From 1979 to 1983, both
channels shared the Saturday show on alternate weeks across the season.
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From 1983, there was live coverage of Football League games. In 1988, a
four-year contract was awarded entirely to ITV. It built its strategy around
N
showing as many games as possible of the ‘big five’ Manchester United,

460 Liverpool, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal who, ITV believed,
U
held the key to maximizing advertising revenue.

As the broadcasting companies chased viewing figures, presentation
styles also changed. In addition to its worldwide coverage, the 1966 World
Cup brought a number of innovations to the broadcasting of football,

465 such as slow-motion replays. [61] Another innovation had been a
dedicated area set aside for managers for post-match interviews. [62] It
was during one of these interviews that Ramsey had branded the
Argentinians ‘animals’ after England’s victory over them in the quarter-
final. His comments were soon relayed around the world. In South
470 America, many British embassies became concerned over the possible
impact of his inflammatory remarks on Anglo-Latin American relations.
It showed not only the potential power of television but also the
importance of comments attributed to managers.
In 1966, the BBC had also introduced a panel of ‘experts’ or ‘pundits’.
475 They included the likes of Johnny Haynes, Billy Wright and Walter
Winterbottom, who were generally restrained in their comments. For the
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next World Cup in Mexico, ITV copied the format but with pundits such
as Malcolm Allison and Derek Dougan, who were prepared to be more
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outspoken and, with the added attraction of colour television, were more
480 ‘colourful’ and, importantly, entertaining. In addition, panels helped to
legitimize managers as experts, something that reaffirmed their profes-
sional identity. On Saturday lunchtimes, both channels also screened
football magazine shows that featured interviews with managers. While
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the BBC showed Football Focus, ITV had On The Ball and later Saint and
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485 Greavsie, which made much of the presenters’ on-screen banter a sop to
football’s mainly tabloid-reading audience.
Supplementing, and in response to, the growing power of television,
there were also changes in the newspaper industry. In particular, Rupert
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Murdoch’s takeover of the Sun in 1969 created a racier, more downmarket

490 tabloid style of presentation. Other tabloids followed and an intense
circulation ‘war’ developed between the ‘red tops’ as the press sought ever
R
more salacious stories and controversial articles, a trend that fed through
into other areas of the media. The relationship between football and the
R
press remained as strong as ever and, with reference to the tabloids, it

495 became stronger as sport became central to circulation battles. Newspaper
O
coverage of sport in general increased as other news issues declined. In the

period 194751, the Daily Mirror had devoted 24 per cent to sport; by
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196875, this had increased to 53 per cent. [63] Even The Times, which
continued to give extensive coverage to amateur sports such as rugby
N
500 union, now gave more attention to professional soccer.

As a consequence of television’s growing influence and the circulation
U
war, football reporters sought new angles and approaches to their stories.
Apart from a glut of stories about the Royal Family, there were few people
who received as much attention from the tabloids as the England football
505 manager during this period. Newspapers continually competed with one
230 N. Carter
another to pour scorn on them with ever more sensational headlines. As

