" MALKY TELLS WHAT ITS BEEN LIKE SINCE TAKING OVER "

Cardiff boss Malky Mackay: People quickly got behind my ethos and club is benefiting
Jan 22 2012 By Gordon Waddell, Sunday Mail

Malky Mackay has turned around the fortunes of Cardiff since becoming manager.


ARE leaders born or are they made? Looking at Malky Mackay, you would think it was the former.

The big barrel chest, the Buzz Lightyear square jaw, all confidence and eloquence.
But judging by the books in his office library, he obviously believes it's the latter ... Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Indisputable Laws of Teamwork. Moneyball. Freakonomics.
Then there's the autobiographies of Vince Lombardi, Michael Jordan, Lance Armstrong. The Book of Positive Quotations.
Shake Hands With The Devil, a harrowing account of genocide and inhumanity by the lieutenant general who led the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda.
There's a laminate of basketball coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success behind his desk.



Mackay digs into a drawer and tosses on to the sofa an 18-page Powerpoint presentation called "A Leadership Primer" by American General Colin Powell.

"Unbelievable insight," he says, sifting it for his favourite lines.

The books aren't there for show.

They're not gathering dust. They've been read. And then re-read.

"Either that, or I've got a good cleaner," he laughs, all self-deprecation.

But no-one takes their job more seriously. No-one tries harder to understand what it takes to set out on a mission - and make sure others follow.

That's exactly what he has done at Cardiff City.

Taken a club who were perennial final-hurdle fallers, who were on their knees when he arrived from Watford in the summer, and rebuilt their jigsaw of broken dreams.

All by applying every rule in HIS book. And it's working.

In the Championship, they are one point and one place out of the automatic promotion spots.

They are within sight of a Wembley final if they can overturn Crystal Palace's 1-0 first-leg lead on Tuesday at the Cardiff City Stadium - a ground where they've only lost two matches all season.

All of it from a blank canvas six months ago.

"Day one," he said, "I was standing with David Kerslake, my assistant, and we had 10 people jogging round a park. That was it.

"The club had lost five staff, a dozen players, including all their star names - the likes of Michael Chopra and Jay Bothroyd.

"If you'd said to me then that with 20 games to go, here's where we'd be? My answer would contain the words 'Aye' and 'Right'.

"But people opened themselves up to the way we do it.

"And believe me, some had to. It was a culture shock but they've embraced it and it quickly becomes the norm again."

The changes? The club had no recruitment department. They had 11 regional scouts, six of whom had never met the chief scout, while none had ever met the manager.

The club had no medical or physio facilities at their training ground. No sports science department. No performance analysis, no diet plan.

They shared a facility with Cardiff Blues rugby side that was as welcoming as a nuclear bunker.

They had a pitch with no fence between the goal and a car park full of Mercs and BMWs with size five dents in every bonnet.

For Mackay, attention to detail is everything - and the 39-year-old hit the place like a one-man Justin-and-Colin.

"Honestly," he sighs. "There wasn't a single piece of branding anywhere, nothing to tell you there was even a football club here." Now? The walls are decked out with prints of players celebrating and motivational quotes.

There are couches, a rec room where the dartboard sees more action than Lakeside.

He walks through the place with purpose.

"Medical room," he says. "I had a room built for the doc there."

It now has three physios working on three players.

Through the next door is Enda Barron, his performance analyst, who has recruited six interns from Vale of Glamorgan University.

Into Player Recruitment, with introductions to the man in charge. City now have nine guys across the country, all exclusively working for them.

All have the club jacket and tie, and all have been schooled personally by the manager in what he looks for in a match report and player analysis.

And so it goes, through the 'Carpe Diem Meeting Room' and back to his office. Every detail part of the strategy.

"How do you get people to want to work towards one common goal?" he asks. "How do you lead?

"You test yourself and if it's working, and you believe in what you're doing, if your attention to detail is there and your group is working with you, then why not? "I want the boys to want to be here. I told them to park their egos at the door. I don't want egos.

"And you never know what can be achieved if you stick to that ethos.

"I'm bringing in high-quality staff to work to a standard. If anyone doesn't want to work to that standard they won't be here long.

"And if you get the fans behind that, it has to be better than all the politics and what have you.

