Tuesday 24 February 2015

Between a Hock and a hard place

Having awoken from a mid-morning nap, I had to double check that I wasn’t still dreaming whilst checking my Twitter feed, which was awash with the news of Pressley’s departure. The sensation was somewhat reminiscent of the joys of Christmas morning, I’d asked for Pressley to be removed from the club and my present was delivered in the form of a club statement issued at 11:18 yesterday morning. 

Hockaday and Aidy
Rather than regurgitate my previous piece on Pressley’s tenure, I’ve decided to look forward as all City fans must do (Even though the future at this club is a murky and uncertain place). Having spent the majority of yesterday discussing potential replacements, many have already come to the conclusion that the former Forest Green and Leeds United head coach Dave Hockaday will be appointed manager for the foreseeable future (One lunatic did put forward Mr Blobby for the gig, the men in white coats quickly dealt with him).

Hockaday and Neil MacFarlane are currently in temporary control and the former is odds on with the bookies to be appointed on a full time basis. However, whether you call it Mr Blobby esque lunacy or just wishful thinking, I am going to review the potential alternatives. 

John Still 
My favourites have always been Luton’s John Still and Rochdale’s Keith Hill, so I best get them out of the way first. Both have a definite style of play (A fluid passing game), which is a vital component required from any prospective manager at this level of the game (Unfortunately Mr Pressley didn’t have a clear vision). More importantly they have a history of managing previously underachieving  clubs to promotion. 

In two separate spells Hill won promotion to League 1 with Rochdale on a shoestring budget and they are currently engaged in a play-off push. Still is a Non-League legend, leading Dagenham and Redbridge to the Football League for the first time in their history. This feat was arguably matched last season as Still achieved what many had failed to do by winning the Conference Premier title with Luton Town. For me they are ideal candidates for the job, perhaps not realistic. 

Even more unrealistic targets are the various names that were being banded about by some yesterday. The likes of Nigel Adkins, Paulo Di Canio, Uwe Rosler and Darren Ferguson are all of a better standard than our club can currently command. Add to this the fact that they all like to spend a bit of cash on a transfer fee every now and again, which we all know is about as likely to happen here as Mark Robins returning to the club. 
Bring Black back?

There are those managers that seem to be discussed every time we are on the hunt for a new man. I speak of Eric Black, Richard Money and Paul Tisdale, all of whom have their obvious credentials, but I fear that if they didn’t want to move to the club previously then they almost certainly wouldn’t want to do so now. 

I’ve managed to cobble together a few wildcard picks which may intrigue some readers. Firstly a man who is synonymous with South-West football, Gary Johnson. Akin to the successes of Still and Hill, Johnson amazed everyone by taking little old Yeovil to the second tier of English football and his time at Bristol City was just as impressive. Arguably he might not fancy such a tumultuous club as ourselves, after the last two draining seasons at Yeovil which ended earlier this season in his sacking. 

Alan Stubbs
Two that I haven’t seen mentioned as yet are former Cheltenham boss Mark Yates and Hibernian’s Alan Stubbs. Yates was sacked by Cheltenham in November of last year after five years at Whaddon Road. Having led them to the League Two play-offs in 2012 and 2013, they stagnated during the 2013/2014 season. He reminds me of Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett and his credentials are similar, one for consideration. 

Former Everton favourite Stubbs was appointed manager of Hibernian last summer following their humiliating relegation to the Scottish Championship. He has revived a club that was on its knees, playing superb football which sees them sit ahead of Rangers in second place. He was well thought off during his coaching spell with Everton, in which he was interviewed for the first team job following David Moyes’ departure. 

Ian Cathro
How about Ian Cathro? You know, the former Forfar and Brechin City youth player. Now there is no reason why anyone would know who he is, however his reputation is slowly but surely on the rise. He is currently assistant manager of La Liga giants Valencia, having previously worked at Dundee United and Rio Ave. The truly amazing thing about all this is that he is only 28. Of late he has been linked with the Rangers job. Maybe we should take a gamble on him before someone else does.


Perhaps I am deluded, perhaps these are all utterly unrealistic suggestions and we’ll be lucky to get Mr Blobby. I would certainly back the decision to appoint Dave Hockaday as manager until the end of the season, however regardless of whether we stay up or go down I would not like to see him here for longer than that. He has worked under Graham Taylor and Adrian Boothroyd, so it doesn’t exactly take a genius to imagine what the football will be like. He miserably underachieved at Forest Green despite the club having the biggest budget in the Conference (Sound familiar to anyone!). His spell at leeds did nothing positive for his reputation and frankly history suggests that appointing him on a full time basis would be a mistake, which we can ill-afford to make. 



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