Nottingham Forest’s decision to terminate the contract of their then manager, Sean O’Driscoll, on Boxing Day 2012, in the wake of a 4-2 win against Leeds United which left the side 8th in the Championship table and just one point off a play-off spot, was roundly condemned as folly. This was a man who had been in the job a mere five months, and suffered defeat in only six of 24 games at the helm.
Owing, in part, to sympathy regarding the baffling circumstances of his dismissal, O’Driscoll’s public approval rating soared. The west Midlander boasted a strong CV, having previously achieved promotion into the Second Division (now League One) with Bournemouth during his six years in charge at Dean Court. Across five subsequent years as boss at Doncaster Rovers, O’Driscoll guided the Yorkshiremen into the Championship, a division in which he went on to establish the club.
It was little surprise, then, that within weeks of his departure from the City Ground, O’Driscoll was back in employment; Bristol City persuading him to sign a contract at Ashton Gate in preference to taking the vacancy created by Michael Appleton’s resignation at Blackpool.
Now, less than a year on and with a telling absence of any of the supportive noises that accompanied his sacking at Forest, O’Driscoll is back out of work. It is a safe bet that his next appointment will not come along quite as quickly as his last one.
O’ Driscoll’s allegory is one that illustrates perfectly, the speed with which perceptions change in football. After a fine start at Bristol City, – a team which was at the basement of the Championship upon his arrival promptly won three of its next five games, and soon after put five goals past fellow strugglers Barnsley – on-pitch developments quickly unravelled.
Two points taken from their final 9 fixtures condemned the Robins to bottom spot. This campaign has brought no indication of a revival. City are languishing in League One’s relegation zone, having won twice all season.
There are countless examples of football managers, plenty of otherwise successful individuals included, who have failed to get to grips with one particular job during their career. Such incidences can occur for any number of reasons, many of which are never revealed in the public domain.
Undeniably, however, with respect to a manager’s standing, one bad experience can undo a wealth of good that has gone before. That is especially true today, when any new vacancy triggers a flood of resumes into the recruiting chairman’s office.
Conference Premier club, Forest Green Rovers, were besieged by over 100 applications when their top job became available in October. They eventually plumped for Adrian Pennock, most recently first-team coach under Tony Pulis at Stoke City.
Paul Scally, chairman at Gillingham, spoke of receiving a ‘huge response’ from potential candidates in the immediate aftermath of his decision to dispense with the services of Martin Allen. Scally elected Peter Taylor to be his first-team boss; Taylor being an increasingly rare example of a man blessed with the uncanny knack for skipping from job to job – and benefiting in this instance from his prior connection with the Gills.
With such a proliferation of contenders on the market, the man who has recently been let go by a club on account of his poor record is unlikely to win a prospective employer’s vote.
Correspondingly, when a manager is distinctly in vogue, he must capitalise on that status. If an opportunity arises to take a step up the professional ladder, it is unwise to hesitate. The temptation to ‘finish what I’ve started’, or ‘wait for the right moment’, should be resisted. By the time the next attractive opening occurs, another man might top the popularity charts.
Furthermore, the task of sustaining relative success while equipped with reduced resources becomes more arduous with each passing week.
Karl Robinson’s first two years in charge at MK Dons both culminated in losing League One play-off campaigns, and widespread acclaim for the brand of football employed by the young manager. Season three, however, saw a slip to 8th, and the Dons presently lie in 11th place. Robinson has reputedly declined offers to move elsewhere throughout that time. Now, when an appealing post becomes available, the 33 year-old is likely to find himself usurped by others who have since propelled themselves into the spotlight.
While he was leading Blackburn Rovers in the top half of the Premier League, Mark Hughes was seriously discussed as a feasible replacement should Sir Alex Ferguson call time on his Manchester United reign. The Welshman’s underwhelming performance in a series of ensuing jobs now renders that idea unthinkable.
Bryan Robson and Roy Keane, both once similarly touted for the Old Trafford job, hurtled from grace.
