Rob Meets Lou Macari

In this week's show, Rob talks to legendary player and manager, Lou Macari.

Lou's extensive career has taken him through stints at Celtic, where he was part of the now mythical Quality Street Gang, which included the likes of Kenny Dalglish and Danny McGrain. He went on to play over 400 games for Manchester United, helping them win promotion back to the First Division, as well as the FA Cup in 1977.

From there, Macari went on to an illustrious managerial career, before founding The Macari Centre, a street retreat used to house the homeless sleeping rough in Stoke-On-Trent.

Lou joins Rob to talk about his inspirational life, his experiences, and his outlook on the game itself, both past and present, as well as his life now.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Lou puts his success down to the talent of the managers he's worked with. Strong leadership and the correct advice at the correct time helped Lou to find his identity as a player, and to achieve his best at all times. The managers of Macari's youth stood for no nonsense. Discipline levels were high. This led to an intense desire to please their boss, and to not run afoul of him.
• Lou identifies physical fitness as the main priority for any player. Stamina and physical prowess allow every player to achieve their best.
• Part of the art of management is to convince your players that there is nothing to fear. Each game is winnable. If we believe that we can win, and play to our strengths, there is no team you can't beat.
• When you are at the start, and sometimes during your playing career, you never really get to take a step back and appreciate what you are achieving. Lou found that it was only when hi splaying career came to an end that he was truly able to gain perspective on his own achievements.
• When deciding how he was to begin his managing career, Lou opted to emulate the best of the managers he had worked for, which meant his management career was a defined by discipline, fitness and respect.
• Post-retirement, Lous devoted himself to The Macari Centre, a place to care for the homeless of Stoke. The level of homelessness shocked Lou when he found out about it, especially the reasons for it. The breakdown of relationships is surprisingly a huge factor in the amount of homeless in Stoke. Lou has devoted himself to making a safe environment for society's outcasts using the same lessons of discipline and respect he employed through his football career.

BEST MOMENTS

‘You do learn from the great managers. You can't help but do that'

‘Though we worked hard in our youth, we were in heaven'

‘I always believed that if you could control a tennis ball, then you could definitely control a football'

‘If you've not got fitness, you can't play'

‘Run around, work hard, and it'll happen for you'

‘Following people who've risen to the top is the right thing to do'

‘Where you've been and done okay, and succeeded, those are your best places'

‘If you really want to do it, then stick with it'

‘If those obstacles hadn't been put in front of me, I wouldn't be here today'

‘I don't like nasty people. I prefer nice people'

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Leader Manager Coach Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Rob Ryles is a UEFA A licensed coach with a League Managers Association qualification and a science and medicine background. He has worked in the football industry in Europe, USA and Africa; at International, Premiership, League, Non-League and grassroots levels with both World Cup and European Championship experience.

Rob Ryles prides himself on having a forward thinking and progressive approach to the game built through his own experience as well as lessons learned from a number of highly successful managers and coaches.

The Leader Manager Coach Podcast is where we take a deep dive examining knowledge, philosophies, wisdom and insight to help you lead, manage and coach in football, sport and life.

CONTACT METHOD

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