Pat Nevin – “You have to know that underneath the person really cares…”

In my latest recording with Pat Nevin we discussed the different management styles that he has encountered throughout his career through playing, working as CEO at Motherwell FC and his time in the media.

Pat describes one of his first football coaches that he had when he was 16 years old who nearly made him give up on the game.

He explains that this coach “made my life an absolute misery” through his ‘old school’ coaching style which involved shouting and balling at a very young Pat Nevin.

So you can imagine Pat’s surprise at the end of the season, at the Player of the Year awards for his boys club, it was Pat who scooped the main ‘Player of the Year’ prize as picked by his coach.

Recognising Pat’s confusion, the coach explained to him the he believed that Pat was going to go on and have a phenomenal career in football.

He explained that he only shouts at the good players and that there’s no point in shouting at the players who can’t play.

“You are going to come across some people who are going to shout and scream and make your life misery, and you will cope with everything because of what I’ve just put you through. And that’s why I did it.”

Pat reflects on moments when he did encounter those people his youth coached had prepared him for, including the late great Scotland and Celtic manager Jock Stein, and Pat recalls that “it was water off a duck’s back”.

It’s important to point out here that Pat is very quick to highlight that this particular style of coaching and leading is very ‘old school’ and for some people this method will not work.

It was a method of its time back then.

There won’t be many books, papers or manuals written where this particular method is recommended in any form of coaching, particularly with younger adults or children.

But this helped Pat and he’s still extremely grateful for that coaching.

He goes on to discuss that when a player, athlete or person knows that despite the different styles people adopt, as long as they know that there is care and concern for their welfare at the centre of every interaction, then that is what makes the difference between being hard on someone for positive results and being hard on someone for the sake of it.

From here, we moved the conversation on to the importance of managers, coaches and leaders fully understanding the people they are working with as individuals in order to get communicate with them and get the best results.

You can hear the full episode here – https://pod.fo/e/21cbb8

Watch the episode and others on YouTube – https://youtu.be/7CQ59E4pFnc?si=0QD5XgJtLQv8DX-i