Season 4 – Boreham Wood, National League South
Board Expectations: Battle Bravely Against Relegation
Players In: 0
Players Out: 0
After applying to almost every club I could Boreham Wood newly promoted to the National League South (Firmly rooted to the bottom) offered me a way back into management and in a panic I took the job, dropping back down a division was not quite what I had in mind but a job is a job after all.
The team only had 12 players, the rest were greys and with a match in a couple of days I was thrown in the deep end. A 3-0 drubbing at home to Bognor was a real eye opener and I was now faced with the scale of my misjudgement.
Four days after this defeat and I got an amazing job offer from League 2 side Rotherham. Without a hint of guilt, I hastily accepted, and I was off to Yorkshire having hardly unpacked my bags.
A quick end to an unremarkable 10 days at Boreham.
Season 4 (2) – Rotherham United, League Two
Board Expectations: Make the Play-Offs
Players In – 5 for 200k
Players Out – 2 for 105k
I took over a Rotherham side that were predicted promotion but were languishing in the bottom half of the table.
After a quick look at the personnel available I could see that they had bags of talent but were overloaded in certain positions and light in others.
There was a small amount of money and a little room for manoeuvre in the wage budget so I was confident that with a little scouting (they had 3 scouts already) I could make some good deals in January to bring some balance and push us forward.
I drew my first game and won the second and started making glances towards the top of the table but of course we then went on a nine-match losing streak.
Nothing I did tactically seemed to make any difference and the players and fans quickly turned against me. Come the middle of February I was gone. It was one of the quickest sackings I’ve ever had. Nothing went right and it was back in the dole queue for me.
Rotherham Record
Pld | Won | Drn | Lst |
15 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
I didn’t however have long to wait for another opportunity, and luckily for me it was at the same level.
Season 4 (3) – Northampton Town, League Two
Board Expectations: Mid-Table
Players In – 0
Players Out – 0
I got a job offer in less than 2 weeks and I could have snatched their hands off.
Northampton had been relegated the previous season and were lying in 16th well below what was expected of them, sound familiar? I thought so too.
The key difference was that they were offering a massive £1m transfer kitty and they had two cracking strikers.
Their strongest players also suited my favoured formation. So far so good.
There were 13 games left and by the end of the season I had lifted them to 12th which I thought was good going and was optimistic for the season to come.
Pld | Won | Drn | Lst |
13 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
Previous club watch:
Stalybridge
7th National League Premier – amazingly only 3 points off 1st place
Boreham Wood
19th National League South – Just 4 Points off relegation
Rotherham United
21st League Two – Went from strength to strength after I left and managed to pull themselves to safety with just two games to spare.
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