the reporting of games was being made increasingly redundant due to
television coverage, it highlighted changes in the nature of sports
reporting among the national press. For the 1990 World Cup in Italy,
510 for example, newspapers had sent out two types of journalists: sports
reporters and news men, or as they were called by a sports reporter, the
‘rotters’ who looked to exaggerate small stories. In addition, a new breed
of sports editor was more interested in headlines than content. [64]
Following a disappointing Euro ’88 championship, Bobby Robson
515 became a victim of this battle between the ‘red tops’. In the lead-up to a
World Cup qualifier against Sweden in October of the same year, Robson
wrote an article in response to one by the Daily Mirror’s agony aunt Marje
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Proops titled ‘You need help Bobby’. Both the Sun and the Mirror ran
stories about Robson’s claim that he wasn’t ‘cracking up’. On the day of
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520 the game, both tabloids ran similar headlines: the Sun, ‘Win . . . or get the
hell out of it Robson’; the Mirror, ‘One last chance’. The game ended 00
and the next day the Mirror’s back page read ‘Go! In the name of God
Go!’ The next game brought a 11 draw with Saudi Arabia. On this
occasion the headline was mutated to say ‘Go in the Name of Allah’. The
525
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Sun back page read: ‘England Mustafa New Boss’ with a picture of Robson
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with a fez superimposed on his head. In 1992, Graham Taylor was
similarly ridiculed when the Sun superimposed a turnip on him after
England had been knocked out the Euro ’92 championship. It not only
illustrated the expendability of managers and their role as scapegoats but
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530 also the fickleness of a press more concerned with declining sales than
constructive debate concerning the long-term future of English football.
Scottish managers did not escape criticism from the media. Perhaps
R
most famously was Ally McLeod, Scotland’s manager for the 1978 World
Cup in Argentina. Before the tournament he had drummed up a lot of
R
535 publicity for and about the team. He had predicted that Scotland would
win the championship, but when Scotland went out in the first round,
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McLeod was pilloried by both press and television critics alike. One
consequence of Scotland’s apparent failure and highlighting both the
C
public perception of the power of managers and at the same time their
540 vulnerability was that some Scottish restaurant owners put signs up
N
saying ‘Ally McLeod does not eat here’. [65]

Football club directors increasingly felt that, in a media-friendly society,
U
managers should be able to transmit a certain image of the club and to

keep it in the news. In 1981, Manchester United replaced Dave Sexton, a
545 highly skilled coach, with Ron Atkinson, a more flamboyant character
who made good ‘copy’ and came across better on the television. Atkinson

himself admitted that managers had to be aware of their daily media
responsibilities. [66] The change in manager was partly induced by the
employment of publicity-conscious managers such as Malcolm Allison
550 and John Bond at rivals Manchester City. Sexton, on the other hand, had
been referred to by one of his former players as ‘Whispering Dave’. [67]
The boundaries between sport and entertainment were becoming
increasingly blurred and with the rise in their profile some managers were
not only perceived as important football figures but media personalities in
555 their own right. Mike Yarwood would regularly impersonate Brian
Clough, for example, while Jack Charlton had his own programme on
field sports. Clough regularly appeared as an expert on television, and on
one occasion in 1973, after a World Cup qualifier between England and
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Poland, he famously labelled Poland’s goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski a
560 ‘clown’. When challenged on this view after Tomaszewski had helped to
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knock England out of the World Cup, Clough became temporarily
inarticulate, repeating several times ‘I am a manager’. [68] Such was his
celebrity status that Clough’s views he publicly supported the Labour
Party were sought on non-football matters. On one occasion in 1980, he
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565 appeared on a Friday-night chat show and became engaged in a discussion
with a Soviet diplomat on the USA’s abortive attempt to free hostages
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from its Tehran embassy that day.
Despite television’s greater interest, football and the national tabloids’
circulation war, the local newspapers and radio stations were still
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570 important to clubs. Managers tended to develop closer relationships

with these journalists than those from London. Alex Ferguson admitted
that he had frequently compromised his position with the national daily
newspapers by ensuring that David Meek from the Manchester Evening
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News had ‘the inside story on every story associated with the club’. [69]
When he was manager at Liverpool, Kenny Dalglish claimed that his
R
575
working relationship with locally-based reporters was much better than
O
that with the national journalists. He was portrayed as a dour Scot due to
his often guarded comments during press conferences and interviews,
C
although he claimed this was in response to reporters frequently twisting

580 his words. [70]
N
Some managers used their contacts with local reporters to help them in
their jobs. Brian Clough claimed that ‘journalists often tip off managers
U
on transfers’. Through Doug Weatherall, the Daily Mail’s man in the

North East, Clough had learned that Frank Clark was going to sign for
585 Doncaster Rovers from Newcastle United that day. He then used
Weatherall to dissuade Clark from signing for Doncaster and to talk to
232 N. Carter
Clough, who then signed him the following day for Nottingham Forest.
Weatherall was then able to write an exclusive story. [71]
Managers in the digital age

