The Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia says he does not care if his approach to football management makes him boring if it prevents his team from being too frightened to play.
Reacting to his predecessor Roy Keane's scornful response to suggestions that the players should go to work with smiles on their faces, the 52-year-old confirmed his intention to do things his own way.
Sbragia takes his team to Anfield tomorrow night hoping to repeat the near-fatal blow neighbours Middlesbrough dealt Livepool's title hopes at the weekend, and at the same time ease Sunderland closer to Premier League safety.
He remains adamant that treating players with respect is the only way to get the best out of them. Citing the example of an ill-judged square pass played by Andy Reid at Arsenal in their last match, which might have handed the Gunners the lead, Sbragia said: "Most managers – not just Roy – would have been out of the dug-out absolutely slaughtering him.
"Previously, a manager would have been out chewing his head off, which would get a negative response from the player again. But I couldn't go on to the touchline and rollock him for it, I didn't think that was right. I have got to be bigger than that.
"I want them to go and play without this fear of me being down their necks. I can tell them off when I want to tell them off, but I like to tell them off in private.
"I don't like to tell them off in front of others and show them up and sometimes lose respect. I prefer to pull them aside and have a chat with them."
Keane's management style was the subject of intense debate on Wearside following his departure in December, and he used his only interview since to deliver a typically forthright defence.
Sbragia, however, was diplomatic in his response to the Irishman's criticisms, some of which were very obviously aimed in his direction.
He said: "That's how he is as an individual and was as a player. He was a terrific player and that's how he worked. But from my point of view, I think I am completely different – maybe boring ... possibly.
"In my day [as a player], you just took a battering in general. You were physically abused, that was it. That was just part and parcel of it, you just got on with it. There were no rights, it was as simple as that.
"But it's just how I am, it's how I want it to be. I want them to come in and really enjoy training. If I can get that atmosphere into it, I know for a fact that will get good performances on the Saturday."
