HARRY BIDS TO UNTANGLE NOTTS
... and Bournemouth are the yardstick for Kewell's revolution
NEW manager Harry Kewell wants to turn Notts County into the new Bournemouth – and owner Alan Hardy is open to investment to help him pull it off.
Kewell kicked off his reign at Notts with a midweek Checkatrade Trophy tie with Grimsby (a 2-1 defeat) and a League Two game at Exeter yesterday (a 5-1 reverse).
Those matches came after the former Crawley boss watched from the stands as his new charges were beaten 3-1 at home by Forest Green Rovers last Saturday.
His first problem is to get the Magpies flying up from the bottom of the table to the top end where they were for most of last season before losing to Coventry in the play-offs.
Ironically, it was a defeat at home to Exeter in January that started a slide of six wins in the last 16 league games. Notts fell
from promotion After to the second a play-offs. 0-0 to fifth and draw and automatic at home clinging against opening day Colchester this term, on Notts the went on to lose their next four under Kevin Nolan, who was sacked by Hardy.
He doesn’t hide from the fact that he found it a hard decision.
“Kevin and I had a particularly close relationship where we would talk three or four times a day, text each other,” says Hardy.
“It was almost like a divorce. It was delivering a hammer blow of bad news to somebody. For 24 to 48 hours after we had that conversation I was very emotionally upset.
“To invite someone in and say ‘sorry, that’s as far as our relationship goes’… Kevin left the room and I sat there and cried for an hour.” Hardy has found owning and running a football club much harder than he thought. Kewell had only just finished his introductory press conference and was out on the pitch doing TV interviews when Hardy sat in the directors’ room and said in could rewind the clock back 18 months, I would not have bought the club.
“People who are more removed from football see this beautiful industry that’s immense fun and excitement.
Demanding
“It’s not. It’s selfish, it’s cut-throat, and incredibly demanding. It’s emotionally challenging and pulls at your own personal values.”
It’s Kewell, as upbeat as only an Aussie can be, who has refuelled Hardy’s excitement and desire.
Bournemouth have gone from pottering about, often teetering about, in the lower leagues of English football to sitting at the top table with Manchester United, City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, all as regular guests.
Kewell thinks it can be done at Notts.
“This might have helped me get the job here at Notts County when I said to the chairman
that I was always asking at Crawley when I there, ‘why don someone like Bo
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“How do you ey to build? By
points at a weekend. It gets people coming in.
“What’s the average crowd here, maybe 5,0000? 6,000? On a good day maybe 8,000? It holds 20,000.
“We know Nottingham people love their sport. We know because they love going to see England lose to Australia at Trent Bridge in the cricket, right?
“Imagine filling up Meadow Lane? You start going up the leagues.”
Excited
Kewell is sitting back in his chair as he says this. Suddenly he’s forward.
“You don’t want people sitting back like that, you want them forward, on the edge of their seats, excited.
“You are not going to go anywhere, it doesn’t matter how much money you throw into a club, unless you are winning. I am sure Eddie Howe didn’t spend a hundred million when he was in League Two.
“I am sure when you go from League Two to One there’s a difference. There’s a difference from League One to the Championship.
“Wolves are probably the prime example. They spent big last season to get to the Premier League. But they spent big knowing that when they get to the Premier League there’s a good foundation there. They know they will be able to sustain that. That’s what you’ve got to do.
“Let’s take it step by step, but let’s dream. Why not? Don’t be afraid to dream big. Dream big and see what happens.”
Kewell, 39, won the Champions League with Liverpool, starred with Leeds and is judged to be Australia’s best footballer ever, playing in the World Cup for them.
Starred
An exciting players himself, he says surprisingly that coaching and management beats playing. He was under-23s manager at Watford and says he was nervous the first time he had to take charge of Premier League players who had dropped down to his level.
“Have you ever had to ‘present’ to a Premier League player?” he asks. “It’s not easy. Yes, I was nervous.”
Management hasn’t got easier. His first senior job was at Crawley last season and he guided them to a comfortable 14th place finish.
At Notts County, the expectations are bigger, the spotlight on him brighter.
Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard has gone straight into management at the big-name end with Glasgow Rangers, but Kewell is doing it the more mundane way.
“Why not? I can see things I can change and make a difference at this level where it would be much harder as a young manager at that higher level,” he explained.
“I wanted to start at this level. I wanted to put the cones out. Do you know how difficult it is? You look back and they’re all over the place.
“The easiest way to explain it is if you run a restaurant you’ve got to know how to cook because if your chef walks out, who’s going to do the cooking?
“One day, when I get older, I want that - when I walk out to training I want everything to be set up. But at the moment I’ve got to earn my stripes.”
Kewell was only supposed to be watching last Saturday, having agreed the job the day before, when Notts lost at home to Forest Green. But he was quickly down to the dressing room.
“I’ve been told it’s a quiet dressing room,” says Kewell, who has brought in three players so far. “Not any more it’s not. It’s my way or the highway.”
If Kewell can follow the Howe way and get Notts County into the Premier League and keep them there he will be a long way to what he agrees would be his dream job, managing Liverpool.
But for now there’s a rebuild to do at Notts.
“We can only do here what Bournemouth have done if we find a multi-millionaire that wants to join the journey,” adds Hardy. “I have been courted by a couple of people who have said if you want some financial support and you are interested in selling part of the club then give me a shout.
“That might be something that we will look to in future years. I think it’s seven years ago that Bournemouth were below us in the Football League. I am really excited about where Harry Kewell
can take us.”