590 During the 1990s, football underwent a commercial and cultural
transformation. England’s relative success at the 1990 World Cup helped
to widen the game’s popularity among women, with Nick Hornby’s
memoir Fever Pitch doing the same for the middle classes. Football’s
relationship with television became closer following the formation of the
595 Premier League in 1992, and its subsequent association with Rupert
Murdoch’s BSkyB. Due to the game’s now intense spotlight and their
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growing media duties, the visibility of football managers increased,
reinforcing the perception that they were important and powerful figures.
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Managers became part of celebrity culture. Sven-Goran Eriksson, for
600 example, became the focus of lurid tabloid headlines concerning his
private life. Alex Ferguson developed links with the New Labour
administration. However, this trend was a paradox. Despite the increase
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in their perception, the influx of money into the game coincided with a
decline in the overall powers of managers and their role became more
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605 narrowly defined. At the top of football, this saw English clubs move, if
somewhat reluctantly and not without some cultural resistance, towards a
more European style of management, with the manager now more or less
as head coach.
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Football had become more business-like during the 1990s, mirroring

610 the free-market ethos of Thatcherism. Although a new breed of
footballing entrepreneurs had emerged in the 1980s, more football
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directors looked to make money from football and saw television as the
most profitable source of income. The deal signed between the newly-
R
formed Premier League and BSkyB, the satellite television company

615 owned by Rupert Murdoch, in 1992, was a significant landmark in the
O
history of both football and the media. [72]

Thatcherite ideology had also been at the forefront of changes in the
C
media industry. It became more market-driven, ending the duopoly of the

BBC and ITV. Competition increased through the arrival of satellite
N
620 television. In addition, there was a relaxation of regulation over what

commercial channels could broadcast, allowing them the opportunity to
U
go ‘downmarket’. Furthermore, with relaxation of state controls, the

media, through market research, were led by the public’s consumerist
tastes and the demands of advertisers. Advertisers subsequently had more
625 power in determining the nature of editorial content. One consequence of

this was that newspapers grew in size, with more emphasis on consumer
and leisure pursuits. Moreover, technological change transformed the
practices of journalists in both the print and electronic media. Through
mobile satellite technology not only was no part of the world inaccessible
630 but the reporting of news was now instantaneous. [73]
Like his newspapers, Murdoch’s television companies expanded their
sports coverage. He believed that this would increase viewers, especially
young males, and in turn attract advertisers. [74] Murdoch later used the
acquisition of television rights for sports as a ‘battering ram’ in his quest
635 to monopolize the satellite broadcasting market. In addition to its vast
coverage of football, BSkyB bought up a host of sporting events such as
golf ’s Ryder Cup, England’s cricket Tests and rugby internationals. In
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1996, rugby league was transformed into a summer sport as part of its
television deal with BSkyB.
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640 Due to their faster and 24-hour access to news, the new media had
caused newspapers to further adapt in order to survive. In sport, rolling
news channels such as Sky Sports News created an instant supply of
football gossip and updates. Competition within the newspaper industry
was further intensified through a declining readership, especially in the
645
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tabloid press. As a result, the tabloids focused more on personalities and
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sensationalism, spawning a more intensive and intrusive celebrity culture.
This was mirrored by the emergence of reality television shows such as Big
Brother, highlighting a greater individualism and exhibitionism within
society generally. Moreover, there was a ‘general emotionalism’ within
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650 both tabloids and broadsheets alike, as journalists exaggerated stories to

obtain the biggest emotional impact. Where once this emphasis on
emotion was confined to tabloid journalism, it now spread throughout
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the media, complementing the spread of the cult of celebrity. [75]

Sales in broadsheets or quality newspapers had actually held up
R
655 relatively well over this period. One reason for this was that they realized
the importance of sports coverage, which could attract advertisers. [76]
O
Papers such as the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian and The Times
published separate sports sections, for example. There was much quality
C
writing, something that had been prompted by the growing middle-class

