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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark Pirie

7 strangest motivational tactics used by managers from McGhee's radiators to Brendan Rodgers envelopes and cheese

It's now or never for clubs across the globe as they look to take the extra edge into the key end of season battles.

Whether it's fighting for the title or looking to avoid the drop, managers are looking for creative ways to inspire their team to victory.

Dundee boss Mark McGhee has come up with an interesting tactic ahead of the Scottish Premiership relegation six-pointer with St Johnstone.

McGhee has turned off his own radiators as he bids to beat the drop and told his players he will go on a diet, as well as telling his men to join him without heating.

However, he's not the only boss to pull a bizarre stunt in a bid to inspire his stars.

Record Sport takes a look at some of the strangest moves from managers – and how they turned out.

Allardyce's Gladiators

Sam Allardyce looked to borrow some inspiration from the silverscreen as he attempted to motivate his Blackburn Rovers players at Old Trafford.

However, it didn't quite work out against then champions-elected Manchester United.

French defender Gael Givet revealed In an interview with L’Equipe, that the boss had opted to show clips from Gladiator and 300 to the players pre-match.

He said: “We had warmed up and we went back to the dressing room. While we were putting on our shin guards, he [Allardyce] said: ‘Guys, wait!’ He put down a projector and showed us a montage of the films ‘Gladiator’ and ‘300’. In short; warriors with swords."

Blackburn would go on to be hammered 7-1 by United. Oh dear.

Dressing room rage

Well, it's an interesting way to introduce yourself to the players.

Having been appointed as Easter Road boss midway through the campaign in 2014, Butcher warned the dressing room that he would be trying to get rid of several players.

Then, after the January window, he needed them to avoid relegation.

(SNS)

Former keeper Ben Williams said after the crashed down the Championship: “The manager told some players they would not figure or play much under him and even informed others in January they should find a new club.

“Terry then had to turn round to those same players when results weren’t going well and say, ‘I may have been a bit hasty here as I need you to do a job for me’.

“In that situation, some players might respond and do a job for you, some others might not. It puts you in a difficult position with regards to respect and authority.”

The Brown and Kyle Show

Back in 2013, Southend were on a nine game winless run under Phil Brown.

The manager was looking to end the season on a high with a win over Morecambe, so who would you call on? Well, probably not Jeremy Kyle.

But that was the number the boss rang as he invited the TV host to lead a team talk. While several players posted to social media with snaps of the pre-match meeting, it would have little impact on the game with United slumping to a 1-0 defeat. Rumours he then forced his players to take a lie detector test were never proven...

Celtic in the storm

Shakhter Karagandy would grab the headlines for all the wrong reasons before the Champions League playoff clash with Celtic.

The Kazakh champions caused a stir when coach Viktor Kumykov allowed a sheep to be sacrificed before the first leg against the Glasgow giants as a pre-match tradition to inspire them to the group stage.

PETA wrote to UEFA to call for Shakhter to be punished, and aside from the PR disaster it didn't help them continue their European exploits with Neil Lennon's men – who would go on to face off against the elite after a playoff victory.

The infamous envelopes

He has rebuilt his reputation at Leicester and Celtic, but at Liverpool Brendan Rodgers ' motivational techniques were in the spotlight.

None more so than infamous 'envelope trick' and insists it backfired instantly with the squad.Ahead of clash with West Brom, Rodgers took three envelopes and held them holding them up to his squad. He told them the names in the envelopes would let him down during the season.

In the clip from documentary 'Being Liverpool' Rodgers warns his players "Don't be in the envelope, make sure you're not the one".

They would lose 3-0 to the Baggies 24 hours later. Maybe it’s still not as bad as his Clyde Tunnel quote, though...

A cheesy solution

What do you do when your team is hit by injuries and plummeting towards relegation? Felix Magath had some interesting solutions during his time at Fulham.

In a bid to inspire key man Brede Hangeland back to his best form and fitness, Magath told him to treat an injured thigh with a block of cheese soaked in alcohol.

Fulham skipper Danny Murphy confirmed the defender's story was true – and led to the dressing room questioning the methods of the boss during their relegation scrap.

Losing the faith of his experienced players led to Fulham dropping out of the top flight back in 2014.

Reverse psychology...maybe?

It's that man again. Not content with radiators, his first meeting with the Dundee players didn't exactly rally the troops.

McGhee has admitted he told the players the wouldn't win many games when he took charge of the club.

And he hasn't been wrong so far as the boss searches for his first league win since his appointment.

The Dens Park boss declared: "I said to them on the first day, look we're not going to win very many games, so we are going to be going home on a lot of Saturday nights disappointed.

"But it's what you then do, how you react the next time round." That’s the game.

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