Do experienced managers work?
What is it with City Chairman? No matter who is in charge it seems sooner or later they want to gain success by appointing an experienced manager. Does this work? Looking back on our history our four most successful managers have been Harry Storer the first time around an aging player for Burnley, Jimmy Hill the chairman of the PFA, Noel Cantwell a Manchester United player and John Sillett success with Hereford United and City’s youth team manager, none of them could be called experienced. So what do I called experience? The manager would of have to been a manager in a higher division then City at the time, managed in the top flight or a similar division abroad.
Frank Scott-Walford
The 1913-14 season was a bad one for City only winning 6 games and ending bottom of the Southern league 1st division and were relegated to the 2nd division. The Chairman David Cooke decided to appoint a man with experience to get City back to the top flight of the Southern League. Scott-Walford was appointed Manager-secretary in 1914. He had gained league experience with 2nd division side Leeds City for 4 seasons his best finish was 11th place. Leeds City were a struggling club with little money. He seemed the perfect man to move City up he had rebuild the side and brought many good players from higher divisions but City mid table and were in massive financial difficulties to such an extent Scott-Walford put money into the club at the end of the season the club owed him £100 and the War put the end to any football and stopped City being wound up. So City’s first experienced manager failed to achieve his objectives.
James McIntyre
Moving on to 1928 City had just finished 20th in division 3 South so just avoiding having to apply for re-election and it was a common held belief if we did then we would have been elected out of the league. Chairman W Carpenter changed things around and appointed James McIntyre. McIntyre had incredible success with Southampton in three season he had guided them to the South League title and the Champions of division 3 South he spent two seasons in division two ended 11th and 5th plus a run to the quarter finals of the FA Cup before shocking everyone by retiring to run an hotel in Edinburgh. He seemed the perfect candidate to lift City up the table if he could take a Southern league side to the edge of the 1st division promotion race then he could do the same for City, also he was also an ex-player from the Birmingham League days and scored 24 goals in his 20 games. City progressed well under the Walsall born manager despite having massive financial restriction and having to sell his best players, finishing 11th and then 6th in the 3rd division. Two great stars of the 30’s made their debuts under McIntyre, Billy Lake and Jimmy Loughlin. The next season was all set up for promotion but strangely similar to now local business man Walter Brandish launched a take over bid and engaged in a heated battle with F W Kimberley, Brandish won and at the first opportunity sacked McIntyre. He appointed Harry Storer and City entered the “old five” era. So City’s second experienced manager failed to achieve his objectives, if given more time he and not Storer might have been the first great league manager.
Harry Storer
Moving on to 1949 Chairman H G Jones with City sitting in 21st place in the relegation zone sacked Billy Firth and appointed City most successful manager to date a manager that had lead City to the brink of Division one in the 1930’s at the time he was in charge of Birmingham City who he had won promotion with to the top flight. Half way thought their first season back in the top flight and sitting in 14th place Storer shocked the “blue noses” by resigning and dropping two division to manager Coventry again. Storer guided City to safety and 16th place and gave a debut to Peter Hill. City progresses to 12th place the next season and 7th the one after giving debut to Harry Barrett. 1952-53 was a terrible season instead of improving and pushing for promotion City sank without a trace and were relegated in 21st place. Storer stayed1 ½ seasons longer before “resigning.” Storer failed to live up to his previous record maybe he should of never returned.
Jesse Carver
Maybe the most incredible appointment for a manger in City’s history it will be like a side of the stature of Bournemouth announcing their manager for next season was Jose Mourinho. It was similar with City announcing the former coach of Italian giants, Lazio, Juventus Torino and Roma. Chairman Erle Shanks announced the news in January that Jesse Carver would be the highest paid Manager in England and City were a 3rd division side remember. Carver had a great record he had won the Italian Championship with Juventus and rebuilt the Torino side after the team had be wiped out in a plane crash. Season ticket sales rocketed and talk of promotion and then finally making the top division was in the air, how could he fail! On the pitch the home form was good but City’s skilful play was less successful away then only 6 months into his contract Carver shocked everyone by resigning, in fact he was unhappy in his first month and was talking to Inter Milan he rejoined Lazio under a week after he left for personnel reasons and not to join another club. Maybe if Carver stayed he could of made it big but it seemed a massive mistake by the manager to take on a third division club in the first place.
George Raynor
Joining Carver at the start of the season was George Raynor the coach of the Swedish side that won the Olympics in 1948 and reached the Semi-Finals of the World Cup in 1950 before coaching in Italy with Roma & Lazio. Raynor was in charge for the rest of the season but failed to win promotion he did give a debut to a certain 16-year-old called George Curtis. He was demoted to coach at the end of the season and soon left to Manage Sweden to 2nd place in the 1958 world cup, if only City could of hung on to him maybe he could off moved us in the right direction.
Joe Mercer
In 1972 City Chairman Derrick Robbins appointed Gordon Milne to his first managers position to help out he appointed the vastly experienced Joe Mercer OBE to look after Milne until he was experienced enough. Milne was still in charge of team matters with Mercer there for advice. So I cannot count Mercer as the team manager.