660 interest in football. It has been suggested that this has been part of a
N
process that has turned newspapers into magazines. Unable to compete

with television to provide the news, the press increasingly turned to
U
features and colour pieces. [77] In addition, there was a proliferation of

columnists, offering opinions on subjects including football.
665 Moreover, partly because of the increase in football’s coverage on
television, match reports, once the mainstay of press reporting on the
234 N. Carter
game, became less important. The broadsheets began to follow the lead
of the tabloids and concentrated on controversies, personalities and ‘the
personal’. Furthermore, the access of reporters to increasingly wealthy
670 footballers had been limited. [78] More attention in reality, specu-
lation was given to other matters, especially the fate and actions of
managers. In 2004, for example, following months of gossip and
conjecture, a period in which then manager Claudio Ranieri had been
constantly asked about his position, Jose Mourinho was appointed coach
675 at Chelsea. After being knocked out of the European Cup in 20056, the
Guardian sports section contained four articles over two pages devoted
solely to the future of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. [79]
When England manager Eriksson announced his forthcoming departure
O
in 2006, the FA’s search for a new head coach was followed incessantly by
680 the media pack, which picked over any new, even minor, developments.
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This trend had been given further impetus due to the imposition of two
transfer ‘windows’ in 2003. Whereas previously high-profile transfers were
major news items for football reporters for most of the season, they were
now limited to the months of August and January.
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685 One consequence of this trend towards reporting the sensational and
focusing on personalities has been that football managers, like politicians,
TE
have been usually credited with success while made scapegoats for the
failure of their team. Nowhere was this more evident than on national and
local radio football phone-ins. In the face of competition, radio had
EC
690 carved out a niche for itself by providing supporters with the opportunity
to rant and give their instant reactions to the latest results. Inevitably,
many disillusioned callers saw a change of manager as the answer to their
team’s poor form.
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In an era of global communications, together with a more businesslike

approach, many of the top clubs began to reach out to a worldwide
R
695
audience, especially in Asia. As a result, many became more sensitive to
O
their image. It reflected the culture of ‘spin’ that had permeated politics,
especially following New Labour’s election victory in 1997 and its
C
attempts to ‘manage the media’. In 1999, Manchester United was the

700 first club to employ a director of communications, basically a ‘spin
N
doctor’. Previously, Alex Ferguson, in line with his autocratic tendencies,

had fielded all journalists’ questions, requests for player interviews and
U
queries about injuries. [80] But due to the club’s increasing commitments
and value as a company, it had been felt that this side of the manager’s job
705 should be devolved to someone with more expertise in this line of work,
allowing Ferguson more time to concentrate on the team.

Despite football’s growing coverage in other areas of the media, the
1992 deal, and subsequent ones, with ‘Sky’ signalled football’s drift
towards a television-led entertainment. The coverage of football subse-
710 quently adopted a tabloid format. For example, satellite television
generally enhanced football’s coverage by using more cameras and
showing more angles and close-ups. And to capture a manager’s reaction
to on-the-field events such as goals or refereeing decisions that went
against his team, cameras were now fixed on both teams’ dug-outs. It was
715 reported that Jason Ferguson, the son of the Manchester United manager,
who worked for ‘Sky’ television, had once said during a game ‘Get the
camera on Fergie, he’s looking angry’. [81] On occasions Match of the Day
showed a mini-highlights package of a manager’s actions and antics on
O
the sidelines during a game. It highlighted how the televising of football
720 was seen by broadcasters to be as much about entertainment as the game
PR
itself. Moreover, since the 1990s punditry has boomed as more air time
has been allotted to football coverage. [82] Boyle has argued that over the
last few years the game’s coverage has tended to be driven by ‘soft opinion’
rather than ‘hard analysis’ and has been framed by entertainment rather
than journalistic values. He adds that ‘Much of what passes for journalism
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725
in British television coverage of football exists within an all-too-cosy
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network of ex-players and current managers. The few journalists involved
seem unprepared to risk upsetting this closed world by asking difficult
questions.’ [83]
730 Not only did their frequent media appearances shape their public
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personae but the time of managers was increasingly taken up by their

media duties such as press conferences. For England games, they became
‘hyped up’ as events in themselves, with journalists endlessly poring over
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their comments and their ‘performance’ due to the pressure either to fill
735 airtime or column inches. Each manager dealt with the media differently,
R
depending upon his own personality and the profile of his club. When he
was manager at Newcastle, Kevin Keegan met the press every single day at
O
the training ground, for example. By contrast, Alex Ferguson claimed that
he increasingly protected himself at conferences in case his comments
C
740 were misconstrued, admitting that he had become bland and said nothing
that really meant anything. [84] After reading reports of one United game,
N
Ferguson was described as ‘doleful’ and ‘unrelenting’ during the post-

