Which soccer team comes to your mind when silky, sexy football is mentioned? Sports is one ground that best shows teamwork is important.
Arsenal, also affectionately known as The Gunners, is well known for several things. One of which is the attractive brand of football the club plays. One might wonder how the manager, Arsene Wenger, is able to create such an attacking side with little money to spend on new players. When asked of the secret receipe, Wenger attributes it to teamwork.
Arsenal ex-captain - William Gallas
Remember William Gallas? He is well known for his public out-burst which often leads to trouble. Recall his public out-burst about his unhappiness in playing as a left side defender for Chelsea. He even threatened to score an own goal to ensure his departure. He played his last game and was swiftly offoaded to Arsenal.
Two years on from the switch to Arsenal, Gallas has not changed in his way of showing displeasure. The most recent famous incident occurred early last year where he criticized his team mates for their individual perfomances. What would you do if you were Wenger? Would you sell Gallas, or just strip him of captaincy and bench him for a few games?
Wenger, understanding that team work is essential, stripped Gallas of his captaincyand deicded to bench him for a couple of matches. This was so even when Arsenal was stuck in a bad run of form. Realize the importance of team harmony?
Any disruption due to personal differences ought to be sought out privately or through proper hierarchy to prevent any sort of disunity from happening.
After being removed as captain of the club and benched, Gallas felt very humiliated and left out by the club. From the days when he was at Chelsea, he was a prospective member of Arsenal. He rose up to the role of a captain only a year after he had joined the club. With this disgraced incident, he wanted to leave the club to avoid further embarrassement. A sharp rise and fall of a strong leader.
Any consequence from his public criticism? Surely! Arsenal have gone on to only win 2 out of 6 games in March 2008, the period where Gallas was benched. Every single action and words said have an impact to others.
It is not that every team memeber has to tolerate or suffer in silence. It is the mode of “letting it out” employed that has to be correct. Failure to do so would lead to a destructive force to be hovering over the team.
Would I like Gallas to be in my team? I’d gladly swap him for any primary school kid anytime.
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andy said
It not wrong but required of a leader to voice out opinions. It must also be done with the interests of the group instead of self. His outburst did have some effect on his team of kids; because of his vast experience with the league people do respect his words of wisdom. The only wrong he did was to bring it up to the media, publicly criticizing his team which is considered unruly in today’s world of football. I do pity him nonetheless, playing for a reputable team with abundance of youth and talent but lacks the experience to excel.
Chongx said
It’s a ploy to make fabregas stay! I still think Gallas should move to a club which appreciates his services more! hahah though i’m not an arsenal fan myself XD
JK said
There is no ‘I” in a TEAM. Gallas, with his unwarranted public outbursts of the team will not endear himself to anyone. He is more of a destructive influence and an air head. Arsenal will be better off without him..
Eva said
Teamwork is the same everywhere, soccer or no soccer. Being a leader certainly needs more than talent and skills, self-control and communication skills will surely be handy for anyone in a leadership position. Hope he lernt his lesson. =.=
Eva said
Teamwork is the same everywhere, soccer or no soccer. Being a leader certainly needs more than talent and skills, self-control and communication skills will surely be handy for anyone in a leadership position. Hope he learnt his lesson. =.=
Hong Mun said
I am not sure whether the team’s slump in form is due to Gallas. It very well could be, but I’m sure other things played a part. Gallas criticised the team because they weren’t performing, so there certainly were problems even before that.
I agree that unity is very important. The leader has to capture everyone under a common vision.
KS said
If there is no teamwork, especially in soccer, no matter how talented one might be, there is no way that he will suceed in the long term. For a leader, he must be able to encourage,inspire a team when things are bad, instead of criticising and venting out feelings,especially through the media where things could ger misintepreted.
Zachary said
This really reminds me of the long standing truth that screams out “There is no I in TEAM”. While it true in soccer that most teams only win medals with a star player who is able to transform matches, it is also true that they are not everything that is needed. Ryan Giggs never even played in the Word Cup right. Veron was bought as the star player to supposedly catapault MAN U to the pinnicle of Europe. But I suppose he was instead the catalyst that brought Mr Ferguson a few years of title drought as team harmony was distrupted.
Gallas a leader? From what I heard of, he’d probably was not capable of even leading a team of primary school kids. Did I mention he cried and sat on the pitch in dismay after Birmingham was awarded a penalty in the dying minutes of a game? Well, maybe he was just showing emotion. Sure, try imagining Roy Keane or Gerrard doing that.
fonggf said
hmmm…i would like to quote from the anecdotes of Sir Alex that says: “There’s no player bigger than the club.” I guess it is really appropriate in this case as Gallas was clearly thinking of his own achievements rather than the interests of the team, especially with his actions on the pitch (the way he sat in the centre circle after the loss to Birmingham) and off it (the outburst that was totally uncalled for that clearly affected team morale).
Sometimes, a leader might reach a point that he feels that he is the only one shouldering the expectations of others and needs to deliver. That is a dangerous thought to be messing with. It might lead the individual to have an overly bloated head to think that he is greater due to responsibilities given to him, which might be detrimental to team performance.
Bindi said
Being a leader myself for 4 yrs for my various CCAs in both my secondary shool and junior college, I do share the same sentiments and tribulations as Gallas. When faced with the daunting task of pushing the truth it all comes down to tact. But only a great leader in that situation would know how to put down his pride and get down to the players level and assess the situaiton according to their personalities. In addition he has to understand that people have differing personalities, that some may not be able to take criticism as well as others, while others will just give up under the unnecessary pressure placed by the leader. Hence the leader has to always keep in mind the notation of ‘what’s a leader without followers?’. So in the case of Gallas, its was just a case of insensitive leadership coupled by the unfortunate ‘blown-up’ coverage by the media. However I’ve gotta give credit to him on how he handled Wenger’s punishment and that that was a true sign of leadership too. Being able to admit mistakes and then apologising while staying on in hope of patching up the destruction of which he was responsible. I guess he learnt that after what happened in Chelsea.