IT’S moving season. One thing the sight of Nicola Sturgeon standing at the podium in Bute House and offering her resignation speech as First Minister reminded us of was the managerial merry-go-round that is the cinch Premiership. What is it they say about a career in politics? They only ever end in failure? Well, rarely does the ship come in to moor for those in charge in Scotland’s top flight.
First up this season, Jack Ross
was unceremoniously barged overboard at Dundee United
after just seven games in charge following humiliating defeats against AZ Alkmaar in Europe and Celtic
in the Premiership. But when he took the job, you have to wonder whether he was tasked with success in Europe and challenging Celtic in the league. There’s more chance of Douglas Ross replacing Sturgeon as First Minister than either of those things happening.
Jim Goodwin was likewise cut adrift by Aberdeen following the abject 1-0 Scottish Cup defeat to West of Scotland side Darvel followed by a chastening 6-0 loss to Hibs in the Premiership. The Irishman jettisoned himself over the Easter Road advertising hoardings and set off into the sunset. And most recently it was the turn of Steven Hammell at Motherwell, who was discharged after just 24 matches.
I tend not to blame the managers when they’re given such ludicrously short periods to achieve success. But club chairs often feel they have to make snap judgements, even make a statement to fans that they won’t accept bad results, by axing the very person they went all-in on just a few months prior.
Ms Sturgeon’s calling from the crow’s nest that she’s ready to disembark rather than being pushed off the plank reminds this correspondent of the times when Martin O’Neill and Walter Smith announced ahead of time their respective departures from Celtic and Rangers in the 2000s. Both gargantuan presences, their impending departures were greeted with a sense of deflation, feelings of the end of an era, of halcyon days being numbered. Both managers pillaged a bounty of league titles and domestic silverware during their spells in charge, and even showed up on the European stage, with momentous Champions League nights and runs to the UEFA Cup final in 2003 and 2008.
For Celtic, O’Neill was replaced by Gordon Strachan who, while not providing fans with the same thrills as his predecessor, offered similar levels of success on a far tighter budget. Gone were the days of signing Chris Sutton, John Hartson and Neil Lennon for multi-million-pound fees from the English Premier League. But three titles in a row, epic Champions League wins against Manchester United and AC Milan, and qualification for the competition’s knockout rounds were arguably a better return than O’Neill managed between 2000 and 2005. Across the city, the return of Smith to the Ibrox helm in 2007 on the back of Strachan’s successes marked a significant upturn in the club’s fortunes, not least that UEFA Cup run in his first season back in the dugout. But gone were the days of Mark Hateley, Paul Gascoigne, Brian Laudrup and Ally McCoist that defined the nine-in-a-row era. Smith’s second incarnation as Ibrox manager was marked by pragmatism, which some rival fans dubbed “anti-football”, that played to his team’s strengths.
After Smith left, of course, Rangers were already mired in dangerous waters and the hull was breached 11 years ago this week when Duff and Phelps were first called in as administrators. But talk about stepping out of the wreckage. A decade on from that debacle Rangers, having won their first Premiership title since Smith was in charge, were guided to the Europa League final last term. Ironically, the manager who steered them to Seville, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, was the other Premiership manager given his marching orders this term after falling way behind Celtic in the title race. His replacement, Michael Beale, is undefeated in 13 matches.
Is there some ethereal lighthouse always guiding Glasgow’s big two down the right straits? Their duopoly of the Scottish game is of course a factor, but the clubs’ relative successes in Europe often come against others on the continent whose wealth eclipses their own. The answer, as is always the case in football at all levels, lies in matching ambition with recruitment. Just look at Hearts and Robbie Neilson. Here’s a manager who understands that his No.1 priority is third place in the Premiership. It now guarantees group-stage European football and the cash injection that brings. That, in turn, provides a platform to develop his squad into one more capable of cup runs without distracting from the pursuit of that principal goal.
For decades now, becoming Aberdeen manager has come with the caveat of yearning for a return to the Sir Alex Ferguson glory days. As Strachan and Smith demonstrated in the 2000s, however, it doesn’t have to be about rekindling former glories. The Dons and Motherwell seem to have been anchored in a hinterland of mediocrity for some time now. Breaking out of that mould will require sensible recruitment based on achievable goals. The statement from Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack this week, then, that incoming chief executive Alan Burrows, hired recently from Motherwell, will have a big say on Goodwin’s replacement is a welcome sign of careful deliberation.
Both clubs need to work out what success means for them in 2023, not the 1980s and 1990s. Both require a candidate who can challenge for that third place as a starting point. That, over flash-in-the-pan cup final appearances and forays into European qualifying matches, can provide a platform for whoever takes over to build. The present is about getting out of the mire.
