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The last four games of the season saw John and his team win all four matches. The results were: Ladies FC, home league match, won 4-1; Football Club County (FC County) [pseudonym], neutral county cup final, won 8-0; Park United, home league match, won 2-1; and City Ladies, home league match, won 2-1. AUWFC’s final league position was sixth, which is the highest the club has finished in its history.

4.7.1 Behaviours

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There was less, I wouldn’t say criticism, but there was less concern about future games because we are coming towards the end of the target we are set to achieve, has been achieved, and we set ourselves new goals in saying actually if you win this game today, we are actually going to beat last season…So that was amazing to say you can come in for nine league games and end up being better than the season before, so you always try to set new challenges, which was well respected by the players. (John)

He felt as though the players reciprocated the positive behaviours:

…because they were on a high they were motivated, they were moving forward, quite happy now to play the formation and keep that going, better understanding of it game by game and continued. (John)

4.7.2 Closeness

At the end of the season John felt as though everyone was getting along better:

Because there were a few more smiles and there was less pressure, I felt there was a little bit more banter, a little bit more fun about the camp. (John)

John has previously expressed his desire to keep his relationships with the players professional; however, he did feel a little closer to the players on a personal level at the end of the season:

I think I have always encouraged and always wanted to do social gatherings which is not your typical just going bowling or something, so someone suggesting a night out is a difficult thing, for me as a manager, because should I be out on a night out with the players drinking? As a manager is that my responsibility? How does that look to other people and how does it look to the players? So you have to judge that, but I also know that when you go out and socialise with those players if everybody is invited and everybody is coming

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out, you end up getting into quite a few conversations that don’t come out in the dressing room or at the game day…and then you have to maintain your professionalism even when you have had a few drinks and not let the cat out of the bag or any secrets…you understand players a little bit differently. What you learn about the players is more their personal lives and personal things that they don’t let on, that in a relaxed and different environment they tell you a bit more, which helps you understand them when you get back to the football field. (John)

He also believed the social event helped the players feel a bit closer to him:

…I think they saw I was human. Until that night out and they saw that I was willing to go out and have a few drinks and have a few shots and not be stupid or do anything daft, I felt that they realised that actually he is human, he is just another person, and I think it has made it easier going into the next season and following games to be a bit more approachable. (John)

All of the players expressed an increase in closeness towards John during the last four matches of the season. Marie stated she felt closer ‘…because we were winning’. Additionally, Laura felt her and John’s closeness had grown due to the results and because ‘…[we] started winning as a team and morale was high’. Laura also discussed the social event:

Obviously when everyone goes out everyone’s a bit more relaxed. It was probably good to see everybody in a relaxed and happy environment where we’ve not had that probably all season. So, it was probably a really good thing to do on John’s behalf. (Laura)

Claire believed everything was ‘very positive’ during this period of the season and Emma expressed positivity towards John:

I did like him very much…I thought he was really a good manager and what he was doing was fantastic. (Emma)

113 Emma also felt her relationship with John had grown:

Never unprofessionally close but close enough where…I could look up to him and I could respect what he was doing and his ideas and themes. (Emma)

John felt there was little frustration and anger shown during the last four matches:

Only what might be the norm of where they weren’t doing their task I might have asked them to do and then we share a little comment on the pitch. (John)

All four of the players agreed with John that there was a lack of frustration from John or the players. Emma stated:

Because we were winning, we were doing what he’d been saying, we were playing in very much a way that was defensive – so it was get the ball, play it long. And I think that got us through that last bit of the season. That’s what we needed to do. We had no other choice; we couldn’t play football. That happened in spurts but it was never going to be pure football, because we didn’t have time to develop that. (Emma)

4.7.3 Trust, Respect and Belief

John felt there was a mutual trust, respect and belief between the players and himself: ‘…definitely between the players, because of the results we had gained and how high we felt…’. The player interviews highlighted an increase in trust, respect and belief in John from all four of the players during the last four matches of the season. Marie indicated:

It was a bit of like ‘ok, you were right, I was wrong’, but it was good, it was good that everyone entered into it and what was required and actually paid off. (Marie)

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I think he trusted me a lot because he was playing me every game [laughter] and it was paying off in a lot of ways. So it was really good – really positive. (Emma)

4.7.4 Incompatibility, Disagreements and Power Struggles

John indicated that there were no disagreements or power struggles at the end of the season and all four of the players interviewed agreed. Emma stated:

I think all power struggles had been blown off…everyone accepted what he was doing because it was working and everyone seemed happy. (Emma)

Also, Claire believed there was a lack of power struggles and disagreements because they needed to act as a team:

I think at this time we needed to just stick together and just get along and just go through this together. (Claire)

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5 DISCUSSION

5.1 Introduction

This chapter aims to provide a theoretical analysis of the data in the Results chapter, which focused upon the relationship between the two participant coaches and the four players over the course of an entire competitive playing football season. Particular attention will be paid to the three research questions posed within the thesis Introduction:

Research Question 1 (RQ1): Over the course of a full competitive season, what events, interactions and behaviours occurred in the coach-athlete relationships?

Research Question 2 (RQ2): Over the course of a full competitive season, how did these events affect the relationships between the coaches and the group of athletes over time?

Research Question 3 (RQ3): Over the course of a full competitive season, why did the coaches and the group of athletes perceive that the relationships had changed over time?

In an attempt to address these questions an analysis and the subsequent interpretation are offered. They follow a symbolic interactionist stance (Blumer, 1969) which is principally concerned with how the participants’ experiences are shaped by their understandings of the interactions that they take part in (i.e. meaning arises in and through interaction). In addition, the chapter will also highlight the link between the data presented and the existing research analysed within the Literature Review chapter, not only to position the findings of the present

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thesis within the existing literature but also to highlight how the novel findings of the thesis move beyond our current understanding of the coach-athlete relationship in sport.