The exit of English football’s youngest manager, 21-year-old Sammy Mould from non-League Yaxley, brings back memories of Everton’s ‘forgotten’ boss Ian Buchan who took charge at Goodison Park aged just 30 but was an early forerunner of Sean Dyche in terms of his dedication to physical fitness.
Yaxley FC, from a Huntingdonshire village four miles south of Peterborough, made a then 20-year-old Mould the most-youthful manager in the top nine tiers of the game in England when they hired him in January at a time when they had just one point all season. Although the baby-faced gaffer quickly guided his side to their first win of the campaign, he has been unable to pull off a great escape and with relegation confirmed earlier this month for the Northern Premier League Midlands Division outfit, the club announced that he has been “removed” from his position by mutual consent with the team 18 points adrift at the bottom of the table with five games to play.
A desperate minnow way down the pyramid taking a chance on a fledgling boss is one thing but the Blues’ left field choice of untried rookie Buchan, handing him the reins of a top flight club despite having no previous experience in professional football seems extraordinary. Certainly Everton’s directors of the time can’t be accused of lacking imagination compared to their contemporary Crystal Palace counterparts who have wheeled out Roy Hodgson from retirement in his 76th year as they search for a “safe pair of hands” to deal with their flagging fortunes.
