June 13th 2012.

THIS is not a great week for Giovanni Trapattoni, Declan Kidney, Jack O’Connor, Glenn Ryan (Longford football manager) and a whole host of other managers whose teams took a beating over the last five days.

All these managers now face the task of picking up the pieces before their next outing. That is never an easy task, but it is part and parcel of the job of a manager. When most people think of the difficult jobs a manager has to do, they think of telling a player he is dropped. True, that is a dirty job, but on the other hand most managers have valid reasons for dropping a player and once the disappointed player is told, there is the more pleasant job of telling another player that he has been picked.

Picking up the pieces after a bad defeat, or at half time when your team is staring down the barrel of heavy defeat, is an infinitely more difficult job. Very often the manager is trying to talk down the obvious.

In the cases of Giovanni Trapattoni, and Declan Kidney, time is as big an enemy as reality. Both have to convince the Ireland soccer and rugby teams that they have the capacity to win against Spain and New Zealand, while the bruises from last Saturday’s and Sunday’s games still hurt. At least Jack O’Connor’s Kerry and Glenn Ryan’s Longford have a couple of weeks to re-group before their teams take the field again. A lot can happen in a few weeks. When a couple of training sessions go well, the mood in the camp can change quickly and a new freshness and optimism can transform a team’s frame of mind. I’ll come back to this.

Put yourself in Giovanni Trapattoni’s position for a moment. He obviously agonised about dropping Kevin Foley from the squad two weeks ago. People may have different opinions on the merits of this decision, but Trapattoni was trying to balance options and the ability of one player to complement another. He was the man on the spot, so he should be given credit for trying to do the correct thing, even if you believe otherwise.

Now, he stands before a team that was mauled by Croatia. They are probably battered bruised, sore and sorry. They are 24 hours from facing Spain and then Italy on Monday. A win in one game and a draw in the other is the minimum required to keep Ireland’s chances of advancing alive.

You can be certain that before the Euro championships began, the squad discussed and agreed a credible and desirable target. I would imagine that getting out of the group was the main objective, and that they also agreed that defeating, or at least drawing with Croatia was the key to achieving this.

Now that Ireland have lost to Croatia what can Trapattoni say to convince the squad that qualification is not only still achievable but also still likely?

Declan Kidney is almost in a similar situation. There are two vital differences however, the strength of the rugby squad in New Zealand was always unlikely to pull off a victory, and so the agreed targets and objectives, within the squad, may still be intact. Secondly the series with New Zealand is not a tournament and the knock-on consequences of defeat are not as catastrophic.

I actually believe that there is very little that either Giovanni Trapattoni or Declan Kidney can say, by way of motivation that will make a difference. They can make all the great speeches they wish but speeches only work in retrospect.

Remember that both coaches make impassioned speeches before games. Only one ever works. I have been in plenty of team meetings and dressing rooms over nearly 40 years. I have been there as an observer, a player, a selector and a coach. I have heard powerful speeches, off the wall speeches, inappropriate speeches and just plain bad ones. Did they work? Some did, in so far as the team won. Was the speech the vital difference? Probably on less than a dozen occasions.

What I believe is that no amount of oratory will save the Ireland soccer and rugby teams now. The squads, including the squad management and backroom teams have their desired outcomes ingrained in their heads for weeks. And they will revert to these targets under the pressure of the game. The only thing that will help Ireland defeat Spain (and or Italy) or New Zealand is if something goes wrong within the Spanish and New Zealand camps. That is if Spain mentally relax and allow Ireland into the game or similarly New Zealand decide they want to play show-off rugby and Ireland are in a position to exploit the situation.

This is where Jack O’Connor and Kerry and Glenn Ryan and Longford have an advantage over Trapattoni and Kidney. They have time to build a mental approach. The pregame talk and the half-time speech are only a synopsis of everything that has been said in preparation for the game or tournament. These speeches should be a series of bullet points that trigger emotion with in the players.

Every time a team trains or meets, the coach should be indoctrinating his team with his vision and ethos. Then when the big day comes, all he needs are a few words to trigger thoughts and emotions in his players.

This is a relatively easy task for Jack O’Connor (in theory at least) because his players have (or have had up to now) a winning mentality. Along with this, the general public in Kerry will do much of the work for the Kerry manager. Players will be questioned and reminded that the county are depending on them.

This is not the case in Longford and manager Glenn Ryan had a much greater task. There is no great tradition of success in Gaelic Football in Longford. Deep down the county players and supporters expect to be beaten. Longford were undefeated all year, until last Sunday when they inexplicably conceded four late scores to Wexford and snatched a one-point defeat from the jaws of certain victory.

Some years ago I had the privilege of listening to sports psychologist Brendan Hackett lectures on a course I was attending. Brendan was one time CEO of Athletics Ireland, but before that he spent some years coaching inter-county Gaelic Football teams. One of the first teams he coached was the Longford senior football team. He prepared the team well and just like this year the team went on a successful run in the league. Then they came up against Dublin in the Leinster Championship. Brendan was sure he had prepared the team well and that they would give a good account of themselves.

What happened was different. Longford put up a good first half display and led by three points at half time. When Dublin drew level early in the second half, Longford rolled over and lost by 18 points. The experience inspired Brendan Hackett to write his book on sports psychology, Success from Within.

He had discovered that there was no point in preaching, coaxing and cajoling players if deep down they do not believe that they will succeed.

This is why I really wouldn’t like to be in the shoes of Giovanni Trapattoni, Declan Kidney, Glenn Ryan and Jack O’Connor this week. They are all trying to persuade players who either have been programmed to think otherwise, or who no longer have the appetite to commit to the task of winning.

If the players cannot or do not want to perform, no amount of great speeches will inspire them to do better.