"If people need to go, they go quickly. But they've been open to change and some have had to.

"The structure of their week has altered. We've asked them to do yoga, pool sessions, different strength sessions.

"Look at a guy like Kevin McNaughton for example - he does yoga religiously now.

"I cite the likes of Ryan Giggs, Teddy Sheringham, Davie Weir, guys who constantly evolved.

"If you don't change, you die. There's no point being a dinosaur. Look for the extra work which is going to help you."

And Mackay applies the same standards to himself.

A former bank clerk from Baillieston, he has arrived at the doorstep of the Premiership the hard way.

He grafted through his playing years to maximise a talent that took him from Queens Park to Celtic then to 15 years in England. He earned promotion to the top flight three times with Norwich, West Ham and Watford and collected five Scotland caps.

As a manager, though, he is even more driven.

It's impossible to see him not being a top Premiership boss - but his first intention is to get there with Cardiff.

He admitted: "The passion here is unbelievable. It's a capital city and it might be small but within an hour there are a million people.

"Our gates are up at 23,000 and if we get to the Premier League they would take the roof off the stadium and get in 5000 more seats."

The support have had their hearts ripped out often enough for them not to get their hopes up. They blew the 2008 FA Cup Final against Portsmouth, blew getting to the play-offs the season after by losing their last four matches.

Next they lost 3-2 to Blackpool in the play-off final at Wembley and all their big-ego talent last season did them little good as they fell to Reading in the semis.

Mackay said: "The club have been striving for a long time to get to the top division and never done it. What an achievement it would be.

"The fans were hurt when Swansea were promoted last season because of the rivalry.

"We're in the mix to join them. We must stay consistent and with 10 games left that's when it becomes a test of character."

Good read annis

The best interview I have read since Malky was appointed, a real insight into the life of the manager, staff and players at the club.

The best interview I have read since Malky was appointed, a real insight into the life of the manager, staff and players at the club.

Took the words right off my laptop Carl.

Cracking read.

Good read annis

I thought it was really interesting Albert and said a lot about Malky himself.

The best interview I have read since Malky was appointed, a real insight into the life of the manager, staff and players at the club.

Took the words right off my laptop Carl.

Cracking read.

Yes I have to agree, best interview so far.

Malky really is the man.......he never forgets to mention the fans either which we all know makes huge difference.

"Day one," he said, "I was standing with David Kerslake, my assistant, and we had 10 people jogging round a park. That was it.

"The club had lost five staff, a dozen players, including all their star names - the likes of Michael Chopra and Jay Bothroyd.



This is without Malky's team.

Outstanding

Malky really is the man.......he never forgets to mention the fans either which we all know makes huge difference.

This bit is very interesting, Hmm what was Dave Jones doing other than playing Golf and falling out with our players ?






The changes? The club had no recruitment department. They had 11 regional scouts, six of whom had never met the chief scout, while none had ever met the manager.

The club had no medical or physio facilities at their training ground. No sports science department. No performance analysis, no diet plan.

They shared a facility with Cardiff Blues rugby side that was as welcoming as a nuclear bunker.

They had a pitch with no fence between the goal and a car park full of Mercs and BMWs with size five dents in every bonnet.

For Mackay, attention to detail is everything - and the 39-year-old hit the place like a one-man Justin-and-Colin.

"Honestly," he sighs. "There wasn't a single piece of branding anywhere, nothing to tell you there was even a football club here." Now? The walls are decked out with prints of players celebrating and motivational quotes.

He admitted: "The passion here is unbelievable. It's a capital city and it might be small but within an hour there are a million people.

"Our gates are up at 23,000 and if we get to the Premier League they would take the roof off the stadium and get in 5000 more seats."

He admitted: "The passion here is unbelievable. It's a capital city and it might be small but within an hour there are a million people.

"Our gates are up at 23,000 and if we get to the Premier League they would take the roof off the stadium and get in 5000 more seats."

Love Maly's comments Carlos, but he forgot to say we need a 60,000 stadium.

He's a Legend, why carnt our countrys leaders be more like him. Vote Malky for Prime minister

Great interview.... He is just as passionate about the club as us fans imo, lets just hope that passion can bring us success.
It looks like the success is slowly getting there though.

Just shows how much of a amateur jones was.

