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Doug finds himself worried about recruitment.

Click on A tale of two coaches in the TAGS for previous episodes…

Doug was left in a dilemma. He wanted to recruit one of his son’s mates who was the best player at the local rival club. He was about to call the boy’s father when he thought about the telling off he got from Sandra about shirt sponsorship.

He ponders whether to call Sandra and ask her now, rather than go ahead and then face an embarrassing climb down if he has got it wrong. He sits at the kitchen table and outlines his problem aloud.

“That’s very reflective of you”, says Doug’s wife, Julie.
“What?” replies Doug.
“I said that you are thinking about the consequences of your actions and considering the possible outcomes based on…”
“Wait, wait, wait” interrupts Doug. “Is this some of your management course talk again? I don’t know why the tax payer has to shell out for this mumbo jumbo. It doesn’t make any difference.”

Julie, who works as a staff nurse at the local hospital, has started to carve out her own career. Having been on a number of management courses, she has begun to embrace a more inclusive leadership style, plus reflective practice. She has had a number of discussions (or arguments as Doug would call it) about how to treat the workforce.

Doug has built up a very successful tiling business and now employs around 15 people. He knows his style, he knows he has made some good money, even in recessions.

He says to Julie “Look sweetheart,” (Julie hates it when she calls him that) “I know my workforce. If I pussyfoot around, they will take the mickey and get away with not working hard enough. Last week, Rollo was late for work for the third time this month, so he ain’t going to do that again. I sacked him. If the boys know that they can get away with slacking, I will be losing customers, losing money.”
“Tell me you are not scared of Sandra”, says Julie.
Doug laughs, “You are joking?”
“Why are you worried about calling up Tom’s dad then?”
“Because I know the problems we had with the sponsorship.”
“That’s never stopped you making your own decision before.”
“Right, I am going to call now,” says Doug fumbling for his phone.
“Who?”
“Sandra!”
“Why not ignore Sandra?”
“Who’s making the decision here?”
“You are scared that if you make a mistake on this one, you will lose face”
“No I won’t, I’m not scared of Sandra.”
“So you don’t need to speak to her”
“Look sweetheart…”
“Don’t you ‘sweetheart’ me. You are so easy to wind up and now you are winding me up. You can’t ring Sandra and give her two barrels about this. Whether you like it or not, you are scared of her. But I think she wants to help you. Forget Tom’s dad for a while and ring Sandra in the morning.”

Put it this way, Doug is not going to agree with Julie. The “discussion” continues for a good half an hour before Doug walks away knowing he has lost, but not admitting to that to Julie. Julie picks up his dirty washing out of the laundry basket and takes it out to the utility room. She smiles as she put his sports and work kit into the machine and watches them intertwine. She wonders whether she is the washing powder or the washing machine.

*****

“Sandra, its Doug from the Under 9s.”
“Hey Doug, I was going to call you today. How’s Harry? Did he enjoy the holiday camp?”
For next five minutes, Doug tells Sandra about how much Harry had enjoyed the camp, it was great to get him away from the video games and that he had wished he had been able to do things like that for himself.
Sandra replies: “I think we all want the best for our kids and that’s why the Under 9s are lucky you have taken on the job this year. Now, I need you tell me who might be helping you with the team this year. You need a manager and an assistant coach. Have you got anyone in mind?”

*****

When Doug gets home from work, he looks around for Julie. His son, Harry, is in the living room watching cartoons and his 17 year old daughter from his first marriage is glued to Facebook. They give out their usual one word greeting and one word summary of their busy and eventful days.

He finds Julie out in the utility room sorting out the washing. “Good day?” she says, still in her work uniform, folding away Doug’s work sweatshirt. She can sense he is excited about something.

“Yes, I spoke to Sandra”
“And…did she bite?”
“No, don’t be soft. We had a good discussion.”
“You never discuss anything…what did you tell her”
“I didn’t tell her anything, in fact, we never got onto the subject of recruitment”
“Go on”
“She has decided that I need a match manager. Someone who is organised, keen and will be at every fixture. I know the perfect person…you!”
“No way.”
“It’s decided. I said you would be ideal. And with all your management courses and your ability to wash kit…”
Doug swerves too late to avoid the sweatshirt hitting him square in the face, but is nimble enough to make it out of the utility room as the washing basket follows.

A takeaway curry and a bottle of red wine later and Julie has agreed to be manager. She has reservations because she sometimes does shifts on a Sunday morning. However, she wants Doug to succeed in this role because she knows it will be good for him and more importantly good for Harry. She still thinks he is a sexist, stubborn pig at times. Nevertheless, she knew that when she married him.