HARRY AND ZOLA SHOW THEIR CLASS
SOME men in football develop fantastic reputations. Two such men are Gianfranco Zola and Harry Redknapp. I had reason to deal with both of them this week.
First, Gianfranco brought his squad team across to play at our training ground against our squad team last Monday. Apart from being a genuinely decent man, you could not help but admire Gianfranco’s love and intensity to improve his players. And the structure of the way in which his management team organised themselves to use the game to develop the skills of theWatford players was a fine example of teaching.
Second, I had to deal with Harry in relation to the loan transfer to us of Michael Doughty.With everything that he has had going on in the market, I didn’t expect Harry to be involved in young Michael’s loan. But he was.
He showed genuine interest in the well-being and development strategy for his player. He wanted to make sure that the plan for Michael was right.We spoke for a good time to ensure that Harry was happy.
That level of commitment to the individual player is rare in my experience; it has definitely helped Harry to build a great name. Another fine lesson to take on board. The top managers have outstanding skill sets. Good names come for good reasons.