SO MANY REBELS AROUND

TRANSFER REBELS seem to be commonplace in this day and age. They can disrupt your rhythm as a manager, damage confidence inside the dressing room and unsettle supporters. Liverpool, Swansea, Southampton, Chelsea and Arsenal are among the teams dealing with such issues. There are a large number of players in dispute with their clubs — Alexis Sanchez, Diego Costa, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Danny Drinkwater, Ross Barkley, Virgil van Dijk and Philippe Coutinho among them. Fans want the strongest team picked on the first day of the season. But this isn’t a computer simulation game. You have to take into account mindset and fitness, fitting in new players, dealing with existing players. I found this a horrible time, the most stressful time for a manager outside of a relegation battle. If you have someone playing up, you have to take into account the severity of his protest and how sympathetic the rest of the group might be towards him. You would be surprised how often they take the side of the errant teammate. They know it could be them next time. What helps is a win. It means the troubles disappear for a manager for one night, at least.