Caldwell has learnt from past experience
IT IS fair to say when Matt Taylor left Exeter City to join Rotherham United, Gary Caldwell wouldn’t have been the name on many people’s lists as his replacement.
The Scot hadn’t been in a managerial role for three years prior to arriving at St James Park and had been sacked in all three of his previous roles.
Promotion from League One with Wigan Athletic in 2016 was a career high, but he was sacked three months into the following season with the Latics 23rd in the table. An eight-month spell in charge of Chesterfield - admittedly a basket case of a club - ended in relegation to League Two and another firing.
October 2018 saw him appointed in charge of Partick Thistle of the Scottish Championship. While he avoided the drop in his first season, in September 2019, he was again given the boot with the club second bottom. A threemonth spell as assistant manager at Hibernian ended in April this year when Shaun Maloney was sacked.
The 40-year-old had spent time working as interim manager for Newcastle United’s U23s, as well as working with the City Football Group, overseeing their players loaned to other clubs, but Caldwell’s name had not been mentioned once by anyone as a possible replacement for Taylor before news of his imminent appointment broke.
Undoubtedly, he was a surprise name. But so far, it is looking to be a good appointment by the Grecians. Caldwell had clearly done his homework on the players, squad, and club before getting the job, he is saying all the right things, and despite the incredibly tough start to life in Devon that the fixture computer had dealt him, he has picked up two wins from the first five - and is learning the lessons from his previous roles.
“I think there was a point where I thought this maybe was not for
me,” Caldwell said, when asked if given the three years not as a manager he thought he would ever get the chance to be in the hot seat again, especially given how they ended. “If you don’t have self-belief and character, this is not the industry for you, but the experiences can only make you better and stronger.
“When you come out of those experiences, it is not an easy time in terms of your professional and personal life, and it does knock you, so you have to look long and hard at yourself. It is about whether you want to do it, and you have to analyse and be self-critical and see where you can improve and be better.
“I think, after every job I have done, I was someone that, as a player, was very honest as myself and I knew what I was, and it is no different as a manager. I want to improve. While things were difficult, I think I have improved.
“I worked for Newcastle in the academy, City Football Group, Hibs as an assistant and had a lot of learning in a different way and working with people to be ready to do the job and do the job well. And while difficult, it has shaped me and made me the manager I am today.
“I had those different experiences, none as a manager, but it was about preparing to be ready for the moment when it came. Having them got me prepared and ready and I learned from the previous jobs and did the self-analysis.
“I was prepared for the moment, if it came, and I have found a club which is aligned with me and how I see football and development and progressing. I am fortunate, but I have put in the work to make sure this is a success.
“In my heart of hearts, I always wanted to be back in the firing line. For some reason I enjoy it, I don’t know why sometimes! But the feeling of a win is hard to describe, but it is why we do it.”
Having had a period out of the game - something he didn’t have when he retired as a player - Caldwell said that it gave him a chance to finally reflect on how he is. Injuries forced the defender to stop playing in February 2015 and within two months, he was Wigan Athletic boss after the club sacked Malky Mackay.
“I am a different manager and person from the first time,” he said. “I had just come out of playing and I was nowhere near prepared when looking back, but the experiences since then changed me 100 per cent as a manager and a person. I came out of the football bubble and the selfish environment of just preparing for 3pm as a Saturday, and have become a more rounded person.”