Hard work that the fans don’t see
FANS don’t always get an insight into how things are for a football manager. One tale will bring home just how things can pan out. I travelled to watch Charlton U21s play Birmingham to follow up on a couple of players that I had been tipped on two weeks ago.
The lads in question weren’t really my cup of tea, but one Birmingham City lad most definitely was. So I called Lee Clark and asked after his availability.
Lee needed 72 hours with it, to thinkabout it himself and to chat with his lad. But eventually he buzzed back to give the thumbs up on a loan move. Great news. The lad popped down and saw me on the Friday and we lined everything up to be completed on the Monday morning. We were both excited about the situation.
But then came Saturday; Birmingham lost and picked up a couple of bad knocks. Lee rang me on the Sunday and said he had no choice but to cancel the loan possibility because of injuries. By Tuesday night, the lad had played his part in helping Birmingham secure three points at Millwall.
Of course I understood; both for the player and for Lee it was the only thing to be done. For me, it was a lot of hard work for no eventual outcome. Other than to have worked closely with another manager and to have built that relationship. The job as a manager can be filled with long and lonely journeys, extensive meetings to persuade players, agents and clubs, and plenty of disappointment. But unless you are prepared to keep going down the road in pursuit of betterment then you won’t get
there. So this week, the search had to begin again. When fans wonder ‘Can’t he see we need this or that’, the answer will probably be ‘Yes’.
It just isn’t quite as easy as they might think.