Interpreting The Performance Of Teammates And Coaches
A common theme throughout the collected data is that the event of being released did not come as a sudden shock or surprise to participants. Instead, many participants shared similar sentiments, describing how they “had an idea”, were “not surprised” or “already knew for certain” that they were going to be released and the club did not intend to “bring (them) back for next season”. Players explained that long before any form of conversation was held regarding their professional future at their respective clubs they came to the realisation that they would not be returning the following season or have their contract renewed. Such a mindset was reached through understanding the interactions they had, or sometimes did not have, with club officials. Players described how, long before discussions were held regarding their release, the way they were treated by coaching staff and managers was key to comprehending the nature of their professional fate. It is important to point out that this is not to say that players were mistreated or suffered abuse by club officials. What is understood by the participants’ comments is that the manner of their engagement in competitive games, team selection and training was one that did not warrant a player to consider themselves as an important element or piece of their team’s success or future plans. Some participants explained how they predicted their fate through the way in which they understood how they were used in training, for example: “not having much involvement with team formations and schemes of play”. Other participants explained how they understood their de-selection from a lack of inclusion in first and reserve teams as an indicator. Other participants described how the manner in which coaches, managers and eventually teammates spoke with and even joked with them was different
from other players. Below players describe how the actions of others led them to the realisation that they were going to be released, and that the event of being released did not come as a shock:
“I knew it was coming just…just through the not playing of games, not playing frequently. You just get the impression off the coaches- you can kind of see it. If I’m not playing and other lads are playing in my position more frequently than I am, then you kind of…say to yourself, why would they give you a contract over him when he is playing football? And it’d work the same vice versa if I was given the contract. He wasn’t playing but given it over me, you’d question it wouldn’t you?” (James)
“You know (that you are going to be released), I mean you just know…it like doesn’t happen the way people think brov (brother). They think we just in here doing it all the time as hard as we can and just play and train hard. But it ain’t like that. You see it like if yous is switched on, they start to treat you differently like. Training you are on the weak team or don’t get on (during a match). I moved from playing, to the bench and then not getting selected or being told “Shane don’t worry about travelling to the away game this weekend just stay and work on your fitness”. They start telling you without saying anything brov. Then when it happens its easier for them cause you ain’t upset or pissed when they say they isn’t giving you another contract, cause you know it’s coming…”. (Shane)
“To be honest, the team was struggling when I got my first contract for a year after coming out of the academy. When a team is like that then you know if you are a player joining or coming in then it goes either way. There are places up for grabs but then you can get the chop quickly enough. So people ‘came in’ in great shape, lots to prove like. I was the same…I wanted to be signed again. Then we got to a point in the season where the more experienced players seemed to know they had done enough to get paid (ensure their job security) they can take their foot off it for a little bit. We weren’t in trouble of goin’ down but we wasn’t going to win anything. I never got the notion though from the coaches that I had made a big enough case for myself. I had come from being an academy player and XXXXX and XXXX (academy coaches) who had been great for me, always talking with me and stuff. Now I was with xxxxx (first team manager) and I just felt like
we never got on. He wouldn’t say much to me and it seemed as though experienced players where slowing down I was trying even harder but the game just was easier for them and I struggled. I had an idea what was thought of me when I got sent to the reserves- decent lad, tries hard but not (the right fit) for this team. I didn’t get much time with that squad and then I was just in my own head thinking it was only a matter of time until they let me go”. (Gary)
James’ comments are the first to suggest that players are not taken by surprise when they are released. James explains that the reasons he expected he would be released. Shane makes an interesting remark that would seem to ring true throughout the rest of the experiences belonging to other participants, he says; “They start telling you without saying anything”. Here Shane is alluding to a particular point; he felt he was being informed of the club’s intention to release him at the end of the season through the interpretation of how he was being treated and used in training and not used on match day. For Shane playing on a weaker side in training, moving from the starting 11 to a substitute, to finally not getting selected and being told not to travel to away games, all indicated that he would be released at the end of the season. Similarly prior to his release and career transition, Gary explains how he found his transition away from the support he received from coaches as an academy player and success he experienced in being awarded a professional contract, a difficult one. Gary had to negotiate playing with more experienced players who understood the workings of professional football better than he did, while at the same time experiencing a manager that did not facilitate the same type of support to which he was accustomed. Gary explained that, combined with the demotion to the reserve team and knowledge of the opinions the manager held of him, he was not surprised to be released.