It isn’t only the men currently in work who, if they wish to try their hand on a bigger stage, must grasp any chance immediately it comes along. Those outside the game cannot afford to be choosy when they seek a way back, lest they fall off the radar entirely.
Alan Curbishley left West Ham United in September 2008 after a strong 21 months at Upton Park. That stint was preceded by a meritorious fifteen years as boss of Charlton Athletic. Now, five years later and having, to date, opted against accepting any new proposals put to him, Curbishley’s chances of finding the ‘right job’ that he surely craves, are severely diminishing.
A new breed is arriving. Already this season, Graham Kavanagh at Carlisle United and Shaun Derry with Notts County have been handed their maiden managerial roles. They join others such as James Beattie and Graham Alexander, who are taking their first steps in the trade with Accrington Stanley and Fleetwood United, respectively. When, in March this year, Oldham Athletic sought a replacement for Paul Dickov, they settled upon the then 31 year-old, Lee Johnson.
Of course, the Premier League is where any ambitious manager longs to pursue his career. Manchester United bucked a trend when they chose David Moyes to succeed Ferguson. The Scot’s selection as the man to shape a new Old Trafford era, taken on the evidence of his eleven productive years at Everton, was in contrast to the recruitment policy of this country’s elite clubs – the majority of whom favour the ‘lower-risk’ hiring of ready-made foreign personnel.
It is just below the Champions League clubs that another fresh batch of burgeoning managerial talent is flourishing.
Paul Lambert won successive promotions with Norwich City and, in 2011/2012, kept the club comfortably afloat on its Premier League return. Brendan Rodgers led Swansea City out of the Championship and, in the Welsh side’s first top-flight appearance for 28 years, oversaw an impressive campaign; the Swans finishing snugly beside Lambert’s Canaries outfit, a full eleven points clear of trouble.
Within the first week of June that year, though, both men placed personal ambition above sentiment. Lambert took the reins at Aston Villa, and Rodgers grabbed the chance of a lifetime with Liverpool. 18 months later, neither man will be regretting their choice.
There is an argument that, even allowing for his team’s remarkable FA Cup triumph, Roberto Martinez spent a year too long fighting the odds at Wigan Athletic. The Latics’ relegation could conceivably have cast a shadow across the Spaniard’s otherwise markedly encouraging start in the profession.
It required Bill Kenwright’s faith that Martinez’s final league season at the DW Stadium was an aberration, rather than a true reflection on the manager’s ability, for the 40 year-old to receive his break at Everton. Kenwright’s judgement is, thus far, proving distinctly accurate.
With Steve Clarke, Malky Mackay, and Sean Dyche also among that expanding number of flourishing young bosses, an unsatisfactory ending to a job is progressively more likely to herald an extended period of ‘rest’.
Owen Coyle, Paul Ince, and latterly, Tony Pulis, are proof that, with a little patience, a slip in prominence needn’t sound the death knell on a manager’s aspirations. Nevertheless, Coyle and Ince, in particular, have relatively recent memories of being considered as hot-property. That pair is now seeking to re-establish their reputations with, respectively, Wigan and Blackpool.
O’Driscoll, then, can be rightly confident that there is a chairman out there who will, one day, deem the deposed Bristol City the boss the man for him. Nevertheless, in the space of eleven short months, public and professional perception of O’Driscoll’s abilities has altered.
It is a blunt reminder of what a capricious job managing a football club is. The modern-day drive for success, here and now, dictates that a six-week blip is enough to inspire a search for new blood. An incumbent manager being afforded time to reverse opinion, in the style of Arsene Wenger during this present season, is a decreasing phenomenon.
So, when the next individual ‘jumps ship’ in order to further his own career, he shouldn’t be castigated for deserting his post. More than ever, when opportunity knocks, a manager has to answer in the affirmative. If he fails to do so, he may be taking his first steps back down the mountain he has been assiduously working to climb.
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