The term “decimate” comes from ancient Rome. Like so much else in our culture, it has its origins in the days of the Republic and the Empire. The word described a disciplinary practice within a legion. When a lesson needed to be taught so severely that punishment by the whip wouldn’t suffice, the commander would select, by lot, and execute every tenth man.
One of the most famous examples of this was Marcus Licinius Crassus using decimation to punish two legions who had broken ranks and fled during a battle against the slave rebel Spartacus. As a motivational tool, it was brutal but effective.
Nothing corrodes the spirit of men you want to motivate more than a collapse in discipline.
Such collapses lead to an overall disintegration of standards, shattering morale. For months now, I’ve been saying that the Ibrox club is a model of indiscipline and poor self-control. So many of their players have ended up on the back pages of newspapers for mouthing off, social media outbursts, or worse.
Just last week, Dujon Sterling needlessly criticised the referee after a European game and now faces a three-match ban. What’s extraordinary is that this wasn’t in the heat of the moment during a post-match TV or radio interview. He chose to do it on Instagram.
That is a club with no discipline. And when a club has no discipline, it’s no surprise that players publicly criticise the manager, contradict him, or back each other in disputes with him. We’ve seen all three of these scenarios play out at Ibrox in just the last fortnight.
Their goalkeeper, Jack Butland, has repeatedly questioned the team’s tactics in post-match interviews, most recently after the Dundee United game. That sort of thing would never happen at Celtic Park. Rodgers wouldn’t permit it. He’d drop any player who even dared.
But the worst instance came at the weekend just past when the manager said James Tavernier was no longer fit enough to play a full campaign and couldn’t feature every week. Within hours, Tavernier publicly refuted this, claiming he felt 100% fit and ready to play every match.
To make matters worse, Tavernier’s comments were backed on social media by Hagi and Raskin, in a calculated snub to the manager’s authority.
A manager who cannot command discipline cannot command respect.
Leaders have to be seen to lead, to impose their will. One of the biggest problems this guy faces is that he appears not to be in control of the dressing room and cannot impose even the most basic kind of discipline, the kind that involves the players all staying on message. It’s obvious to everyone that a lot of those players feel free to say whatever they like.
And the worst part? He can’t even attempt “decimation” and get away with it.
A manager needs to wield the power, including excluding players from the squad or relegating them to the reserves. But in the case of Ianis Hagi, for example, he found out that this was beyond him. The dressing room wouldn’t stand for it, the board wouldn’t allow it, and the fans demanded Hagi’s reinstatement. The manager caved and gave Hagi his first start in months.
When those above you dictate your decisions, it’s no longer your show to run. And if the players know you can’t make decisions without higher approval, your authority evaporates. That’s what the Ibrox board did to this guy—they undermined him completely.
Clement’s problem is that he’s a poor man-manager. He can’t make his authority stick, and the decisions he does make are often contradictory or outright damaging to him. Take the summer debacle when he tried to strip Tavernier of the captaincy. He handled it so badly that it caused a dressing room revolt and he then did the worst thing that a leader can do … he reversed himself and he did so publicly, and that left him humiliated and his authority in shreds.
I’ll delve into some of the other issues he faces later, but as I said yesterday, this guy is a dead man walking. No leader can survive without being able to impose his will on those in his command. And when you can’t even punish your soldiers for stepping out of line, there’s no way you can lead them into battle and expect them to give everything for you.
They have to respect you first. His don’t.
The first episode of our re-launched podcast, The Trinity Tims, is live now. Please like, subscribe and share folks. We’re calling this one The Opening Goal.
Bbbbbut they told us that he was The Maestro when he arrived.
This was backed up by the fawning media.
What happened?
Surely they weren’t all talking pish?
I see that hun cnut mcinnes lay down to they hun cnuts tonight . Gave them three points and a wee lift to their goal difference . If it’s not var and refs helping the cnuts it’s their ex players turned managers laying down. Worra bunch o cnuts
It would get very messy down Auchenhowie way if Clement executes every 10th Sevco player until they respect him.Decimate being the appropriate term lol.