I heard on the radio today that Kevin Blackwell the Leeds Manger was disappointed about the state of the pitch at the Millennium Stadium after the rugby match that had been played the previous day. Boothroyd’s response had been ‘I’ve got no problems with the pitch’ I wish I had of acted on my instincts and gone online to www.betandwin.com One o

As I followed the build up to the game, the richest game in world football valued at between ?20 million and ?40 million depending who you listen too. A common theme coming from the mouths of the reporters and the Watford players was that Boothroyd gets the extra 1% out of his players. I was reminded about what Muhammad Ali did in the build up to his title fights, he was a master of the psychological battle, so much so that his opponents were often defeated before they got in the ring. Ali would make a series of statements over time that were true, they would have the effect in the mind of his opponent that everything he said was true and this would build up to a climax that he would drop them to the floor in four.

So what had Boothroyd done in the lead up to the big game. He’d met up with Clive Woodward, no matter what you think about Woodward, he is a World Cup winner, his book is probably the best sports/business book that I have ever read. Don’t be surprised when Clive Woodward gets his hands on a team if he does an Aidy Boothroyd.

The other act of looking for the extra 1% that impressed me about what Boothroyd instigated in the build up was to have a practice penalty shoot out immediately after their final home league game. The Watford fans were still present. His reasoning was that it was important to test the players in a pressure environment and that it would have been a totally different scenario testing his players out on the training ground. The genius in doing this was twofold:

1. In the event of a penalty shootout his players would have been better prepared and been more confidant

2. The Leeds players would have heard about Watford had done and would likely have that seed of doubt in their minds just like Muhammad Ali’s opponents.

Like life in general the difference between winning and losing is often the cumulative effect of those 1% actions. The difference between a successful relationship and divorce is often the cumulative effect of lots of 1% decisions.

What are the lessons that we can learn from Boothroyd that we can use in our everyday life. Lets ask some questions.

What area of your life do you want to do better in?
What are you going to do to get those improvements?
What are some 1% actions you can implement in the area you choose to improve in.

The question is do you want your life to be lived in the Premier League or are you going to settle for the Ryman Isthmian League or worse still Sunday league.

Gavin Allinson is a Total Success Life Coach. He is in the process of writing a book titled ‘Life Lessons from the world of football’. Subscribe to his blog here as he creates the content for his book
http://totalsuccesscoach.typepad.com/lifes_football_lessons/

What is it about Watford FC that attracts some of the richest men in the UK to put their cash into the club? First a couple of high profile spells as chairman by everyone’s favourite panto dame Elton John and now deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Lord Michael Ashcroft is to take his shareholding in the club up to around 42%.

The billionaire was the Tory Party’s Treasurer from 1998 to 2001, under William Hague’s leadership and is one of their major donors and as such will be no stranger to throwing money away on failed bids for success although he is inheriting a football ship in better shape than his political one with Watford sitting fourth in The Championship and pushing Leeds United and Sheffield United for the second automatic promotion spot behind Reading.

He has praised the current club leadership and although he makes a big point about mentioning the good business lines the club is ran on, it should always be remembered that, to paraphrase Sir Richard Branson, the best way to turn a billionaire into a millionaire is to buy over a football club.

Whether Watford can make a more sustained effort at staying in the Premiership if they do get promoted this time will depend largely on the money made available to manager Aidy Boothroyd and how far Lord Ashcroft reaches into his change pocket.