Who is this? & who does it remind you of?

Just finished Paul McGrath's Book.
***** was a nice guy and innovative coach, but he never quite seemed comfortable with the industrial banter of the changing room. Some of them devoured him. I couldn't believe the attitude towards him. You could see he had a huge interest in the game and that he cared about methods of preparation, but maybe he was just a little too technical for some of the bigger shots in that dressing room. Some footballers just respond better to noise than information. Sensibly he left the group stuff to others and he focused on communicating one-to-one with selected players.