match conference. He not unreasonably asked: ‘What’s that got to do with
U
the match?’ and wondered what benefit press conferences served managers
745 if they turned into an exercise of character assassination. [85]
Post-match interviews also became almost mandatory for managers.
Most usually criticized the referee in between delivering excuses for
236 N. Carter
defeats and well-rehearsed platitudes. Arsenal’s Arsène Wenger, for

instance, when asked about one of his players having been sent off,
750 invariably ‘did not see the incident’. The aim of interviews, though, has
been to create a reaction at a time when managers are usually in an
emotional state following the game. In 1996, Keegan, during an interview
on Sky, famously ‘cracked’ under the pressure of Ferguson’s so-called
‘mind games’. On one occasion, Manchester United’s Eric Cantona
755 had committed a foul on a Norwich player that was not seen by the
referee something that Jimmy Hill described as ‘despicable and
villainous’. Alex Ferguson, in the post-match interview, responded by
calling Hill a ‘prat’. Following another match in 1996, Keegan was
interviewed by a BBC television reporter regarding an incident which
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760 Keegan hadn’t seen between one of his players and an opponent. Later,
even the media-friendly Keegan complained, citing that he had been given
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no warning about the question. He then refused to speak to the BBC for
over three months. [86]
Conclusion
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765 It may be argued that the current perception of the football manager is a
product of a tabloidization process. However, this obscures as much as it
reveals. The relationship between managers and the media has been part
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of a wider historical process that has seen the visibility of managers

increase over this time, reflecting not only developments within the media
770 but also those in the football industry. In the light of changes in the nature
of competition and commercialization, the media’s relationship with
R
football has grown closer. Managers have come under the spotlight as
R
never before. As a consequence, leading managers have moved from being

respectable local figures into national celebrities. These trends have also
O
775 been mirrored in other sports where attention has been lavished on
national team coaches such as Clive Woodward, Brian Noble and Duncan
C
Fletcher in rugby union, rugby league and cricket respectively. In terms of

their relationship with the media, they have fulfilled a similar role in their
N
sports to that of football managers a figurehead for their teams, the first
780 point of call for the media and a scapegoat when results go wrong. Hence,
U
it is hard to disentangle the manager’s role as a media figure from his

actual impact on the team’s performance. The media wants managers who
make national news. If managers didn’t exist, perhaps the media would
have to invent them.

785 Notes
[1] Dave Bowler, Winning isn’t everything . . . :A biography of Alf Ramsey (London,
1998), p. 228.
[2] In both their cases this has been the BBC, due to television programmes alleging
certain malpractices.
790 [3] Bob Franklin, ‘Introduction: Misleading messages: The media and social policy’,
in Bob Franklin, ed., Social policy: The media and misrepresentation (London,
1999), p. 4.
[4] Colin Sparks, ‘Introduction: The panic over tabloid news’, in Colin Sparks and
John Tulloch, eds, Tabloid tales: Global debates over media standards (Oxford,
795 2000), p. 10; Raymond Boyle, Sports journalism: Context and issues (London,
2006), pp. 9 10.
[5] Brian McNair, News and journalism in the UK (London, 2003), pp. 46 52.
O
[6] Kevin Williams, Understanding media theory (London, 2003), p. 233.
[7] Boyle, Sports journalism , pp. 7 29; McNair, News and journalism , p. 50.
[8] John Tulloch, ‘The eternal recurrence of new journalism’, in Sparks and Tulloch,
PR
800
Tabloid tales , pp. 131 46.
[9] Roy Greenslade, Press gang: How newspapers make profits from propaganda
AQ2 (London, 2003), p. 627.
[10] Sparks, ‘Introduction’, pp. 1 40.
[11] Steven Barnett, ‘Dumbing down or reaching out: Is it tabloidisation wot done
D
805
it?’ in Jean Seaton, ed., Politics and the media: Harlots and prerogatives at the
turn of the millennium (Oxford, 1998), pp. 75 90.
TE
[12] Gary Whannel, Media sport stars: Masculinities and moralities (London, 2003),
p. ix.
810 [13] Women tend to be more attracted to games involving the national team. For the
1990 World Cup semi-final between England and West Germany, for example,
EC
of the 30 million viewers, half were female.

