MANAGER MAYHEM
Former striker in the frame
A trio of League Two clubs axe their managers...
FORMER Leeds and Sunderland striker Michael Bridges has emerged as the shock favourite to take over at Carlisle United.
The Cumbrians are looking for a new manager following the departure of Steven Pressley, who was sacked in midweek following a Leasing.com Trophy defeat to Morecambe.
Bridges, 41, scored 19 times as Leeds finished third in the Premier League under David O’Leary, but a promising career was wrecked by a succession of serious injuries.
He did, however, enjoy a prolific season at Carlisle in 2005-06 before returning for a second spell two years later.
Since retiring in 2015, Bridges has completed his coaching badges and in 2018 told the Yorkshire
Post he harboured ambitions of managing his former side.
“I’ve had a lot of clubs but the four places I’d want to go back to would be Carlisle, Leeds, Sunderland, Newcastle,” he said.
“It’s unlikely I’m going to get the Newcastle or Sunderland job, but it’s very realistic in the future to say I could manage Carlisle. You’ve got to have aspirations.”
Aspirations
Out of the reckoning on Thursday, odds on Bridges taking charge at Brunton Park had tumbled to 2-1 by Friday evening.
Pressley’s ten-month tenure was terminated following a dismal sequence of results that left the Cumbrians languishing 19th in League Two.
“We understand the challenges, but haven’t seen the evidence of progress we expected or needed to see,” said a statement from chairman Andrew Jenkins.
“This is not something we can allow to continue, so sadly it is time to change, move on and look forward.”
Gavin Skelton, Pressley’s assistant, is in caretaker charge and the 38-year-old is also among the favourites to take permanent charge.
The upheaval at Carlisle began a week of managerial carnage in League Two, with Carl Fletcher getting the chop by Leyton Orient after just
29 days in charge and
Michael Jolley being axed by Grimsby.
Orient chairman
Nigel Travis said the former Wales skipper had failed to engage with the club’s culture.
“We would recommend Carl because he did some terrific things on the training field,” said Travis. “But it was just not the way we did things.
“The thing that did not work was the engagement with the community, the engagement with the players, the coaches, the fans. We could see people were not enjoying themselves. So we decided to make a change.
“But we don’t blame Carl. We blame ourselves. Somehow we put him in a spot where he had to step up and handle a culture that probably needs some unique talents.”
The search for those talents will, however, be put on hold until next year with Ross Embleton – the assistant coach who took over as interim manager following the death of Justin Edinburgh in June – now back in the dugout.
Grimsby, meanwhile, decided to axe Jolley amidst a winless run that stretches back to September 28.
A Cambridge graduate and former banker, Jolley was a surprise choice to succeed Russell Slade in March 2018, but saved the Mariners from relegation and subsequently finished 17th in his only full season.
Caretaker and former Woking boss Anthony Limbrick is the 7/2 favourite to take permanent charge, whilst former Middlesbrough defender Robbie Stockdale – until recently assistant manager at Hibs – is another leading contender.