‘RISKY LIFE AS A TRADER HAS SET ME UP TO BE THE BOSS’
MICHAEL Jolley was 16 when Barnsley pulled the plug on his dreams of playing professional football.
“I was a decent young player,” says the 40-year-old. “I’d played for Sheffield Schoolboys, alongside good players like Kevin Davies and Jack Lester.
“And I got a way down the track with Barnsley. But once it came to handing out contracts, they said that, physically, I wasn’t quite up to scratch.
“Obviously, it was devastating. I could have done the rounds and tried elsewhere. But I sat down with my father and he dissuaded me.
“He was a strong believer in education. He said, ‘Go down the academic route and if you want to come back to football, it’ll always be there’.”
And what an academic route. An MsC in Economics from Downing College, Cambridge, subsequently converted to a Masters. A lucrative career with HSBC on the trading floors of London and New York.
Soon, Jolley had a lifestyle most can only dream of and a salary that would have ensured an early retirement.
Yet the words of his father continued to reverberate. And in 2004, aged 27, he turned his back on Wall Street to take up a part-time coaching position at Crystal Palace.
Obsession
“I’m sure some people thought, ‘What the hell are you doing?’” laughs Jolley. “It’s a bit ugly to talk about money, but you can talk in general terms about the industry. And it’s fair to say that most people on the trading floor get very well paid.
“I took a massive pay cut and walked into a riskier industry but football was – and is – an obsession. When I decided that’s what I wanted to do with my life, I went all in.”
Since then, Jolley has worked everywhere from Brazil and the Netherlands to Crewe and Nottingham Forest, learned his trade under the “wonderful” Sean Dyche at Burnley and even fought a Swedish relegation battle.
Now, in his first UK management role, this relative rookie has been tasked with keeping Grimsby in the EFL. Naturally, doubts have been aired over his suitability for the role.
“I get that,” says Jolley. “When I was working in banking, the qualifications I got were recognised and everyone could see the relevance of them to my job.
“In football, a Cambridge degree in economics doesn’t mean a great deal. If anything, it can count against you with some people.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve faced barriers, exactly. But yes, every job I’ve been in, it’s been a case of making people believe I can do a good job. If you aren’t credible, people will work that out.
Benefits
“But, equally, there are benefits to having that experience in trading. It’s a highly competitive environment. It’s very much survival of the fittest.
“Every day, you make your trades. At the end of the day, you add up all the pluses and minuses, come up with a figure and you’ve
either made money for the bank or you’ve lost money for the bank.
“There’s a stark reality to that – a result that you’re judged against every day. The similarities to management are obvious.
“Ultimately, there are no guarantees. You could have the dream CV with lots of international caps and games in the Premier League. But as we’ve seen many times in the past, that doesn’t mean you’ll succeed in management.”
Light on managerial experience Jolley may be, but he’s had some heavyweight teachers. From 2014, he spent three years as a senior development coach with Burnley’s Under-23s.
“I can only speak in the highest possible terms about Sean Dyche,” says Jolley. “He’s a wonderful coach. I knew how lucky I was when I got the job and I felt even more fortunate once I started working with him.
“I got an inside view into one of the best managers in the country. He’s got a close-knit group of staff who all know exactly what their jobs are.
“That ethos filters down through the players and the whole football club. There’s a real efficiency and a pride in your work that all comes from Sean. For me, it was the ultimate apprenticeship.”
Last July, Jolley was headhunted to rescue Eskilstuna, Swedish minnows adrift at the foot of the Allsvenskan. There, he was able to pick the brains of Graham Potter, the English coach of all-conquering Ostersunds.
Advice
“I spoke to Graham when I got offered the job and took a lot of advice from him,” says Jolley, who wasn’t able to avert relegation despite a significant uplift in form - including victory over title-winners Malmo. “I actually knew him from years back when we’d both been coaching at various places. My team played his team. His won as they normally do! “I spoke to him at length and we got together again at the end of season awards dinner in Sweden. He actually won coach of the season that night. “I’ve gone on record before to say he’s worked wonders at Ostersunds. Anybody who isn’t aware of him really should be because he’s done an amazing job. “He’s just taken a small team and beaten Arsenal at the Emirates in the Europa League. That’s the calibre of the man. If he was given resources and a good-sized club to work with, I’m sure he’d be an even bigger success.” Jolley is also an admirer of Billy Beane, the baseball coach whose statistical approach to recruitment - famously dubbed Moneyball - allowed the Oakland Athletics to compete with far wealthier sides. Finding value, he says, will be key to the Mariners’ success going forward.
And whilst fans are hoping for free-flowing football after the functional approach of Russell Slade, Jolley says Dyche-style pragmatism must rule the roost for now.
“Philosophy is a dangerous word when you’re 20th in League Two,” he says. “I could say ‘Right, this is how I’m going to play no matter what’. But if I did, there’d be 23 other managers with a big smile on their face thinking ‘Ok, well we know how to stop him’.
“We’ve got to apply a lot common sense to our situation and do whatever is necessary to get points.
“If we can do that and stay up, then we can start to put some principles in place. For me, principles are more important than a philosophy.
“Down the line, I want people to watch a Grimsby Town team and certain characteristics. I think that’s worked well for Sean and hopefully it’ll work well for me.
“I’m looking forward to showing what I can do, but nothing happens overnight. I’m asking the people of Grimsby to be patient and support me. To be realistic, but also ambitious. It’s an excellent club that should be doing better than it currently is. I want to make that happen.”