McElhenney added on making Parkinson aware that he has a “job for life” if he wants it: “I don’t think giving Phil that information - which we have told him privately - takes any of the competitive edge out of him. He’s not one to rest on his laurels. Not Phil Parkinson. He won’t kick back and say, ‘Great, I got a job for life, that’s all I care about’. That’s just not how he is wired.
“Again, this is just us. The two of us, the kind of culture we thrive in is one of honesty, integrity, mutual respect and safety. I’m not suggesting how other people should run their organisation.
“Obviously, people run them in all sorts of ways and are mega successful. I just don’t feel that when anyone feels they are on the ‘hot seat’, they do their best work. I just don’t think that’s accurate to human behaviour.
“If someone feels like they are responsible for something important, and that winning and putting their best effort forward is a huge determining factor of their own fate, they will be motivated. But I think that comes from within. I don’t think that can be external.
“I just don’t think warning a coach, ‘If you don’t win in the next three games then you are going to be fired’, I don’t understand the rationale about that. But, again, I guess it works for other people.”