Cocu should be remembered for his dignity in the face of adversity
RESULTS can be the sands of time for managers and they ran out for Phillip Cocu.
Only one win in 11 Championship matches this season, only two in the last 17, and 18 in his 57 League fixtures in charge (a 32% win rate) is not strong protection for when the axe is swinging and Cocu’s 16 months as Rams boss have ended, leaving the club to look for their fifth manager in four years and ninth in seven years.
It is never nice to see a manager lose his job but with Derby bottom of English football’s second tier, their lowest position in 12 years, Cocu can have few complaints.
He can, however – and with good reason – point to a number of hurdles that could never have been foreseen when he took the job and his reign will probably be best remembered for the calm, dignified, classy manner in which he handled some difficult situations.
On his appointment, in July 2019, he was up against time immediately in preparing for the season. The players had already returned to training when boss Frank Lampard departed to become Chelsea’s head coach and Cocu’s first task was to fly to Florida to meet up with the squad at their training base.
While in Florida, a friendly against Bristol City was abandoned due to an electrical storm. A sign of stormy days ahead?
Replacing Lampard was never going to be straightforward because he had taken Derby so close to promotion. They had lost to Aston Villa in the play-off final in the May and Lampard had forged a strong bond with supporters, although his team selection at Wembley did not meet the approval of many fans.
Asked about stepping into Lampard’s shoes, Cocu said: “I can imagine that the fans are sad Frank has gone because he did a great job, but I am not a person who is going to try and do the same as the old manager. You have to be yourself.”
Tom Lawrence scored twice away to Huddersfield Town to give Cocu and the Rams a winning start to the season but they then went seven League games without a win and suffered a painful defeat by Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup when Cocu got his team selection wrong. That did not go down well with some fans.
He had to quickly assess and juggle a squad that was without key players from the previous season, notably loanees Harry Wilson (top scorer), Fikayo Tomori (player of the year) and the talented Mason Mount. Senior players Craig Bryson, Bradley Johnson and Scott Carson also left, Carson on loan to Manchester City.
Off the field, the club was rocked by a drink-driving incident in September 2019 that involved first-teamers Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett. They were arrested after a crash shortly before midnight following a team bonding day. The captain at the time, Richard Keogh, was a passenger in Lawrence’s car and suffered a serious knee injury.
Lawrence and Bennett were convicted of drink-driving at a court case a few weeks later. Keogh had his contract terminated on the grounds of gross misconduct.
Unwelcome headlines, as was the late payment of some players in December and then the news in January this year that Derby had been charged by the EFL over alleged breaches of financial rules following a review of the club’s Profitability and Sustainability submissions. The charge hung over the club for months before Derby were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Investment/takeover talks provided an ongoing backdrop while, on the field, an injury suffered in January ruled Cocu’s major summer signing, Krystian Bielik, out for the season.
Former England captain and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney, who had joined the Rams as playercoach, was eligible to play from the turn of the year and his influence sparked an upturn in fortunes on the pitch.
Derby impressed in beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 and Blackburn Rovers 3-0 when the coronavirus pandemic brought football to a halt.
Three consecutive wins
when the season restarted lifted Cocu’s team to seventh and three points outside the top six with half-a-dozen fixtures remaining. Young midfielder Louie Sibley hit the headlines with a hat-trick in a victory away to Millwall and the Rams had given themselves an outside chance of the play-offs.
They were one of the Championship’s form teams at that stage, unbeaten in six and having scored in 18 consecutive League games, three or more times in five of those matches.
Things were going well for
Cocu on the pitch but the club were dealt another off-thefield shock with the news that defender Andre Wisdom had been stabbed in an “unprovoked assault and robbery” in a street in Liverpool.
Five games without a win, including four defeats, put an end to Derby’s top-six hopes, although they won away to Birmingham City on the final day to finish 10th.
The plan of shaping a new team while bringing through young players had worked to an extent and 10th was considered to be about right, given the up and down nature of the Rams’ campaign.
Cocu’s depth of thinking about the present but also the future, recognising the bigger picture, was one of the strengths that impressed chairman Mel Morris in their first meeting.
Cocu had shown in his time at PSV Eindhoven that he knows when to open the first team door to youngsters.
Holes have appeared in the plan, however. Derby’s poor form during last season’s runin has continued this season and their cutting edge has lost its teeth. They have managed only five goals in 11 League outings, have failed to score in six of them and have found the net only once in six home League games.
The departure of striker Chris
Martin and being without Martyn Waghorn and Lawrence in the opening weeks of the season did not help and added to Cocu’s problems as he tried to juggle his team in search of points.
His juggling did not result in a settled side and brought questions over whether or not he and his coaching staff knew the best 11. Nor were they able to extract a sustained 90 minutes from the team, other than in the victory they chiselled out in the win away to Norwich City.
Having Waghorn and Lawrence available again, plus Rooney after his period of self-isolation, was seen as key to Derby’s results improving. That has not been the case. Waghorn and Lawrence have been back for six matches, Rooney for three. Derby’s record in the last six fixtures is drawn three and lost three.
Back-to-back home games against Queens Park Rangers and Barnsley were seen as a significant moment after successive draws against Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City and Bournemouth, but Derby lost both, without scoring, and patience with Cocu among some fans evaporated.
Clubs have had to cope with playing games behind closed doors. Teams have missed the backing of their supporters and maybe the kick up the backside they can provide.
I believe this has had a bearing on Derby’s home results and, in turn, Cocu’s future. Home grounds are no longer fortresses.
Indeed, he missed the final game of his time in charge, the 2-0 home defeat by Barnsley, because he had to self-isolate. It was another off-the-field hurdle.
The catalogue of issues off the field would have severely tested any manager. Cocu was bombarded with questions at many press conferences and yet he remained calm and always civil in his responses.
Some fans might have viewed his calmness as a lack of passion but that would be wrong. His bark might not be loud but he has bite, as we saw after certain games, notably the away defeats to Brentford, Charlton Athletic and Luton Town.
This was always likely to be a season of transition, given the financial restrictions at the club, the new signings settling in and the continuation of developing young players.
The key to managing transition is to keep the points tally ticking over sufficiently and to keep edging forward in order to stave off pressure.
Cocu, his coaching staff and the players failed to do this and the manager has paid the price.