Bosses can step up – if they get chance
It has been the topic du jour since the appointment of David Moyes as West Ham United manager, and the news that Big Sam was being considered for the vacancy at Everton: have young British coaches got any chance of managing in the Premier League?
The Football League is naturally the place to look towards as a breeding ground for those who may one day hold ambitions of reaching the top flight. But a look through the last decade suggests that, without leading a club there yourself, a nigh impossible task lies ahead.
In the past ten years, the only manager of a club in the Football League to be appointed manager of a Premier League club, for the first time, is Paul Ince, who moved from MK Dons to Blackburn Rovers, in 2008. The only other rookie Premier league manager was Brian Laws, who joined Burnley in 2010, but his appointment came a month after being sacked by Sheffield Wednesday.
Even when overseas managers are brought in to the picture, only Paulo Di Canio, who became Sunderland boss in 2013 a month after quitting at Swindon Town, and Gus Poyet, who replaced the Italian on Wearside a month after being dismissed by Brighton & Hove Albion, reached the top flight after managing in the Football League.
Other names who made the jump from the Championship have a familiar ring: Alan Pardew, Chris Hughton, Alex McLeish, Roberto Martinez, Steve McClaren – all had managed at the top table before. Coupled with the omnipresence of Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis, Mark Hughes, Roy Hodgson and David Moyes, who between them have had 23 Premier League jobs, the weight placed on experience at that level shows that any other achievements pale into insignificance.
It is clear, therefore, that like Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche and Chris Hughton, and others, promotion is the only way. An arduous task, even before parachute payments skewed the division’s landscape. And then comes the challenge of survival.
It points to a lack of imagination, or a dismissal of the skill set many coaches in the Football League have. There is a line of argument that suggests the leap to the Premier League is too great. It’s a different world, we’re told, awash with billionaires, inflated egos and global talent. All of which is absolutely true of course. But to suggest that an intelligent manager could not adapt to his surroundings does some of the best in the Football League a disservice.
Intelligent
The likes of Chris Wilder, Gary Rowett or Lee Johnson have already had to acclimatise to huge changes in the stature and resources of clubs they have managed. Paul Hurst, the Shrewsbury Town manager, whose team have been a revelation this season, in what is his only first full season in League One, has a way to go before being considered for that level. But he believes that acclimatising to your environment is part of the job.
“Everyone should have ambitions to manage as high as possible,” he told me recently. “If the opportunity ever did arise, I’d like to think a lot of the principles you have would run right through to the very top. I’ve no doubt you would have to adjust, change slight things, but it’s about trying to treat people in the right manner. Getting the best out of them.” Which is what all the best managers do.
The issue is not whether or not there are coaches in the Football League who are capable of stepping up. It’s whether or not they will ever get the chance to show that they can.