The managerial merry-go-round

Lee Clark the ex-manager of League One outfit Huddersfield Town has just been nominated for the Football League's "outstanding managerial achievement" award one week after his dismissal. Clark's firing was a huge shock to many, including the 39-year-old manager himself, after leading Huddersfield to a 43 match unbeaten record and last seasons playoff final and currently sitting 4th in League One, 4 points of the automatic promotion spots. All this equates to many that the job he was doing, was good enough. The man that matters, Huddersfield chairman Dean Hoyle, didn't agree and one of the reasons that the Geordie got the boot (as ridiculous as it sounds) was partly down to his teams unbeaten record. The clubs position looks fairly rosy from an outsiders perspective but from closer inspection you see that Clarke's promising reputation although deserved, has deficiencies. Only 17 points from a possible 36 since November has seen the Terriers slip up, and slide down the table. Hoyle believes that the team, after all the financial backing it has received should be in the automatic spots, and gaining promotion to the Championship before the season is done without the lottery of a playoff.
Last years 3-0 defeat to Peterborough shows the concerns the chairman had over his ex-manager to be well founded. Hoyle said of the sacking "I had lost faith in his ability to get the club into the top two...I had also lost the faith that in a play-off final he could do it. The pressure would maybe have been too much for him." A young manager that is crackingunder the pressure to win the big games. Under Clark's tenure Huddersfield drew too many matches (including many in that unbelievable unbeaten run), and to win automatic promotion you need to pick up 3 points on a regular basis, either coming back from losing positions, or sneaking wins from a tie, and 13 draws so far this season just didn't cut it.


The first man on Hoyle's shortlist would have probably been the chap who just signed a contract at the once great Leeds United, who under Ken Bates' stewardship regard promotion even more important than Hoyle. Neil Warnock, sacked by QPR last month is a man made for promoting clubs, he's done it 7 times so far in his career and will need to make it 8 if he is to stay employed in Yorkshire. It seems that every job is the one 'last' big challenge for the outspoken Warnock, who is a man clearly devoted and in love with the game. Warnock has been in the professional ranks of the sport since 1967 and after a 12-year playing career he's been in management pretty much ever since. Bates, (who nearly signed Warnock for Chelsea many moons ago) is hoping that Warnock's no nonsense attitude to tactics and the game will be enough to see his depleted playing staff into the Premiership at the first attempt.

The man who Warnock replaced wasn't out of work long. With the first choice, and acknowledged 'don' of promoting clubs snapped up, Hoyle turned to a younger and equally hungry manager, Simon Grayson. Grayson, like Clark, is well regarded in football circles and is still a promising 'young' manager, but there is one key issue dividing them. Grayson seemed to overachieve on a small budget at Leeds, and Clark underachieved on his bigger budget at Huddersfield. Grayson, 3 years the senior of Clark also has the edge on his CV. Grayson has already overseen 2 promotions and will be expected to get his third within the next 3 and a bit months.

So after all this chopping and changing, what for Lee Clark? A young, English, coach who is all of a sudden out of work but still claiming some plaudits. Will it be the slippery slope to punditry like the once 'young and promising' Ian Dowie? Or a new and improved job at a bigger and better club?
To be honest it'll probably be neither, instead it's an award ceremony for an award that he probably won't win, and why won't he win? Well that's simple, he likes a draw too much.

McCarthy and the rise of the Scots

This week Mick McCarthy became the third premiership manager to get the axe this season.  It's a low total of firings thus far, but that number will inevitably rise before May.  The Irishman is well liked throughout the game but during Wolves bad run he found himself 'undermined' by his Chairman, Steve Morgan, after he entered the changing room post match after an embarrassing 3-0 defeat in which even Andy Carroll scored! The writing was on the wall for Big Mick after the battering they took at the hands, or should I say feet, or Woy Hodgsons average West Bromwich Albion side.


So McCarthy follows the dismissals of Steve Bruce at Sunderland and Neil Warnock at QPR.  Sunderland have made the greatest strides since replacing Bruce with the energetic Martin O'Neill, not only have Sunderland won some games but they're are the in-form team in the Premiership.  Mark Hughes hasn't enjoyed a honeymoon period in West London, but he has been able to blow some of Tony Fernandes' cash in the January window and strengthen the squad with much needed firepower.  Wolves however have now missed the window and by not allowing a new manager to get involved earlier and bring in some fresh faces they will face the rest of season knowing it's the current squad, who's results ultimately got McCarthy sacked, to get themselves out of it and avoid the drop.  The Wolves job is a tough one to take over, expectant fans of a club which has maybe stayed up in the Premiership a little longer than they perhaps are capable of (they of course escaped relegation on the final day of last season).


McCarthy may argue that with the backing that Roberto Martinez enjoys at Wigan he would have been able to turn it around.  Maybe it's his broad Yorkshire accent that hurts him, perhaps if the 'Irishman' had a thick Scottish accent he'd still be in the job.  Steve Kean, the most hated manager in recent Premiership history has weathered attack after attack from his own support but has managed to keep his job at Blackburn and therefore granted the chance to turn it around.  Owen Coyle at Bolton has the same kind of support and even though his team isn't playing the 'attractive' football, he is for some unknown reason associated with, he finds himself employed and relatively safe.  Alex McCleish appears to be anti-football in his style and setup and many Villa fans would rather have last seasons Caretaker manager and fellow Scot Gary McCallister back!

What then is it about these Scotsmen that make them so attractive in the English game?  Is it the fact that they have accents that half of football fans don't understand and the other half enjoy listening too even if they're talking drivel? Or is it that they are living off of great Scottish managers past and present, Docherty, Shankly and Ferguson to name a few.  Possibly they hope that their Scotch boys will be more like new coach Paul Lambert and take the Premiership by the scruff of the neck, or like King Kenny and hold onto his legions of supporters with undying love for his job and club.


Whatever it is there are 6 managers in the premiership who hail from north of the boarder and after seeing what's developed in the last 24 hours at Rangers it's no wonder they are fleeing their homeland looking for work in the biggest and best league in the world, maybe the surprise is so many of them find the jobs and are able to hold onto them so long, despite playing poorly and losing games...