Inside the mind: Deconstructing the cult of the manager - The four myths of ‘Zombie Leadership’
In the second article of Sports News Blitz’s new series, ‘Inside the Mind,’ Ted Purcell tells all on why sacking the manager rarely solves a club’s problem.
Nottingham Forest's managerial carousel
It has been a turbulent year over at Nottingham Forest. After a flying start to the 2024/2025 Premier League season, they fell just short of Champions League qualification.
A rocky end was a sign of things to come. Despite a £185 million summer spend, manager Nuno Espírito Santo wasn't happy.
In a series of explosive interviews, he described the squad as "unbalanced" and admitted his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis had broken down.
When asked if his job was under threat, he replied, "Where there's smoke, there is fire."
Yes, it was self-destructive for Nuno to go public. But surely they wouldn’t sack him? This was, after all, the manager who had taken them to Europe for the first time in thirty years.
...Oops. There he goes!
Out went Nuno and in came Ange Postecoglou. Big Ange, who, despite leading Spurs to a historic Europa League victory, was sacked after a dismal league season.
Given his track record, Ange was tasked with winning silverware.
However, after just 39 days, he was given the boot. Eight games, six losses, two draws, zero clean sheets. Off you go, ‘mate.’
Forest are now onto their third manager of the season, with gravel-voiced Sean Dyche tasked with steadying the ship.
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The rotting ideas behind the chaos
This revolving door at the City Ground isn't just bad luck; it's a textbook case of what researchers call "Zombie Leadership" - a set of ideas that have been repeatedly killed by evidence but refuse to die.
These concepts ‘live’ on because they are simple, they flatter those in power, and they are relentlessly propagated by a media industry that profits from the chaos.
In their 2024 paper, Haslam and colleagues argue that Zombie Leadership is held up by four key claims. Forest’s season is a perfect case study of each one.
1. Only leaders can lead
This is the belief that leadership is the exclusive preserve of the person in the dugout.
The entire narrative at Forest this season has revolved solely around the manager.
Nuno was the saviour, then the problem. Ange was the next messiah, then a false prophet.
The players, the director of football, the scouts - they’re all just extras in the manager’s movie.
Look at the club’s own announcement for Dyche: he will "guide the club." It frames him as the sole pilot of a helpless ship.
But this ignores where leadership truly lives: in the structure of the club and its dressing room.
Look at clubs immune to this panic, like Brighton or Brentford. Their success is built on a structure, not a saviour. The head coach is a crucial cog, but the engine is a data-driven system that outlasts any individual.
Such thinking completely ignores the importance of dressing room leaders (e.g., Jordan Henderson at Brentford) who make the manager’s vision possible.
Indeed, research shows that leadership from rank-and-file players is often more impactful on player well-being and performance.
2. Leaders have qualities that set them apart
This is the cult of the "special one." It reduces leadership to a magical blend of inherent traits.
Forest’s statement that Dyche has the right "character" is pure zombie logic. It suggests Nuno lacked it and Ange had the wrong kind.
However, the reality is that great leadership comes in widely different packages.
Take Carlo Ancelotti’s laissez-faire approach to managing Real Madrid, the polar opposite of Luis Enrique's meticulous style at PSG. Yet, they are the previous two teams to win the Champions League.
What matters isn’t a predefined set of traits, but whether their specific qualities resonate with their club and players.
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3. Group success should be attributed to leaders
When a team wins, the manager is a genius. When they lose, the players have let him down. This ensures credit flows upwards, inflating the leader’s ego and alienating everyone else.
Nuno was hailed for getting Forest into Europe, as if he alone passed, tackled, and scored. When it went wrong, the "unbalanced squad" became his personal failure to motivate.
This thinking creates a trap, where the manager is built up as a heroic figure, distancing themselves from the team.
When results dip, that same pedestal makes them the scapegoats. The club then sacks the "failing" leader and immediately searches for a new hero, restarting the cycle instead of fixing the underlying issues in the squad or structure.
Sustainable success, as seen at Manchester City, is rightly attributed to a symphony of roles - Pep’s vision, Txiki Begiristain’s recruitment, and the players’ execution.
Acknowledging this collective effort doesn’t diminish the manager; it builds a more united culture where everyone feels responsible.
4. History is the story of great leaders
This is arguably the most dangerous argument, casting leaders as the lone drivers of history and meaning their removal is the only solution to any problem.
This is the "managerial merry-go-round" on steroids. It’s the belief that Forest's entire next chapter depends entirely on Sean Dyche.
It reduces the complex, multi-year project of building a football club to a series of short stories named after managers.
The clubs that consistently make history are those that build an identity bigger than any one person.
They don’t stumble from one historic leader to the next. They foster a winning culture by building a system that outlasts any individual.
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The final whistle
The real victory for any club isn’t finding the next ‘transformational’ leader. It’s building a smart and cohesive structure that can withstand a bad run of form without plunging into a ‘zombie apocalypse’.
The next time your club hits a rough patch, ask yourself: are we building a club, or just hiring a new ‘saviour’?
The answer might just determine whether you're set for a lasting legacy, or just another spin on the merry-go-round.
Maybe you’ll even think twice before that ‘[insert manager's name] out’ tweet.
At the end of the day, it probably isn’t worth pulling your hair out over managerial performances. As former player Pierre van Hooijdonk once said:
“If you were to change all the managers in the league for cats, at the end of the season there will still be one champion and three will be relegated. Does that mean the cat who is champion is fantastic and the three who got relegated are sh*t?”
PART ONE: Inside the mind: How psychological skills are shaping football’s next generation
