[Dirk]

Originally Posted by Paul

With all of that going on you need strong leadership from your manager to keep you focused. My gaffer at Blackburn [Mark Hughes] gives me that. He won't try to be your friend, having a laugh and a joke. He doesn't want to sit down for coffee. He and Mr Capello are my favourite kind of manager: disciplined. You give a player an inch and they'll take a mile, that's just the way young rich footballers are. We need managers to rein us in. It's a bit like when you're at school - if you have a strict teacher, you respect them; if you have a teacher that's always larking about, you lark about yourself. We need to be kept on a leash, otherwise we lose our focus.

I found this bit the most interesting. It's fascinating how different players thrive off different types of personality traits in managers. I think Gerrard struggles with this type of management style but others seem to like it and vice versa.