Doing a Job

It has been well documented how football is expressed through much hackneyed clichés. Listen to the average post game interview, or press conference, and there is remarkably little in the way of actual content, just vague allusions to 'giving one hundred and ten percent', or 'a game of two halves', 'the end of the day', playing 'fluent football', and so on. While many of these have been lampooned and become fodder for satire, it hasn't led to a decrease in their usage. If anything, football-speak is just as nonsensical and impenetrable as it ever was.

There is another level of football-speak which has yet to become the stuff of parody, and has almost surreptitiously come to be accepted as orthodox, without so much as an eyelash being batted. I want to talk about just one example of that, the phenomenon of 'doing a job'. References to doing a job are legion amongst not only footballers, but football managers, commentators, and even journalists with no playing history in the game.

Doing a job is one of the most commonplace idioms in the footballing lexicon. By doing a quick piece of research on Google News, you can find many examples of the phrase being used with great frequency, and in current news stories. There is no need to trawl through archives. So, using the results obtained, all dated between May 22nd and June 23rd 2008, lets try to work out what this actually means.

"We are outsiders in the group because we don't have as much experience as the other teams, but outsiders can also do a job."

--- Guus Hiddink, June 15th
So, at the cutting edge of the professional game, a major international tournament such as the European Championships, it is possible to do a job. Russia were outsiders in their group, but capable of more. Does this mean qualifying from the group? Putting on a good show? Getting into a scrap? Knowing now what we do, we must assume that Mr Hiddink, one of the world's top international managers, associates doing a job with success.

"I have the confidence [in Chris Coyne], that's why I took him for the last selections. He can do a job."

--- Pim Verbeek, Australia Manager, June 6th.
Staying with international football, we begin to get closer to a truer idea of what doing a job entails. This story, from the Sydney Morning Herald, describes the aforementioned Coyne as a 'journeyman centre half', 'rough, tough and experienced', and having spent 'a lifetime in football's equivalent of the salt mines.' He was suddenly plunged into an Australia squad with a number of high profile members playing at the highest level of the game. Verbeek reckoned that 'he can do a job.' Not that he could hold his own, or excel, or make an impression. Merely do a job. Adequacy.

"It really boosts your confidence when you’re working for a manager who believes in you and thinks you can do a job for him."
---Marc Fitzpatrick, Motherwell, June 4^th 2008

But hang on a second! Marc Fitzpatrick reckons that when a manager believes in your ability to do a job, your confidence soars. Is it possible to raise one's game above mere adequacy and be something more? Perhaps he has a low opinion of himself?

"I think I can step up. I’ve got a decent amount of pace but I don’t rely on it. At any level I’d do a job."

--- Dele Adebola, 24th May 2008.
Described as 'less than stellar' and 'tank-like', Adebola is another journeyman. At 32, he reckons that he can hold his own in the Premiership.

In the match in Grenoble, Flynn told Ramsey to “do a job” on Gourcuff defensively and to get beyond him offensively.
“Aaron was absolutely brilliant, completely outplayed Gourcuff, who ended up being substituted.”

--- Brian Flynn, May 22nd, 2008.
Did Aaron Ramsey's brilliance go above and beyond the parameters laid out by Brian Flynn in his pre game instructions? In this sense, doing a job seems to be a negative endeavour, tending towards stopping the opposition playing.

"At 31 I am fully fit and feel I could still do a job in the top flight. However, I don't think I will get an offer from the SPL after leaving Queen of the South but I think I could be a success in the First Division."

--- Jim Lauchlan, June 2nd, 2008.

Lauchlan reckons he could do a job against better opposition, but be 'a success' in the lower tier.
Are the two diametrically opposed? Is doing a job closer to mediocrity than success? Is there a reason why no SPL team wants to sign him?

"Steven has got great potential and he probably will move on over the next few years but if he does there will be someone else who can come in and do a job."
--- Pat Stanton, 17th June, 2008.

Even if Steven Fletcher leaves Hibernian, the odds are that someone can take his place. Is this overly optimistic doajobism?

"I'm not the most mobile but I can definitely do a job"

--- Julian Alsop, June 18th, 2008.

Similar to Adebola, Julian Alsop acknowledges that he has shortcomings but reckons that he can still perform some sort of function for Cirencester of the Southern League South and West. However, it is telling when he remarks that 'I can no longer commit to full-time football.'

What does all this mean? While the above only scratches at the surface of what is no doubt a huge volume of doajobisms, there are some trends. First of all, you generally do a job when little is expected of you, usually for a perceived lack of skill (however, this is not always the case). Secondly, doing a job, or being asked to do a job, is generally an instruction to do the best you can, even if this is not very good at all. Thirdly, it's worth noting that while some people consider being deemed capable of doing a job praise indeed (and quite the confidence boost), most see it as something less than stellar.

I'll wager that something was lost in translation with Guus. Doing a job is a clarion call to mediocrity. Fitting in. Acceptance amongst those who you know are not your equals. Aspiring to something better? Not quite. Doing a job is more a case of giving it your best shot despite an acute sense of your own limitations, and crossing your fingers for the best.

Lets all hail the ubiquity of doing a job, just as prevalent amongst the Russian squad at Euro 2008 as it is at non-league Cirencester town.