THE SACK RACE IS OFF AND RUNNING
Now legend Sillett wants SISU to go
IT HAD all been quiet, oh so quiet – and yet we knew it wouldn’t last.
After an unblemished August, with no managers leaving their posts, it looked like September was set to follow suit.
Yet, once Andy Hessenthaler was sacked by Leyton
Orient last Monday, it seemed chairmen around the country began to think that it was now all right to dismiss the manager.
Former Gillingham boss Hessenthaler, 51, who had been in charge for just five months, paid the price after the O’s suffered back-to-back defeats against Yeovil and Notts County, to slip to 14th place in League Two.
In a short statement, the O’s said: “The club can confirm that Andy Hessenthaler has been relieved of his role as first-team manager.
“We would like to thank Andy for his service to Leyton Orient since arriving in July 2015 and wish him well in his future career.”
Assistant manager Andy Edwards took over on an interim basis following Hessenthaler’s departure and his first match in charge ended in a 2-0 home defeat by table-topping Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday night.
Bust-up
On Tuesday, there was dramatic news from the Championship as Derby
County manager Nigel Pearson was suspended by the Rams just hours ahead of their match at fellow strugglers Cardiff City.
Amid reports of a training ground bust-up with chairman Mel Morris, ex-Leicester boss Pearson, 53, was replaced at the helm by assistant manager Chris Powell, who got off to a dream start with a 2-0 win.
Powell remained in caretaker charge at Reading yesterday, and the 47-year-old former England international could be in with a shout of landing the job permanently if results continue to go his way.
Pearson was appointed manager in the summer and looks highly unlikely to return to his post.
On Wednesday, Warren Feeney’s eight-month tenure at Newport County came to an end. The Exiles sank to the bottom of League Two the previous night after going down 1-0 at Grimsby, Omar Bogle netting an 88th-minute penalty for the Mariners.
In a statement, Newport said: “The club can today confirm that manager Warren Feeney has been relieved of his duties as firstteam manager.
“Following a mixed start to the season, the board of directors feel a change is necessary. We would like to thank Warren for his service since joining the club back in October 2015 and wish him all the best for his future career.”
First-team coaches Sean McCarthy and James Bittner have been appointed caretaker-managers.
On Thursday, ex-Middlebrough boss Tony Mowbray resigned after 18 months in charge of Coventry City, who were rock-bottom of League One and without a win to their name.
Substitute Andre Wright scored an injury-time equaliser at home against AFC Wimbledon in a 2-2 draw on Wednesday night, but that wasn’t enough to persuade the 52-yearold to stay. The Sky Blues said: “Without a win in the first ten league games, Tony felt on a professional level that he was no longer able to take the club forward. “Coventry City would like to thank Tony for all his energy and dedication over the past 18 months. “Technical director Mark Venus will take responsibility of first-team duties.” Venus got off to a great start with a 2-0 win at Port Vale yesterday. Ex-Leeds boss Steve Evans and former Bristol City manager Steve Cotterill are among the favourites for the job if Coventry decide not to stick with Venus.
OUT came the banners, up stood the supporters. They had kept quiet for long enough.
Five minutes from time in their match against fellow strugglers AFC Wimbledon, the few Coventry City faithful who could still stomach watching their quickly decaying club finally snapped.
Not with their players. This was despite chucking away a lead to go behind in a match that would have given them their first victory of another shambolic season.
Not even with their manager, Tony Mowbray (inset), considered by the couple of thousand inside the spirit-sapping Ricoh Arena as powerless.
The club’s problems ran deeper than him. Much deeper.
If the West Ham United fans mourning the demolition of Upton Park after a few iffy performances in Stratford think they’ve got it bad, pull up a seat and have a conversation with someone from Coventry.
The good thing about a fifth-empty stadium is that sound travels.
At nearly 9.30pm, when Wimbledon put themselves in front with a shabbily-defended second, the City fans picked their moment.
Nearly to a man, woman and child the supposed 8,000 inside – the actual figure in attendance was obviously under 6,000 – took to their feet.
The chant, ordering supporters to stand if they wanted hedgefund owners SISU gone, worked its way around.
The words reverberated off the white elephant’s roof via the empty Sky Blue seats.
Not that this is their home any more. Rugby Union side Wasps are the ones who are wanted at the Ricoh, not them.
So dominant is their branding around the place, they may as well re-colour the seats gold and black.
Wimbledon fans rose, too. Supporting a request to refrain from filling SISU’s pockets by purchasing food and programmes, the near 500 who had travelled from South West London stood shoulder to shoulder with them.
Seasoned
The temptation for Sky Blues fans to walk away and create their own club, just like the Dons fans did so marvellously, must surely be growing by the hour. Manager Mowbray did go. Even an injury-time equaliser, justice for a decent showing, couldn’t convince him to stay. Not-so-subtle hints were dropped in the press room after the game and he officially fell on his sword the next morning. The former Middlesbrough and West Brom boss was a beaten man.
As uncompromising as they come as a player, Mowbray bearhugged a seasoned journalist and thanked him for everything as he left.
Missing in the media lounge were the Coventry Telegraph.
Supporters of the manager in his 18-month tenure, they didn’t get to say their goodbyes as they are banned from covering the club by SISU after launching a petition demanding change. The number of signatures is nearly at 18,000 as nine years of failure drags the club to its lowest-ever ebb.
“I won’t be a burden to the club,” Mowbray said after the 2-2 draw.
“It needs every penny. I see shoots of hope but the players are babies in a man’s league.”
Some of those supporters rattling around the Ricoh are feeling guilty. It’s a decision no football fan should ever have to make.
“We’re dammed if we do, we’re dammed if we don’t,” said a fan of 24 years, Michael Merry, who refused to buy a season ticket.
He told me he feels “dirty” handing over £22 to the owners, with another £10 to park his car.
“The players deserve our support,” he said.
“If I didn’t go, I would be letting them down.
“It’s devil-and-the-deep-blue sea stuff in a lot of ways.
“There are no winners, and there won’t be until SISU are gone.”
Now, the club must find its eighth manager in the owners’ tenure. In that time they have seen off 17 board members, while crowds have gone from an average of more than 20,000 in 2007 to around a third of that.
Yet still they won’t go. The club’s 1987 FA Cup win has never seemed further away, and in the last few days the manager who took them to their glory day at Wembley has added his voice.
John Sillett said: “They’ve dragged this club into the ground. They are slowly poisoning us – let’s bring the club back to the people.”
Seemingly, he speaks for every Coventry City fan across the country.