Dave Sexton
In the close season of 1981 Gordon Milne was “promoted” to General Manager and the Chairman Jimmy Hill appointed Dave Sexton as team manager. Sexton was a quality coach and coached successfully at Chelsea, Arsenal and Fulham his first big mangers job was at Chelsea landing them four top 7 spots in his first four seasons and 3rd place was his highest finish in the top flight, he also won the FA and Cup Winners Cup. Then Chelsea slipped into financial difficulties and the team faded and Sexton was sacked. He moved on to QPR and in his first season missed out on the league title by one point. He surprisingly resigned a year later and ended up as manager of Manchester United he stayed at United for 5 years and despite winning the FA cup and runners up by a mere two points he was sacked for not landing the League Championship. So a manager who took Chelsea into Europe with success on a regular basis came close to landing the league with unfashionable QPR and then again with big spending Manchester United and was sacked despite winning his last 7 games came to Highfield Road. The reaction was not a surprise a top coach at City with a great track record it must mean at least a push for Europe. Unfortunately Sexton worked within a tight budget as the board were determined to see lose vast amounts of money this included selling the best players and relaying on youth in fact the Sexton side was the youngest ever to represent City at that stage. City reached the quarterfinals of the FA that season and thanks to a late run ended a respectable 14th place. Sexton was still given no money and the next season had to operate with the smallest squad in our history. Despite a descent start to the season attendances slumped to below 10,000 at Highfield Road and a bad run towards the end of the season saw City plummet down the table just avoiding relegation. Ex-Player and new Chairman Iain Jamieson sacked Sexton much to the anger of the player who left en-masse in the close season when most of their contracts expired stating that City lacked ambition. Sexton had a good two years at the club but had no money as they say, “A Ferrari is no good without any fuel” So Sexton joined the long list of failures at the club.
Don Howe
When Terry Butcher was sacked chairman Peter Robbins they promoted assistant Manager Don Howe to take over. Howe was a highly respected coach, but less successful manager his first club was West Brom in the early 70’s he failed to find success and was relegated. After spells coaching in England and abroad he was appointed Arsenal Manger in the 1980’s but failed to bring any success to them. He took charge of City with the mission to keep us up he did this by producing maybe the most negative boring side in out history including a run of four consecutive 0-0 draws he somehow kept City up and refused to stay on stating that the travelling north was too much for him he joined Chelsea as coach for as we all know travelling in London is stress free. Howe has a miserable record at City and it was a miracle he kept us up a contender for the worst manager ever.
Ron Atkinson
On the 15th February 1995 the main national news sports headlines where “Big Ron becomes Coventry City’s Manager.” Chairman Brian Richardson had made national headlines by installing the flamboyant manager. Atkinson started his management career at Kettering before moving on to Cambridge United taking them to the division four championship before taking over at WBA. He produced a highly entertaining side that finished 3rd one season and 5th another. He moved on to the Manchester United hot seat winning the FA cup but getting nowhere near the league title. Spells at WBA, again, Athletic Madrid and Sheffield Wednesday helping them with promotion and a League Cup win before ending up at the Ville. He took them to the runners up spot and league cup success before a bad start in the 94-95 season saw him sacked. So big Ron was at the City home crowds rose by 4,000 Big Ron was given money to spend that no other manager had. At the time fans wondered were the money was coming from not knowing it would come within inches of forcing the club to fold years later. Big Ron spent over £14 million on the team in his stay but could only produce two dreadful 16th place finishes considering the amount of money he spent this has to go down as the biggest financial disaster in the clubs history. His money did bring us Gary McAllister and Richard Shaw.
Peter Reid
Being a football manager is a strange affair take Eric Black, with no money he lifts a mediocre side and produces a side that has a form of a play off side with some entertaining football then after a 5-2 away win he is sacked and replaced by yet another experienced manager Mike McGinity the latest in a long line of Chairman that has refused to learn from history when he appointed Peter Reid, thinking that an experienced manager equals success. Peter Reid first management job was at Manchester City where he got the club two top five finishes. He moved on to Sunderland and twice won promotion for them. He moved on to Leeds and failed to prevent them from being relegated. To date he has turned a side with play off potential into one with relegation potential.
So that’s nine experienced managers in our history and all have failed, it’s true to say apart from Atkinson none of them had any money. Some of them were over the hill and already experienced too many failures. What a club like City needs is an hungry manager willing to prove himself on the big stage, this doesn’t guarantee success but it has been an more successful policy over the years then the experienced manager route. Still there is time for Reid to “buck the trend” and turn things around at City he has targeted Eric Black’s finish to beat when he was brought in to gain us promotion if he doesn’t achieve the modest mid table finish then he and the Chairman should walk. The Chairman have to realise the best way to fill grounds is to produce a winning team and not a personality as the manager but maybe, just maybe Reid can take us back to the promised land.