It has often been said that it is not overseas competition with cheap labour and all it signifies, that is the real problem with British industry, but the standard of management. I'd certainly subscribe to that.
In my years in industry and retailing I experienced a great deal of poor management. But for me, the greatest problem is the lack of training. People are appointed to positions without any thought being given, to what they need to be able to fulfil their new responsibilities.
The BBC is a glaring example. Has anyone at the BBC, for instance, ever been trained to conduct interviews? Just because someone has been successful in their chosen sport, doesn't automatically mean they know how to conduct an interview. You only have to look at Sally Gunnell.
At least, she's no worse than those who interview managers and footballers after games. They don't ask questions, they just make a statement and wait for the interviewee to respond. They'll say: 'What a great game Michael' or something similar and then expect some sort of intelligent response from the player or manager.
And then, of course Garth Crooks is something else. By the time he's finished his diatribe, everyone has forgotten what it was he was going to ask.
This lack of training also applies to the so-called experts who the BBC draft in to comment on football matches, either at half-time and full-time at live matches, or in the studio for highlight programmes such as
Match of the Day.
One new recruit to these armchair critics is Lee Dixon, once one of the famous four backline at Arsenal. No one can deny the experience that players like Dixon can contribute on tactics and the skills on view but when it comes to commenting on debatable incidents, they expose their lack of training. Discussing a foul which resulted in a penalty, Dixon said, 'if it was a foul, then the defender should have been sent off. He was the last man, so he should have gone. That's what the rules say',
To start with, you would have thought that with all his years in the game, he would have known that football is played to Laws and not rules. Competitions have rules, the game has laws. But putting that to one side, nowhere in the laws does it even mention 'the last man'.
When it comes to situations such as he was discussing, the law says, 'a player is sent off if he denies an obvious goal scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the players goal, by an offence punishable by a free kick or penalty kick'. And that's it. The defender may bring an opponent down in the penalty area but even if he is the last man, if the player is not moving towards the goal, then it does not demand a red card. This is often the difference between one goalkeeper being sent off and another cautioned.
Conversely a player may still deny an obvious goal scoring opportunity and not be the last man but he would still be sent off. Forget the 'last man' - he doesn't exist in the laws.
The problem for us referees at the lower ends of the scale is that players and officials believe such statements as they come from someone who they see as an authority in the game. It substantiates the beliefs they already hold. If the BBC would only invest in a little training on the Laws of the Game for pundits, they would prevent such incorrect and misleading statements. Certainly my colleagues and I of the Reading Training Team would be happy to oblige and as someone who ran interviewing courses for 20 years, I'd be happy to give them some tips on interviewing as well.
Dick
Sawdon Smith