[14] Richard Holt and Tony Mason, Sport in Britain 1945 2000 (London, 2000),
p. 94.
815 [15] The Football League was formed in 1888.
R
[16] Tony Mason, Association football and English society 1863 1915 (Brighton,
1980), p. 187.
R
[17] Tony Mason, ‘All the winners and the half times . . . or England lose by one goal
and 326 runs’, Warwick Centre for the Study of Sport in Society Working Papers , 3
O
820 (1994), pp. 75 87.

[18] Steve Tate, ‘James Catton, ‘‘Tityrus’’ of The Athletic News (1860 to 1936): A
biographical study’, Sport in History, 25 (1) (April 2005), pp. 98 115.
C
[19] Newcastle Evening Chronicle , 19 Aug. 1896, p. 3.

[20] He had previously been manager at Northampton Town (1907 12), Leeds City
N
825 (1912 18) and Huddersfield Town (1921 5) where he won the FA Cup in 1922
and the Football League twice in 1924 and 1925.
U
[21] All Sports Weekly, 13 March 1926, p. 6.

[22] Nicholas Fishwick, English football and society, 1910 1950 (Manchester, 1989),
p. 94.
830 [23] Raymond Williams, The Long Revolution (London, 1961), pp. 204 7.
238 N. Carter
[24] Football League management committee minutes, 11 May 1921; Football
League ordinary general meeting minutes, 30 May 1921.
[25] Tony Mason and Joyce Woolridge, ‘Press’, in R. Cox, D. Russell and W.
Vamplew, eds, Encyclopedia of British football (London, 2002), pp. 236 7.
835 [26] Fishwick, English football , pp. 100 13; Percy H. Tannenbaum and James E.
Noah, ‘Sportuguese: A study of sports page communication’ in John W. Loy
and Gerald S. Kenyon, eds, Sport, culture and society: A reader on the sociology of
sport (London, 1969), pp. 327 36.
[27] Matthew Taylor, The Leaguers: The making of professional football in England,
840 1900 1939 (Liverpool, 2005), p. 266.
[28] Fishwick, English football , pp. 94 100.
[29] Stephen Wagg, The football world: A contemporary social history (Brighton,
1984), pp. 44, 54 7.
[30] Dave Russell, Football and the English (Preston, 1997), p. 88.
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845 [31] Islington Gazette , 28 Oct. 1932, p. 6.
[32] Roy Peskett, ed., Tom Whittaker’s Arsenal story (London, 1957), p. 95.
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[33] Chapman died relatively young and suddenly in 1934 at the age of 55. Allison
had been a director, had not played professional football and left the players in
charge of the trainer, Tom Whittaker.
850 [34] Russell, Football and the English , p. 106.
[35] BBC Written Archives Centre (hereafter WAC), R30/915/1, 17 Nov. 1942.
[36] Russell, Football and the English , p. 107.
[37] BBC WAC, George Allison File 1, 1927 32.
D
[38] De Lotbiniere actually preferred Fred Everiss, the secretary-manager of West
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855 Bromwich Albion.
[39] BBC WAC, George Allison File 1, 1927 32, Letter from George Allison to S.J.
De Lotbiniere, 22 June 1932.
[40] BBC WAC, R30/915/1, 1 March 1944; Express and Star, 3 March 1944, p. 7.
EC
[41] West Bromwich Public Libraries, Scrapbook no. 10, p. 29, Midland Chronicle
860 and Free Press , 18 Oct. 1946; Albion News , 26 Oct. 1946.
[42] Jimmy Guthrie, Soccer rebel: The evolution of the professional footballer (Newton
Abbot, 1976), p. 16, plates.
R
[43] Richard Haynes, ‘A pageant of sound and vision: Football’s relationship with
television, 1936 60’, International Journal of the History of Sport , 15 (1) (April
R
865 1998), pp. 211 26.

