Why I can relate to Arne Slot as he prepares to win the Premier League title with Liverpool
Liverpool will likely become Premier League champions this weekend and I take my hat off to Arne Slot because of the pressure of management, which I've experienced this season in charge of Macclesfield Town
by Robbie Savage · The MirrorOn a momentous weekend, Arne Slot can seal the title for Liverpool - and six divisions down the pyramid, I will lift my first trophy as a manager at Macclesfield. We are poles apart on the English football ladder, but I share two things in common with Slot.
First, we have both won our leagues at the first attempt. I was expected to do it because Macclesfield have the biggest budget in the Northern Premier League, but Slot has been a revelation at Liverpool as the man who followed Jurgen Klopp.
And second, we both have to deal with the pressure, expectation and stress of being a manager. Let me assure you, for a manager at any level of football the pressure is immense. It consumes you 24/7, seven days a week, it runs your whole life.
I can honestly say this is the hardest job I’ve ever undertaken - and winning the title, breaking every possible club record in the seventh tier, is my greatest achievement after a lifetime in the game.
Liverpool will surely get the point they need against Tottenham to get the party started at Anfield, and I take my hat off to the Dutchman who has conquered the Premier League first time with no ego and no histrionics.
I’m not comparing myself with Slot as a coach because he is going to be a champion twice in three seasons in two different countries, while I’m only one season deep as a manager. But now I’ve had a year at the sharp end of football, it has given me a whole new perspective.
Until you walk in a manager’s shoes and stand in that lonely technical area, you have no idea of the pressure. You are the one in the firing line. It’s OK being a pundit, even when you have winner’s medals to show for your playing career, but nothing turns you grey faster than being a football manager.
I will be so proud of my players and staff when we lift that trophy as multiple record-breakers, and I will be so proud that my mum will be there to see it. I can only hope my dad, who passed away aged 63 back in 2012, will be looking down proudly from the touchline upstairs. What does the future hold for Slot and Liverpool? They were on course to lift more than one trophy at the turn of the year, so next season the aim will be to become multiple winners.
Now that Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah have signed new contracts, they have two of the most important pieces of the jigsaw in place. What does the future hold for me? I’m not hiding it - as a late starter in management, I’m ambitious, but I love Macclesfield.
This is my club, I was part of its rebirth which gave a community its football club back, and it would take something really special to take me away. It’s incredible to think that, if Carlisle are relegated from League Two, next season I could be managing only one division below Mark Hughes, who was my idol growing up as a schoolboy.
But I won’t be hanging around just to tread water. I’m not saying we will go up again next year, but a top-seven finish to reach the National League North play-offs is my minimum target, along with the FA Cup first round and reaching the FA Trophy final at Wembley. Yes, we had the biggest budget in our division this season, but using that as the only premise for our promotion is a cheap shot and disrespectful to our players.
If we manage to win our last game against Whitby, and finish with a colossal 109 points, that will work out at £5,500 per point - a much better ratio than other clubs in the league, but let’s brush over that because it goes against the grain of the narrative.
If we get 109 points in the Northern Premier League, that will never be beaten. We have the biggest budget because we generate the most income from average gates above 3,100, which is almost 250 per cent up on our average crowd in League Two before the parent club folded.
On top of that, we have increased matchday revenue by250 per cent and sponsorship - which will top £500,000 next year - has gone up 120 per cent, while our social media traffic on Instagram, X, Facebook and TikTok is up 20 per cent with around 100 million impressions.
Money alone doesn’t guarantee success. Our recruitment has been spot-on. These lads didn’t seal promotion fine weeks ago and head for the beach - they have been hungry enough to go on and smash every conceivable record: Points, wins, goals scored, clean sheets, the lot.
They have coped with the pressure of being everyone’s cup final and everyone wanting to stick one on Macclesfield because of their manager’s profile.
And three promotions in four years hasn’t been a walk in the park. There have been countless sleepless nights because this is a horrible industry where managers are often the first to cop the flak, so that’s why I will always remember this weekend as a special time in my life. And around 6.30pm on Sunday, I suspect Arne Slot’s mask will slip and the emotions of a champion manager will come pouring out.
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