Alex Ferguson « Alberto Cei

Sir Alex Ferguson, in a new documentary due out at the end of May, reminds us the importance of our roots. There is no getting away from our family history and the environment in which we grew up.

For psychologists. This approach should remind us of Harry Stack Sullivan and his theory of the interpersonal origin of personality (1953). Thus, the study of the behaviors of individuals in relation to others. Personality is inconceivable outside the context of interpersonal relationships. The self is social and interpersonal in its development and functioning throughout life.

In sport psychology, the relation between the athlete-team interpersonal relationship and sport performance has been defined through the concept of cohesion. Studies have highlighted two dimensions of cohesion – perception of team cohesion and degree of closeness among the players – that make the difference between winning and losing teams.

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Anita Elberse and Tom Dye, Harvard Business School, conducted a study of Alex Ferguson through a series of interviews conducted in 2012. Ferguson is the most successful coach in the history of football with his 28 trophies. Ferguson’s main skill is motivate his players, defending them in public and criticizing in the locker room. To reward players tells them “well done” which considers the two best words to support people, since there is no need to use absolute expressions. Another essential aspect of his leadership resides in the idea that the more good you are, the more you have to commit and who does not conform to this principle is excluded. The rules are the same for everyone but at the same time he knows how to talk to every player to get the best. According Elberse and Dye Ferguson’s success also depends on the revolution that led to the youth program of Manchester United and that allowed him to get into the first team homegrown players like Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes. For him is essentially the difference between build a team and build a club. Therefore, since the beginning he has given visibility to the youth activities and he wanted young players were in contact with the first team, in order to create a common attitude. Another key aspect to be successful for such a long period is to know how to renew his way to coach, adapting it to the new football requests, for this reason now he works together with experts in sports sciences and new technologies.

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