O
[45] Stephen Wagg, ‘Naming the guilty men: Managers and media’, in Gary Whannel
AQ3 and Alan Tomlinson, eds., Off the ball: The football World Cup (London, ???),
p. 38; Wagg, The football world , p. 162; Russell, Football and the English , p. 140.
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870 [46] Even after England’s improbable defeat by the USA in the 1950 World Cup,
Winterbottom was not held responsible by the press, who instead concentrated
N
on the players and FA officials.

[47] Wagg, ‘Naming the guilty men’, pp. 38 43; Ronald Kowalski and Dilwyn Porter,
U
‘England’s world turned upside down? Magical Magyars and British football’,
875 Sport in History, 23 (2) (Winter 2003 4), pp. 27 32.

[49] BBC WAC, R30/915/1, Letter from OBD, S.J. de Lotbiniere to Victor Smythe,
Manchester, 27 Aug. 1946; Memo from OBD, S.J. de Lotbiniere to Victor
Smythe, Manchester, 4 Sept. 1946.
880 [50] Express and Star, 15 Dec. 1954, p. 27.
[51] Stanley Cullis, All for the Wolves (London, 1960), p. 205.
[52] Wolverhampton Wanderers FC minutes, 7 Feb. 1957.
[53] Alec Stock, Football club manager (London, 1969), p. 149.
[54] Wagg, The football world , p. 134.
885 [55] He later left Coventry to join London Weekend Television and work on The Big
Match . In 1972, he swapped sides and fronted Match of the Day.
[56] His most famous quote was ‘Football’s not a matter of life and death, it’s much
more important than that’, although he did not say those exact words. Instead, a
reporter, interviewing Shankly about an upcoming game, said ‘It’s not a matter
890 of life and death’, to which Shankly quipped: ‘No [or ‘I can assure you’] it’s
O
much more important than that.’ Ian St John, quoted on BBC Radio Five Live,
13 March 2004.
[57] Dave Bowler, Shanks: The authorised biography of Bill Shankly (London, 1996),
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pp. 93 4; Stephen F. Kelly, Bill Shankly, it’s much more important than that: A
895 biography (London, 1996), p. 143.
[58] Bowler, Winning isn’t everything , p. 228.
[60] By 1976, over half of British households had a colour television. James
D
Obelkevich, ‘Consumption’, in J. Obelkevich and P. Catterall, eds, Under-
900 standing postwar British society (London, 1994), p. 146.
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[61] Radio Times , 7 July 1966, p. 12.
[62] Fabio Chisari, ‘Football and TV the case of the 1966 World Cup’ (paper
presented at FIFA: A Century of World Football Conference, Lausanne, Dec.
2004).
EC
905 [63] Russell, Football and the English , p. 197.

[64] Pete Davies, All played out: The full story of Italia ’90 (London, 1990), p. 211.
[65] Wagg, ‘Naming the guilty men’, pp. 48 51.
[66] Ron Atkinson, Big Ron: A different ball game (London, 1998), p. 203.
R
[67] Wagg, The football world , p. 193.

910 [68] Ibid., p. 188.
R
[69] Alex Ferguson, Managing my life: My autobiography (London, 1999), p. 365.

[70] Kenny Dalglish, Dalglish: My autobiography (London, 1996), pp. 230 4.
O
[71] Brian Clough, Clough: The autobiography (London, 1994), pp. 164 5.
[72] David Conn, ‘The new commercialism’, in Sean Hamil, Jonathon Michie and
915 Christine Oughton, eds, The business of football: A game of two halves? (London,
C
1999), pp. 40 55; Anthony King, The end of the terraces: The transformation of
English football in the 1990s (Leicester, 2002), part IV.
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[73] Barnett, ‘Dumbing down’, pp. 82 6.

[74] Raymond Boyle and Richard Haynes, Power play: Sport, the media and popular
U
920 culture (Harlow, 2000), pp. 170 1.

