I’LL STILL NEED TIME – BRABIN
play-off semi-final 2nd leg Swindon v Sheff Utd
THURSDAY, MAY 14I
7.45pm unless stated Sky Bet League Two play-off semi-final 2nd leg Southend v Stevenage Wycombe v Plymouth
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12.15pm unless stated Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final 2nd leg Norwich v Ipswich GARY BRABIN has told Tranmere fans they need to follow the patient approach that his former club Luton eventually took to win back their Football League status – even though they adopted it too late to save his job.
The 44-year-old former Cambridge and Hatters boss left his role coaching in Everton’s academy this week to take over at the club who next season will play Non-League football for the first time in 94 years.
Expectation
Brabin was identified by Rovers owner Mark Palios as the man with the experience of dealing with the weight of expectation that fans automatically place on the shoulders of manager and players at a club that has fallen through the Football League’s bottom two divisions in successive seasons.
He was the third manager to have a go at bringing Luton back up from the Conference, but was sacked on March 30, 2012, after his team fell out of the play-off places, despite having games in hand on their rivals.
Brabin says his target was always promotion, even if it meant going through the endof-season shoot-out, and he believes he was still on target for that.
Paul Buckle took over and did qualify for the play-offs before losing to York in the final, and leaving six months into the following season with the side heading towards midtable.
Veteran boss John Still was appointed in February 2013 and, despite telling Hatters fans it might take the duration of his three-year contract to get back up, he recovered from a poor start to win the title in his first full season and establish Luton back among League Two’s top outfits this term.
Wait
Brabin had to wait more than two years to get a chance again in management, last October at part-time Conference club Southport, before he left in January for his Everton post.
“It was hard for me to recover from that as a manager in terms of getting a job again,” said Brabin.“I think the expectation level at Luton, and apparent failure, tarred a lot of managers.
“It took Richard Money 18 months to get a job again. Mick Harford hasn’t had a manager’s job since. Paul Buckle went to America and has come back to manage Cheltenham, but it’s not worked out.
“John arguably had the worst record in the first seven months in the job of all of us. They fell right out of the playoffs. They were getting beaten by part-time teams, and it was unacceptable to even draw with them when the rest of us were managing Luton!
“But through the strength of his contract, they stuck by him and he’s ended up being the right man for the job.”
Brabin believes former Tranmere player Palios will be more understanding, adding: “Mark is devastated with what’s happened at Tranmere. He’s a football person who loves the club and he wants to take them back, not only to where he took them over, but beyond that.
“He’s sold me that dream in the time I’ve spoken to him, and you can tell it’s genuine. I don’t think he’s the type of person who accepts defeat easily and he’s looking to bounce back, but he’s realistic as well.
“Being an ex-footballer, he understands the game and he realises it’s not going to be easy. That was also important to me.
“I’m confident we’ll be up there challenging and our goal has got to be to get promotion. But the chairman realises it’s unrealistic to expect us to automatically get out of the toughest division in the top five levels of English football straightaway.
“That’s the message I’m trying to get out there so we can enjoy this season and build the club up again, like John has been able to do at Luton.”