‘Why I was always driving home for Christmas’

I’d be on a motorway somewhere during Christmas as a manager, which is usually what that meant.

We always kept our family home on the south coast during my 30-year tenure in management. If I wanted to get back to see my kids open any of their presents, then travelling back after training on Christmas Eve – or even Christmas Day itself – was not unusual for me.

One thing I never forgot about was Christmas dinner with my family, whether it was from Middlesbrough to Plymouth or Bristol to Stoke, no matter where I sat.

Sometimes I would leave on Christmas Day after training to arrive home on time, drive back, and then check into the hotel where the team was staying or wherever I was staying.

Even if I gave my players Christmas Day off, I would still travel back on Christmas night.

The game on Boxing Day was never far from my mind despite the amount of time I spent traveling, going up and down the highway, and even when I was tucking into my turkey dinner.

It remained the same whether I faced Manchester United, who we clinched victory over in my first Premier League game against Stoke in 2008, or a lengthy trip to Bradford or Barnsley as I climbed up the league ladder.

My worst, huh? Any defeat, even if it was near home.

But at least there was a chance to get past it quickly, usually with a second game a few days later.

Although football management is at full throttle most of the year, Christmas and Easter were always special times to watch the games.

You can still be hired and fired at that time of year – both have happened to me over the festive period – but as a player and a manager, I loved it. In light of the Premier League Christmas schedule this year, I am so disappointed.

Although it’s a tradition to go to games as a family day out on Boxing Day, they’ve always attracted a lot of people, regardless of the season, and it’s only the Premier League game that’s on Friday. The rest are spread over the weekend.

Has it really reached the point where the decision-makers for Premier League games don’t seem to care about what the real supporters want, the ones who show up week in, week out, don’t really need the extra revenue these larger crowds bring, but?

A lot has changed about the game since my first Christmas as a footballer, 50 years ago.

In the 1970s, Bristol Rovers was a place where I could give, if I had the chance!

Throughout the entire season, each apprentice was expected to care for the boots of at least three senior professionals, a task that was not taken lightly.

Cleaning dressing rooms and even treading in divots to repair a worn-out pitch was also in my remit, but the match boots were crucial and would have to be in spit spot condition for every game.

You would be nonstop over the two busiest times of the year, Christmas and Easter. They would require hours of cleaning, drying, and polishing them.

There was some reward, though. We hoped that Christmas would be one of our two extra pay days. The other happened at the end of the season when the players you were looking after would show their appreciation with a few pounds tip.

I had left home at 16 to join Rovers who, at that time, were in what is now the Championship. After training on Christmas Eve, I was permitted to return to South Wales at that age.

The apprentices from Bristol would have to make arrangements for us if the senior players arrived on Christmas Day. But even at that age it was made pretty clear our jobs entailed working during these holiday periods, and on Boxing Day we were always watching the first team or playing in the Football Combination league.

Although I always took care of my own boots and studs anyway, turning professional myself removed all of the above, but Christmas was still a special occasion.

Every club I attended had a member who would organize Christmas parties and evenings.

I went to all sorts of different venues, with many different themed evenings.

Footballers were much closer to the communities they played in because the times were different and our wages were very close to the majority of workers who were unpaid. Alcohol-free nights out at neighborhood bars and nightclubs were never an issue because mixing with the public wasn’t a problem.

In fact, many managers at times would encourage nights out together to build team bonding and spirit, and encourage a closeness within the group.

Although it is well known now that drinking excessive amounts of alcohol is bad, the English game and culture accepted and accepted it in the 1970s and 1980s.

Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, and Aston Villa are just a few examples of the European Cup finals that our teams won and competed in during that time.

I followed the same path as I did when I first transitioned from playing to managing.

We have all grown more aware of how smoking and alcohol can affect our physical conditioning over time. In previous columns I have explained how, with the majority of players I signed, I really checked out their characters.

I would always allow the players to plan their night out after a home game that was played in December, never too close to the festive schedule.

I tasked one or two senior players with taking care of the younger players and making sure the entire group behaved themselves.

In my early years of management, with the lads being in the lower leagues, they were generally safe enjoying themselves locally like I did as a player.

They had Sunday to recover from what would undoubtedly be a difficult workout because my mandate was that Monday would be a difficult one.

I’ve always found it fascinating that some players can party hard and emerge victorious the next day while others muster great strides to overcome.

When I moved up the levels, I became more and more aware of how I had to try to influence their Christmas nights out, including where they took place.

I have to admit that some of the stories I’ve heard should be left in my head rather than tucked into this column. Mondays always bring the unavoidable banter of what had transpired on the night out.

However, times have changed. Players have become like film stars and a lot of clubs now allow their players the freedom to jet off to a different country for their party.

Players have become more cut off from everyday life as their salaries have skyrocketed. When people go out, things also get a different turn with the advent of camera phones and social media.

I would always get the players to organise a dinner and a night out with their wives and girlfriends locally, and there would be club-run evenings to celebrate Christmas, but my main concern was always the lads ‘ night out.

The players should plan their own players’ parties outside the town or city they represented, in my opinion.

To go from meeting in local pubs to watching private jets take players to far away cities is a huge change for a manager, but the same principle of team bonding remains.

The most crucial thing is that the young men enjoy each other’s company, have a great time together, and hopefully help them overcome their current addiction to mobile phones, even if only temporarily.

Being a cohesive, ethical team requires sacrificing yourself occasionally for your fellow teammates. Team spirit and togetherness is a vital ingredient for success in any team sport and I have witnessed people’s perceptions of others change after spending a few hours relaxed together, and seen characters change because of this too.

Yes, there have been some incredibly unsatisfying incidents at various clubs over the years, but I still believe that properly arranged Christmas parties are a good idea because they break down barriers and unite team members in a close-knit community.

One incident, at Stoke in 2009, is always brought up, but one of the golden rules I have always followed as a manager was to “what happens in the dressing room stays in the dressing room.”

Suffice to say the players ‘ Christmas party that year went ahead as arranged.