[75] Andrew Marr, My trade: A short history of British journalism (London, 2004),
pp. 380 1. See also Marina Hyde, ‘We are now a nation that emotionalises
everything’, Guardian , 14 Oct. 2006, p. 30.
[76] Boyle and Haynes, Power play, pp. 178 9.
240 N. Carter
925 [77] Kevin Williams, Get me a murder a day! A history of mass communication in
Britain (London, 1998), p. 250.
[78] Raymond Boyle, ‘The soft soaps in the press box’, Guardian , 21 Aug. 2006.
[79] Guardian , 9 Dec. 2005, Sport, pp. 4 5.
[80] Guardian , 22 May 1999, Weekend, p. 6.
930 [81] Alex Ferguson, A will to win: The manager’s diary (London, 1997), p. 227.
[82] Joyce Woolridge, ‘Radio and television pundits’ in Cox, Russell and Vamplew,
Encyclopedia of British football , p. 253.
[83] Boyle, ‘The soft soaps’.
[84] Ferguson, A will to win , p. 170.
935 [85] Ibid., p. 181.
[86] Kevin Keegan, Kevin Keegan: My autobiography (London, 1997), p. 241.
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'Managing the Media': The Changing Relationship Between Football

Article in Sport in History · June 2007

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‘Managing the Media’: The

Jones approached Alf Ramsey, the victorious manager, for an interview.

seems inconceivable for a football manager to take a similar attitude

AQ1 Neil Carter, De Montfort University. Correspondence to: ???

celebrities has reflected the so-called ‘tabloidization’ process of the media.

have tabloid newspapers gone ‘downmarket’ but also both quality

This process has been described as

the trivialising and sensationalising of news coverage accompanied by

increasingly become the staple diet of news bulletins. [3]

As a result, the ‘broadsheets’ and television have devoted more attention

Sport in History 219

come to terms with the constantly changing social make-up of their

vigorous competition for readers in all sectors of the newspaper market

Importantly, the nature of the audience at which football journalism

masculinities’, something that has been reflected and reinforced through

broadsheets have attracted the intellectual type of fan. Television, on the

Early football-media relations

Times of football, and it had a circulation of 170,000 by 1919. [17] To a

Jimmy Catton, for example, was an innovator among football reporters,

The inter-war years

Sport in History 221

[26] The People, in particular, developed an anti-establishment tone and

Chronicle in 1931. Local papers continued to make an important

As the game’s image changed, public relations became part of a

Chapman’s shrewdest move was to persuade the London Electric Railway

the Daily Mail cartoonist Tom Webster, Chapman changed Arsenal’s

and modern. [32] Chapman’s successor, George Allison, was more

in 1927. Allison himself brought a populist element to the microphone,

contrary to the corporation’s Reithian principles. [34] In fact, during the

Sport in History 223

development of football at home and abroad. Buckley was able to

and Ireland in addition to those in England and Wales, and he also

255 In 1946, a banquet was held to celebrate Fred Everiss’s association of

radio programme, Midland Region. [41]

by giving his players injections of so-called ‘monkey glands’. Before the

Post-war modernization, 1945 66

290 developments in the media. In 1955, for example, commercial television

of ownership spreading from the middle to the working classes. In 1950,

football was shown by the estimated audience of 10 million that watched

Sport in History 225

player (Winterbottom’s experience was limited), had coaching qualifica-

newspaper polls, was the popular choice, and in 1963, he succeeded

and audience. It also gave more opportunities for managers to increase

Programme. Fronted by presenters such as Eamonn Andrews, football

programme. [48] In addition to its presentation, the BBC began to place

345 close-of-play summarisers’, and suggested Blackpool’s manager, Joe Smith.

Managers appeared regularly on other programmes. During the 1950s,

to ignite, albeit in a small way, the establishment of organized European

services of the newspapers are vital to the prosperity of football which

375 Cullis, ‘went beyond what might be expected from a Sportswriter of

With falling attendances, football clubs became aware of the need to

therefore, advertising the club was recognized as an important a function

club’. Alec Stock, reflecting on a manager’s increased media responsi-

Sport in History 227

taking the piss?’ A year later, on a tour to Canada, Ramsey was

becoming national figures, and the need to be media-friendly became part

Managers in the television age, 1966 1992

Notwithstanding the increasing precariousness of the manager’s job, this