Basic discipline key to pushing on

Mark Hughes' interview with Oliver Holt recently was, in my opinion, one of his most revealing yet. Holt's opinion is one that changes with the wind, of course. When he's not making ridiculous claims that several permanently-crocked wasters from over the road should be making the final England 23 for South Africa, or generally bigging up anything red, he can knock the odd decent article together.

The gist of the piece was Hughes' increasingly strong position at the club, his turning of a bloated bunch of randomly-assembled players into a squad in the mould of its manager, and a general hint at the newly-established disciplined culture behind the scenes, not failing to point out that whilst under pressure last season, several players, mainly Brazilian, tried taking the Michael. Hughes talks of basic practices now in place, including rules regards timekeeping and a team dress code, and it's something i feel is very important.

When you see top teams arrive for away games, this trend of some players wearing stupidly oversized headphones apart at least, they have an air about them. When, say, United turn up at an opposition's ground all suited and booted they look like they've come to take care of business rather than just have a bit of a kickabout. It says that they're proud of themselves and their teammates, are a collective more than a few individuals, there to do a job and the club proud.

The recent laying down of basic ground rules by not only Mark Hughes, but also England manager Fabio Capello, must have proved quite humbling for some of the players involved, but as a supporter it's nice to know that, although stupidly rich, a bit of good old-fashioned discipline has to be adhered to now and again. That, like us, in whatever line of work we might happen to be in, there are a few do's and don'ts to abide by.

Whether modern managers can still get away with adopting an old-school approach to management is doubtful, Hughes says as much when describing him having to bite his lip at times last season, and in making clear that there are no 'rules for the sake of having rules'. Other managers have also admitted to a necessary 'cooling down' as the power within the game shifts more and more towards the players.

I've spoke previously about Hughes' stamp on the club becoming much clearer over the last six months or so, and not only in the sense of him signing more players and moving on those brought in by previous managers, but in the facilities and other areas. The introduction of basic rules regards player and staff behaviour, and the beginnings of different culture behind the scenes is another positive step, a manager shaping a club from bottom to top.

Ultimately, mobile phones being turned off at the training ground, or players dressing smartly when on duty, or not falling out of nightclubs so often, isn't going to win us the Premier League, or England the World Cup, but it sends out the right message to fans that those on big wages aren't just there for the craic and their paycheque, but are taking their roles seriously, and an organised, well-drilled, hard-working environment must be a positive thing, and not only in the short-term.

Both City and England, not that i'm particularly arsed about the latter but the growing power base of the managers involved with each is comparable, have suffered after years of lackadaisical hands-off management from the likes of Sven and Kevin Keegan. Players have been able to get away with things they might not do now providing results were going a certain way, when they stop doing the manager's role is virtually redundant because he's played all his cards.

Should any player cross either of the current incumbents they should probably expect to face the consequences, be it something as basic as answering a mobile phone at the dinner table, turning up to the airport looking like you've got dressed in the dark, being late for training, or something more serious, one rule for one, one rule for all, no special cases, everyone the same.

The money involved within the game nowadays will probably ensure there will always be more than your fair share of egos, but in encouraging self-regulation Hughes not only strengthens his own position but weakens that of those who might be secretly pulling in another direction. If players repeatedly cause mischief, like Elano last year, they'll be quickly out of the door. If others want to follow suit, no pun intended, they'll have the ones that do want to achieve things at Manchester City to answer to.

Read Oliver Holt's article here.