Well reading this shows that Carlos our leader was spot on with his updates during the Dave Jones era.

Passionate fella himself ain't he and very thorough leaves nothing to chance. We are very lucky to have him here. Enjoy it while he's here lads and if he can manage to get us up I think he will be here for the long haul.

Great read.

This bit is very interesting, Hmm what was Dave Jones doing other than playing Golf and falling out with our players ?






The changes? The club had no recruitment department. They had 11 regional scouts, six of whom had never met the chief scout, while none had ever met the manager.

The club had no medical or physio facilities at their training ground. No sports science department. No performance analysis, no diet plan.

They shared a facility with Cardiff Blues rugby side that was as welcoming as a nuclear bunker.

They had a pitch with no fence between the goal and a car park full of Mercs and BMWs with size five dents in every bonnet.

For Mackay, attention to detail is everything - and the 39-year-old hit the place like a one-man Justin-and-Colin.

"Honestly," he sighs. "There wasn't a single piece of branding anywhere, nothing to tell you there was even a football club here." Now? The walls are decked out with prints of players celebrating and motivational quotes.

To be honest annis this is quite slanderous by malky i know for a fact that at any one time there could be as many as 5 of the recruitment staff and 2 of the medical staff caddying for dave jones and helping look for lost golf balls around the vale.

Superb insight and you can see how he is getting the best of the players.

Having met the guy and talked to him - ony for 20 minutes - I can honestly say I'd run through a brick wall for him if he picked me for his side.

(Nt that that is ever going to happen, but you know what I mean )

As fans we need to give it our all now for the next 4 months - manager, coaching staff and players deserve it

This bit is very interesting, Hmm what was Dave Jones doing other than playing Golf and falling out with our players ?






The changes? The club had no recruitment department. They had 11 regional scouts, six of whom had never met the chief scout, while none had ever met the manager.

The club had no medical or physio facilities at their training ground. No sports science department. No performance analysis, no diet plan.

They shared a facility with Cardiff Blues rugby side that was as welcoming as a nuclear bunker.

They had a pitch with no fence between the goal and a car park full of Mercs and BMWs with size five dents in every bonnet.

For Mackay, attention to detail is everything - and the 39-year-old hit the place like a one-man Justin-and-Colin.

"Honestly," he sighs. "There wasn't a single piece of branding anywhere, nothing to tell you there was even a football club here." Now? The walls are decked out with prints of players celebrating and motivational quotes.

To be honest annis this is quite slanderous by malky i know for a fact that at any one time there could be as many as 5 of the recruitment staff and 2 of the medical staff caddying for dave jones and helping look for lost golf balls around the vale.

I love your posts Steve.

Superb insight and you can see how he is getting the best of the players.

Having met the guy and talked to him - ony for 20 minutes - I can honestly say I'd run through a brick wall for him if he picked me for his side.

(Nt that that is ever going to happen, but you know what I mean )

As fans we need to give it our all now for the next 4 months - manager, coaching staff and players deserve it

Tim,

Our fans must remember all this if ever we hit a bad run.

Every interview he does seems fresh and full of desire for success. Like others have pointed out, the only fear i have is how long we can hold onto him

A great read and thank you for posting it Annis.

We are where we are fully on merit and I think you cannot overstate the MM factor in that. He has brought so much to the club and the way he has won the hearts and minds of the fans is fantastic.

An absolutely diamond geezer.

Good read annis

I thought it was really interesting Albert and said a lot about Malky himself.

Just goes to show how much malky has changed things behind the scenes of our club compared to our previous manager who obviously couldn,t see what was wrong/needed to take us to the next level, that is a great interview by malky, i can only see great things coming from him in the future!!!!

None of the current infrastucture comes cheap, especially in addition to still paying people no longer contributing to the club & people wonder why the VT & TG have to plough in over £1 million a month.
Yet some still have a go saying they were only here to make a quick buck!

Brilliant insight into Malky's way of thinking. Shows a steely determination to things the right way and to leave absolutely nothung to chance. This is real proffessionalism......this will be the difference this year, mark my words. IMWT!

Inspirational

Win or lose Tuesday - us fans need to Believe and follow

You don't get geezers like him in our neck of the woods to often

Bluebird and Proud

great post that annis after reading that i could even work for malky i certainley could play for him as well