McIntyre’s maiden season offers taste of things to come
WHEN Runcorn Linnets appointed a 26-year-old manager with little experience in men’s football management, many people stood up and took note. Now, over six months into his reign as Runcorn Linnets chief, Calum McIntyre is showing exactly why he is so highly thought of.
Replacing a popular figure like Michael Ellison was never going to be an easy task. The Linnets were around the top half of the table when last season
(19/20) was null and voided, leading many Runcorn fans to be surprised when Ellison departed during the first lockdown.
With this in mind, the appointment of their next manager needed to be calculated, with the right candidate getting the job for the right reasons.
Step forward Calum McIntyre and his 12-slide presentation.
His idea for how he wanted Runcorn Linnets’ football to look and the standard he wanted them to reach were unsurprisingly two of the many factors that landed him the job.
“I was aware that it would either get me the job or cost me the job,” McIntyre told Liverpool ECHO’s Sam Carroll when he was appointed.
When he joined, McIntyre, now 27, became one of the youngest managers in the football ‘pyramid’, but arrived with extensive knowledge of senior non-league football and youth football in the North West.
McIntyre, who oversees Chester’s academy structure, is an FA Level 2 and UEFA B licensed coach. In 2018, he managed the Chester FC Youth side who lifted the National League’s Under 19s
Cup.
Evidently, he joined with a good pedigree. Not only had he enjoyed success with his youth side(s), he was also highly thought of by many that spoke about him.
During this season – McIntyre’s first with the club – his team have continuously shown a desire not to quit. To turn losses into draws and draws into wins.
Take the Sheffield FC game away on October 17, for example. The match is tied 2-2 in injury time, the Linnets get a free-kick on the halfway line. Is there a consideration that they could get hit on the counter-attack? Probably. Does it matter? Not really, no.
Instead, they go and score a last minute winner through Sean O’Mahony’s looping header.
McIntyre has continuously stressed the importance of positivity. Playing with it and embracing it.
The Linnets won three on the bounce after defeating Sheffield FC – with a home victory against a strong Tadcaster Albion side followed up by away wins at Kendal and Pickering.
During this impressive run of victories, McIntyre never once got complacent, or allowed his team to for that matter.
It was constantly a case of “we just keep going, we need to keep improving.”
When the difficult period eventually occurred, getting knocked out of the FA Trophy on penalties by Morpeth Town and losing the first league of the same at the hand of Widnes FC, McIntyre and his staff were hurt – it visibly affected them.
In many ways, the disappointment at losing two games in a row shows how far this Linnets side have come under McIntyre. They expect to win every game – no matter the opposition – and why shouldn’t they?
Runcorn did get back to winning ways as they defeated Prescot Cables away on Boxing Day – in what would turn out to be, most likely anyway, the last game of the season.
So now comes the uncertainty. When will we get back playing again? Do we need to sign more players? What sessions do we need to be planning?
All the stress of a normal off-season is multiplied by a thousand, and that pressure lands on McIntyre’s shoulders.
It really is difficult to judge a manager who has managed just 14 games. Yet, it becomes a little easier when he has won eight, drawn three and lost just three, of which, TWO of said defeats came on penalties. By his own admission, people’s perception of him often changes after meeting him.
“People get to know me and go, ‘Ah, he’s okay,’” he said.