The buck stops everywhere

‘I DON’T shine if you don’t shine,’ a line from The Killers’ new album rang a bell when considering Steve Staunton’s situation during the week. Management is all about reflected glory, when you think about it.

The assignment of responsibility for a team’s performance has interested this column ever since the day we heard a US college basketball coach asked whether his job was safe or not: “Staying in my job depends on teenagers in their pyjamas remembering what I tell them when they run around. What do you think of my job security?”

Basketball is a deliberate choice, by the way. The relatively small size of squads meant that when television money started pouring into the sport in the US, professional contracts became so generous that it was one of the first sports which gave commentators pause about pay and motivation — if players had so much money in the bank after one season, where would the motivation to actually win games and trophies come from?