JOSE MOURINHO might win his third Champions League with a third different club, and he certainly gave Roman Abramovich plenty of domestic value for his roubles at Chelsea.
But put the Special One in charge of a club involved in the game of “Russian Roulette” otherwise known as the Blue Square Bet Premier, and he’d need at least a season to “learn the league” in order to bring success to that club.
Unless he’s Jimmy Quinn or Gary Waddock, of course.
The above quotes belong to a man who should know – the current champion manager, Micky Mellon.
Currently working miracles with David Flitcroft at Barnsley, leading the Tykes away from relegation danger in the Championship and to an FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester City, ex-Fleetwood boss Mellon is explaining exactly why it takes managers an average of 881 days working for their club PRIOR to the season in which they lead them to promotion into the Football League.
Earlier this week, my fellow columnist Alan Alger revealed that amazing stat for the 20 managers who have won promotion since two-up, two-down was introduced in 2002-03.
That means that managers – with the obvious exception of Waddock and Quinn, who won the 2007-08 title and 2003-04 play-offs for Aldershot and Shrewsbury respectively just nine months after taking charge – will have been at the helm for an average of three years when they take their club up.
Even taking away the 120 months Nigel Clough had been in charge of Burton Albion before 2008-09 (because let’s face it, it was the current Derby boss’ record in the first half of that campaign that got them promoted) and the same length of time for Graham Turner at Hereford, you still have an average of 18.7 months – 570 days – for the other 18 managers to settle in to their jobs.
Rewards
A look at the tables right showing how long the current promotion contenders in the BSBP have been in their posts shows just how stability breeds the chance of success in the division.
Grimsby and Forest Green’s boards could have parted with Rob Scott/Paul Hurst and Dave Hockaday at the end of their first underachieving and would-be relegation campaigns – and Kidderminster might easily have pulled the trigger on Steve Burr after five straight defeats to open the current one.
But they did not, and they are all now reaping the rewards of having a manager who has been given time to build his squad, get to know his own and other managers’ players, and give himself and his club their best opportunity of getting into the League. It’s a similar story in the BSB North and South.
Mellon, who was in charge at Highbury for just under four full seasons – two in the North and two in the Premier – by the time he sealed promotion, says: “You don’t know the league in your first season.
“Jose Mourinho could come to the Conference and although he’s got unbelievable managerial ability, it’s going to take him time to learn the league because he doesn’t know it.
“Recruitment is key. In every league there is a talent pool that’s available to that division. It’s a bit like the American roster system, where you get picks. You get to know who the more talented players are and they are the ones who are going to make you more successful.
“That for me would be why all those guys are at the top having been in their jobs for a while; because they know the league and obviously, they are winning games.
Motivated
“They will have players in their teams that have played for each of the top teams in the division over the previous seasons, and they’ve taken them because they’ve seen they are the better players.”
To that end, Mellon tempted top BSBP talent like Richard Brodie, who had just won the title with Crawley, and Andy Mangan and Lee Fowler, who’d lost in the play-offs with Wrexham, to supplement a team that at times had eight players who had come through the ranks with him from BSB North. Oh yes, and Jamie Vardy!
“I obviously had a way that I wanted to play the game, and a type of player with a mindset that could cope with the relentless battle that is the Conference,” he adds.
“It’s easier to motivate the players in the Championship because we are going to massive, beautiful arenas like Hull, Middlesbrough and Ipswich.
“In the Conference the challenge is different where you’re going to turn up somewhere on a Tuesday night, after battling through traffic and you know you’re going into a battle on a pitch the home team might have been training on all week.
“Your players have to be motivated to adapt to the range you find. There are certain Conference players who have that adaptability and you have to realise who the players are that can cope, but it all takes time.”
That’s why after three seasons with a mid-season managerial switch, Luton’s board had realised that and wouldn’t have made a change were it not for Paul Buckle’s personal situation.
It’s also why frustrated fans and directors of whichever teams just miss out on promotion this season should spend the summer doing nothing but reversing the old proverb as they look forward to going one better next term.
A rest is as good as a change, as they (should) say!
