Month: May 2016

Tennis Coach Adam LownsbroughThe recent announcement of Andy Murray’s split from coach Amelie Mauresmo after two years stating that dedicating enough time along with the travel has been a challenge for Amelie has brought into focus one of the major commitments that affect both the players and coaches on the World Tour.

The relationship between a professional tennis player and his or her coach is definitely a unique one. While in team sports like football, rugby or cricket, the coach is employed by an organization that functions pretty much like a company, tennis coaches are hired directly by the players. This creates a sort of ironic situation, in which the coach, who supposedly is the boss and should have a commanding position, is in fact the employee in the relationship. At the end of the month, he or she picks up the pay from the player, and not from an organization or a company.
Continue reading No Win: The Reality of Player and Coach Pressures on Tour

After being eliminated from both the Champions League and the Europa League, plus their recent failure to beat West Ham, Manchester United are on the cusp of failing to qualify for the Champions League after United’s destiny was taken out of their own hands. Louis van Gaal could yet face the humiliation of missing out on European football next season altogether. Calls for the United boss to be sacked are increasing. Rumours of a “Mourinho Manchester” are flooding the back pages; piling the pressure on the Dutchman. So what happens when a football manager is dismissed? Like employees in England and Wales, football managers’ sign contracts of employment and when they are dismissed prematurely they will demand compensation.
Continue reading Galling season for Van Gaal; Employment rights for Football’s top Managers

You cannot avoid making a first impression, and recently published research emphasises why it is so important to get it right.

As Warren Buffett, the American business magnate once said: ‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you’ll do things differently’.

The scientists can’t agree on just how many seconds it is, but in an instant someone has made a decision about you. In a blink of an eye we decide if someone is ‘friend’ or ‘foe’. It is what we are ‘hard-wired’ to do. For our cave-dwelling predecessors it could be the difference between life and death – today, in a business environment it may not be so extreme, but there remains a lot at stake.
Continue reading First impressions … do your numbers add up?