There are people, coaches, and players who fit in certain places. All players don't fit into all teams, and not every manager can manage every team.
When you play professionally, you get accustomed to turnover. Players come and go - they get injured, they get transferred, they get cut from the team. Coaches are hired, and coaches are fired. It's just part of the world you live in.
Coaches understand that pressure is part of the rush of coaching. The challenge of trying to outplay your opponent is part of the fun, the adrenaline, the preparation, seeing your team evolve. It's why coaches become coaches.
I think that when you are part of a football team, it is a group. That means the players and the staff, including the manager and all that administration.
To point the finger at one guy, at each other or at the coaches, won't do any good. It's not supposed to be the coach. It's our team. The coaches can do a phenomenal job preparing you, but it has to come from within.
I think the most important thing of all for any team is a winning attitude. The coaches must have it. The players must have it. The student body must have it. If you have dedicated players who believe in themselves, you don't need a lot of talent.
In every team, there are players that don't seem important, but in the end, they prove to be one of the most important players. These players are quiet but can play in every position. They help the manager and their team-mates and are always available. They fight for every ball.
When I tell people that I get interviewed five or six times more than I will interview players or coaches leading up to the game that comes as a surprise. That's part of it and it just goes with being part of a Super Bowl broadcast team. I enjoy it.
Baseball is a simple game. If you have good players, and you keep them in the right frame of mind, the manager is a success. The players make the manager. It's never the other way. Managing is not running, hitting, or stealing. Managing is getting your players to put out one hundred percent year after year. A player does not have to like a manager and he does not have to respect a manager. All he has to do is obey the rules. Talent is one thing. Being able to go from spring to October is another. You just got caught in a position where you have no position.
I only worked with Rafa Benitez for a short time, but he's a great manager, and he showed it from the first moment he came. He worked with the players and made us a better team. He's a good person, always trying to help players out.
I always tell people, good coaches are a dime a dozen. Good coaches that are good people, good husbands, good fathers, that love their players and are passionate about doing things in a way that I believe is important, that pool gets real small.
I think coaches are very much guilty of trying to implement players into their schemes as opposed as trying to fit schemes into players. That's the thing that can separate good coaches from bad.
I think I'm always willing to learn and listen to the coaches and the manager and listen to the advice of the players in the team as well, so whenever I get the advice, I try to take it on board and just try to help myself get better.
The analysis of statistics is a big part of the modern game, and it's important as a modern manager to embrace areas that can help your team and players improve.
But the atmosphere of being part of the Indian team is totally different from any other team. People start looking at you in a different way. But the senior players and support staff really helped me in ease into the team.
I don't view myself as a team manager, but a team captain. I'm part of the team, but everybody else as well.