'Owners need to be more understanding and take fans into account'
Friday 31 October 2014 10:58, UK
Peter Beagrie looks at the recent managerial switches at Birmingham, Leeds and Blackpool – and explains why coaches are not to blame for those clubs’ plights…
The madness and mayhem of the managerial merry-go-round has been in full flow this October with no fewer than 10 casualties and 12 appointments – and Neil Redfearn pending – in the Football League.
The panic button has been pressed with just short of a third of the season gone with owners and chairmen hoping for a positive response to change, an end to poor results and, in their view, unexpected and unacceptable league positions.
Birmingham’s decision to relieve Lee Clark of his duties set off a domino effect with Darko Milanic (Leeds) and Jose Riga (Blackpool) following shortly after - all three, in my opinion, were doomed to failure not because of bad management but due to gross mismanagement by those above them.
If we start in chronological order with Clark, he inherited a bust Birmingham far from the boom Birmingham under Steve Bruce’s tutelage, the ownership of David Gold and David Sullivan, and the fine work by the epitome of girl power and business acumen, Baroness Karren Brady.
What should have been a managerial step up became a farce and a fiasco that has since set a template for a lot of foreign owners who do not take even a hint of responsibility and fail to take into account the commitment to the community that is needed to succeed and do the job justice.
Clarky’s passionate celebrations at the relief of leading Birmingham to Championship survival on the last day of last season was a sign that without funding and an improvement in quality, this was a group that was going to yet again be embroiled in a relegation dogfight.
Lee tried to add experience and a greater desire and effort, as he was not able to afford genuine quality and knew that the youngsters being developed would be sold should the opportunity arise.
Twenty-third placed Birmingham have not been outfought this season but they have been out-thought by teams with greater resources and, bluntly, better players.
The worrying thing for the long-suffering Blues fanatics is that the five clubs directly above them – Bolton, Brighton, Wigan, Fulham and Leeds – all have better squads and the ability to go to the well again and add more quality.
One plus, though, is that in Gary Rowett they have appointed a young English manager who has excelled in getting Burton through to two consecutive League Two play-off campaigns – Albion were beaten in the semis in 2012/13 by eventual winners Bradford and narrowly fell at the final hurdle against Fleetwood in last term’s final.
Rowett’s work on a shoestring and his extensive knowledge of City from his time there as a player are the two main reasons for his appointment, but you can forgive disgruntled Brewers fans thinking about the possibility of the sides facing each other in League One next season.
Results have to improve to make sure that does not happen for Birmingham, particularly at home where their form is nothing short of disastrous, so Gary’s man management and organisational skills will be tested and I will be interested to see whether any promised transfer funds are forthcoming.
Suffice to say, I think that while Clarky is a proud man, he will benefit from the change, although people may question his sanity, as going from Birmingham to Blackpool seems like a case of out of the frying pain and into the fire.
Mistiming
Darko, meanwhile, was brought in to show Leeds the light but had no knowledge or past experience of English football let alone the cut, thrust and competitive nature of the Championship.
The timing – or mistiming – of his appointment was questionable to many but ludicrous to me, with Massimo Cellino ignoring the first international break to secure Milanic’s services and choosing the second instead of waiting for the third.
The implications of this was that in between caretaker boss Redfearn produced 10 points from a possible 12 and if he had been given the next three games before the third international break he could have taken renewed belief and form into games and maybe increased the points haul.
Then, if common sense had prevailed, and Milanic was still to become boss, he would have had a clear two weeks to work with his new charges before encountering the combative division he had signed up to manage in.
The reason Redfearn got a response from the players was obvious - he listened to the younger players he had a hand in developing; asked the experienced players to air their thoughts on what was needed and why; and has experienced the four ties of English football.
You can say forewarned is forearmed so with Neil taking all the information and using it to his advantage we saw a cohesion and unity Leeds had lacked.
The scary thought for Leeds is that without those 10 points he accumulated, they would sit level on six points at the bottom with beleaguered Blackpool.
That leads us seamlessly onto the not so much fairground attraction as the Billy Smart’s Circus goings-on at Bloomfield Road.
Loyalty
The ground is second to none in terms of hospitality when the Sky cameras are there, but Jose Riga would have hoped Karl Oyston had been more generous after installing him as the latest of a long line of managers.
When asked the question if it’s too early for a team to get promoted to the Premier League, I always say that the financial rewards, even if the club is relegated the following season, are such that if they reinvest wisely they should secure the long-term future of the football club and ensure they are an upper-echelon side in the Championship for at least a couple of years.
However, fancy new stands but an inferior product on the pitch is cheating the fans and strikes of pretending to be something you are not, or as my North East upbringing would describe it ‘all fur coat and no knickers’.
The most overused phrase in football, apart from ‘You’re rubbish, ref’ and ‘You need glasses, linesman’ is ‘the fans are the lifeblood of a club’ and outside the Premier League that statement is so true.
Blackpool fans have been left with furrowed brows and scratching their heads and asking themselves: ‘Are we in the right hands?’. I feel so sorry for Riga, too, who has suffered from a lack of support and understanding that if you fail to prepare you prepare to fail.
The most overused phrase in football, apart from ‘You’re rubbish, ref’ and ‘You need glasses, linesman’ is ‘the fans are the lifeblood of a club’ and outside the Premier League that statement is so true.
Without the loyal support of a fanatical few, clubs would go to the wall so fans in League One and Two who shout ‘get your finger out, we’re paying your wages’, have a very valid point.
I am extremely frustrated at the lack of policing when it comes to new owners with the only criteria often seeming to be a bank balance big enough big enough to service the debt of the team they are looking to purchase.
It is quite evident that the fit and proper persons act is failing with not enough due diligence on individuals or companies infiltrating our game.
