BENTLEY’S UNSOCIAL MEDIA
Boss looking to put Fylde on the map after Morecambe Facebook hell
AS the longest-serving manager in all four divisions, Jim Bentley was surprised to read on Facebook that a fan poll was suggesting it was time for him to go.
He was even more shocked to discover that one of League Two Morecambe’s co-owners had cast his vote saying that Bentley should be sacked.
So when ambitious nonleague outfit AFC Fylde from down the coast came calling in October, the 43-year-old created a sensation of his own and swapped the Football League for the National League after eight years as the Shrimps boss.
Today he will be looking to create more shockwaves as The Coasters, who were only created in their present guise in 2008, step into the FA Cup third round against Premier League Sheffield United.
A die-hard Evertonian, the 43-year-old stole into Anfield, enemy territory, on Thursday night for a look at today’s Bramall Lane opponents.
“I’m certain there will be lots of changes in the Sheffield United side from the one on Thursday, but it’s still important to take a look because you get the gist of how they play. Chris Wilder has done an excellent job, that’s for sure,” said Bentley.
The last time the pair locked managerial horns was when Wilder was in charge of Northampton, with Bentley immersed in his annual battle to maintain Morecambe’s League status on the smallest budget.
For around 18 months following the departures of Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger (below) and Exeter’s Paul Tisdale, Bentley, who had also served as a player, captain and coach at Morecambe for nine years, enjoyed the status as the Football League’s longestsurviving manager.
“No one can take that away from me.
And not bad for someone in their first job,” he said.
It’s why he felt gutted after finding out that co-owner Colin Goldring, who, along with Jason Whittingham, also finances Premiership rugby union side Worcester Warriors, took to Facebook indicating Bentley’s time was up.
Bentley revealed: “There was a Facebook poll when we were struggling again earlier in the season – ‘Is it time for Jim to go?’ The owner voted on it for me to be sacked!
“I was shown this. It was completely out of order, but when I confronted him he said he’d had nothing to do with it. He’d left his phone at home and someone must have done it.
“Then Fylde showed some interest and I wanted to know where I stood at Morecambe. Would there be a new contract and would there be any transfer money in January?
“I then asked him to tell me honestly about what had happened on Facebook. He said, ‘Jim, I’m very sorry, it was me’. He said he’d had a couple of drinks and shouldn’t have done it.
“That was the final straw and it was totally disrespectful given what I had done for the football club. Every year I was manager we would have the lowest budget in the Football League. Every summer the squad would be dismantled and we would always lose our player of the year and top scorer.
“At the end of last summer, it was no different. My player of the year went to Oldham, my top scorer went to Forest Green. We lost other key members of the squad. We couldn’t afford to keep them, so you’re fighting a losing battle all the time.
“It’s all well and good keeping the team in the Football League, which I did, but I wanted more. I wanted to kick on.”
So he is now at Fylde, although, through habit, he and his assistant Ken McKenna almost missed the turn-off to the club’s training ground on the first day in their new jobs.
“We just managed to get off the motorway at the last minute and negotiate the right exit after so many years heading to Morecambe,” he said.
“The FA Cup game against Sheffield United can help us build the fan base. When I first went to Morecambe, there weren’t many Morecambe shirts. Instead, there would be Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United, etc. It’s the same now at Fylde, but this game has placed the club on the map. It’s a wakeup call to say something big is happening on the doorstep.
“This is great exposure and it’s my players’ biggest game. We need to grow the name of the football club.”
Maybe even, dare we say it, on Facebook.