Tony Pulis says idle managers should look beyond football for ideas, and history's great commanders are a good place to start.
Tony Pulis has a message for managers stuck between jobs: stop staring at the game and start studying the people who led armies, companies and nations. The veteran boss says time away from the touchline can be put to far better use than waiting for the phone to ring.
Pulis has been through the cycle of dismissals, resignations and long waits for the next opportunity. In his latest column, he opens up about how he filled that downtime and why he believes it made him a sharper leader when the next job came.
His argument is simple. Football has no monopoly on good leadership. Figures like Napoleon, who had to motivate huge groups of people, make fast decisions under pressure and keep belief alive when things turned ugly, faced problems any dressing-room boss will recognise.
That is the real lesson for coaches on the sidelines. Managing egos, building a clear identity and staying calm when results turn are skills you can sharpen away from the training ground. For managers waiting on their next shot, Pulis suggests the smartest move is to keep learning, and to look in unexpected places.
