What does it take to thrive in one of the most pressurised leadership roles in modern times? What is the real story behind the men in the football hotseat who shape the dreams and ambitions of millions?
The First 100 Days: Lessons In Leadership From The Football Bosses is both an entertaining book for football fans and a self-help manual for those embarking on a leadership challenge of their own.
Football managers including Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Sam Allardyce, David Moyes and Sean Dyche describe their first days in a new job and the approaches they used to lay foundations for success.
This book is also a personal odyssey. When school headteacher and football fan Phil Denton bumped into former Tranmere Rovers manager and Dundee United boss Micky Mellon, the two started swapping stories about their own leadership roles. The pair met managers, talked to experts and drew on psychological, sociological and philosophical thinking about what makes a successful leader, mixing anecdote with that analysis.
The book's premise is that the first 100 days matter for a new leader in any setting, and that a football manager who gets them wrong may not last that long.
Who it is for
New and incoming headteachers, and other leaders about to start a role, who are interested in how leaders in a high-pressure field handle their first months. It is written for football fans as well as leaders, so expect stories from football rather than a school leadership manual.
About the book
- Authors: Phil Denton, a school headteacher, and Micky Mellon, described in the book's own description as former Tranmere Rovers manager and Dundee United boss.
- Full title: The First 100 Days: Lessons in Leadership from the Football Bosses.
Source: the book's description held in this record; no publisher page could be fetched to confirm publisher, date or ISBN, checked 13 October 2026.