James, Shane and Gary had all experienced their career transition following spells with the first teams of their respective Premier League clubs. Their comments illustrate a trend in the experiences of the interviewees of this study. Prior to the data collection process and the study’s engagement in the field, a presumption was held that participants
would describe their experience of being released as a sudden event and one that threatened an unexpected end to their careers, similar to the notions described in existing literature (e.g. Brown and Potrac, 2009; Lavellee and Wylleman, 2000; Mihovilovic, 1968). This presumption would be quickly quashed. Following their engagement with the vignettes and once the obstacles surrounding a discussion about their release (a discussion that it is important to note once again, was of a highly sensitive nature) had been maneuvered through, participants all shared a commonality in that they explained how they knew that they would be released before the event actually occurred (the ‘event’ refers to a meeting with team management and staff at which the player is given official confirmation that the club will not offer said player a professional contract for the following season). The comments of James, Shane and Gary, describe how they were aware of their forthcoming release by the way the in which social others engaged with them, particularly the management and coaches. It would seem that through the way in which club officials (particularly those that were concerned with team selection and competitive team performances in the league) interacted with the participants, acted as a pre-warning or overture in order to signify to a player that their services were no longer required or appreciated by the club. Similarly, Paul and John describe how the way others in the club acted towards them led them to believe that they did hold a strong position in being offered a new contract by the club:
“I wasn’t playing much at all, I mean I had a few niggles with my ankle and other small things but they happen to everyone. I just didn’t get the chance I needed to really show what I could do. Before Christmas I had come on twice and scored. They were poacher’s goals…maybe not the prettiest but I got a foot to both of them and goal scoring is what matters when you are a forward. But after Christmas I just wasn’t in the manager’s plans. I went to speak to him about it and see what the story was and he just played the (you are) ‘too young’ card. After that he didn’t really speak to me much or even really at all. We didn’t row or anything like that, he just seemed to not have much time for me. Before he would give me like pointers, cause he was a forward too, during training but that just
seemed to wear off. I wasn’t surprised when I got sent out on loan because, like you said you see yourself maybe scoring again and getting on well…starting afresh like. It never really happened though. I played a few times for XXXXX in the Championship, but nothing really worth talking about came of it, tried a different spell with another team down in the League 1 but that was just a weird set up, so just went back to XXXX and saw out the end of year just training. Then when the season was done I knew what was coming.” (Paul)
“The players knew it was coming too, and then one by one they starting asking you more openly how you are getting on and start being that bit friendlier and pally with you. I think cause now they know you are not a threat anymore. They know I won’t be taking their place, they don’t have to worry about you as much. Not saying that I didn’t get on with everyone but that is the way it is, everyone is just playing for themselves ultimately and looking out for number one.”
“How did they know that you didn’t have a good chance of coming back?” (Interviewer)
“They knew the same way as me, I was down in the reserves anyway and our squad was full of quality like so you had lads there like xxxxxx and xxxxxx all top players I mean and they weren’t too pushed or bothered about reserve football. But like I wasn’t getting the same type of feedback anymore as the rest of the lads like. The coaches were all a bit hot headed so when you got told to do something or corrected you were hounded at. It had kind of passed that for me, coaches just give me encouragement and didn’t really seem bothered if I fucked up or not. It was just – ‘ah next time mate’. It was nice cause you could have a bit more banter with them but at the same time I figured out pretty quickly what it meant.” (John)
In the experience conveyed by Paul, his dealings with the club’s manager were explained as the gauge by which he judged his professional time at his club coming to an end. Paul describes how the pair did not have a falling out and perhaps the only thing they did not agree on was Paul’s justification for more playing time. Earlier in the season the manager’s connection with Paul was built on the fact that he too was a forward during his playing career. Considering the manager’s social performance,
the provision of advice, pointers and feedback was a performance interpreted by Paul as a means to convey the manager’s interest in him as a part of the plan for the team. Following their discussion at Christmas, the manager’s performance did not cease to exist because his day-to-day engagement with Paul diminished. Rather this silence was understood as a performance indicating to Paul that he was no longer seen as the part in the team he once was. This meaning of the manager’s performance was further reinforced for Paul when he was sent out on loan.
John explains that the situation regarding his future at the club started to become apparent to him, again similar to the previous participants, from the way his coaches spoke and engaged with him. Unlike Paul however who’s manager stopped speaking to him, for John the manner in which his coaches spoke to him changed. Prior to considering that it was likely he would be released, John explained that his coaches would furiously shout and yell instructions at players during matches and training, a common characteristic in professional or elite team sports. John felt his “stock decline” as his coaches shouted less at him. He recalled how he was able to make jokes at and with coaches, and take part in and “swap banter” with them. Sharing in this type of interaction, the experiences of John and the performances of his coaches can be understood to convey the same type of message as Paul’s manager, the intention to release the player. John describes that not only did he understand these performances as a means of indication that he would not be returning next season, so too did his fellow teammates. If John was not fully sure that he was going to be released, all doubts were answered when the actions of his coaches were reinforced by John’s own teammates interpreting the performances belonging to the coaches as one that indicated the intention to release John. John, no longer existing as a threat to their own professional careers, found players’ performances in front of him changed. It is clear then that the performance of social others can and do communicate particular messages within the realm of Premier League clubs, and whether a club intends to release a player or not is one such message.
Such an understanding of the experiences of John, Paul, Gary, Shane and James then implies the strength of the concept that performances can and do communicate that this type of particular message must be given serious consideration. It would seem then that players are all too aware of the social environment in which they work. The actions of those they are surrounded by, understood within this study as performances, do not go unnoticed. The manner in which participants’ audiences interacted with them on a daily basis would appear to influence how their own identities are constructed and whether such identities are required to be re-constructed and managed in a new way. If we consider that while in a footballing environment, players manage an identity constructed around their prowess as a professional player and the cultural values within their respective club environments, then this identity requires reconstruction upon coming under threat via the event of release. However, experiences shared by participants suggest that the need to manage and reconstruct rather than maintain this footballing identity is understood before the official release occurs.