Managerial Madness, Over the Top Fines and the Manager That Has Never Paid For Players – Talk
- Sam Greasley-Machin
- Oct 21, 2019
- 4 min read
Madejski Stadium, credit; Flickr (John Fielding )
Usually during the international breaks news EFL news tends to be a lot harder to come by with the Championship and select League One fixtures all our of action. However, this past week that has certainly not been the case with the a very controversial managerial appointment, the punishment of the Derby drunk drivers and unwarranted fines in the Championship alone. Further down the leagues one manager discusses how he has never paid for a player while another is severed his punishment for betting on players and has paid the ultimate price. All of that to come in this weeks talk the football league column!
Reading’s managerial madness
In the week previous Reading announced the departure of Jose Gomes following their dismal start to the Championship campaign which had seen them drop to 21st in the table, despite massive summer spending. The owners then set out the task of replacing the fan favourite with director of football Mark Bowen given the task of drawing up a list of potential replacements.
But it was the man who was tasked with drawing up that initial list that was given the job as Reading manager, with a contract until next summer, despite never having made it as manager before in 20 years of coaching. The Welshman was reportedly turned down for jobs over the summer making the appointment even more laughable. Perhaps worse that a former player, Clinton Morrison, told Sky Sports “I’d never have said he could a manager”. Inspiring.
The former Mark Hughes assistant insists he had no part in Gomes’ departure despite being director of football and even if that is true, which is very, very sceptical, the situation still looks ridiculous and a PR disaster – sack the manager, take his job. Bringing about a very weird situation where the outgoing manager was under less pressure than his successor, certainly a gamble. A gamble that hasn’t gone down well with most Reading fans and rightly so!
Punishing Derby’s drunk drivers
Following the disgusting antics of Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett driving while massively over the drink limit which lead to a crash injuring their captain Richard Keogh. The pair have now been served their punishments 12-month community orders, 180 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from driving for two years.
There has been online backlash over the severity of these punishments with claims they are getting off lightly because they’re footballers. In fact the sentencing is actually relatively in line with most cases of drink drivers, the real backlash should be towards the club. Both players saw an instant return to Derby’s line-up after the incident which is out of order. How should two players, while under a criminal investigation at the time, have been allowed to play especially with the seriousness of the incident and the fact it resulted in injuring a colleague. Cocu had alternative players at his disposal and it hardly sent the most inspiring message to them.
Charlton’s stadium the Valley, credit; Geograph (Marathon )
Lee Bowyer’s over the top fine
Lee Bowyer this week received a fine of £4,000 and three game match suspension for comments the Charlton boss made towards referee peter Bankes in their 2-1 defeat to Swansea. Bowyer reportedly
told the referee “you’ve had a bad game” and “you’re looking after your academy mate”.
The comments are quite clearly a breach of rules, but does it warrant a three match ban; probably not. The 42-year-old insists he didn’t raise his voice and they were ‘sarcastic’. The comments themselves aren’t that bad in terms of severity. The punishment just seems over the top in regards to the ban and in truth the referee probably did have a bad game, as so many officials often do in the Championship.
Wimbledon wave goodbye to Wally This past week Wally Downes was given his punishment by the FA following a breach in betting rules. It was decided that the then Wimbledon manager would be suspended for 28 days and ordered to pay a £3,000 fine. Obviously Wally was a wally to be betting in the first place, but he has paid the ultimate price as his club sacked him. Downes was giving his marching orders this week after the club had internally suspended him following the allegations arising. As a result assistant manger Glyn Hodges was appointed and won three of his first four games with the club winless in 13 prior to his appointment. It’s a no brainer Downes has gone givn both the poor form and betting while at the club are individually serioes enough incidents on their own to go, leg alone collectively.
“I’ve never paid a transfer fee since I’ve been manager. Everyone I get here, they’re all free transfers.”
The manager who has never paid for players
Jim Bentley is the longest serving manager in England, despite only being 43, seven years is enough to see him take the title as the longest serving boss in the top four divisions as head of Morcambe.
The League Two side are very restricted with finances and so can only sign players on the promise of being on display with Morcambe can allow them to move onto bigger clubs. This of course means Bentley has had to rebuild so many times over, but is nothing short of admirable to the way he works and how the club also operates. In times where football is awash with money to see a club manager doing enough under such circumstances. Plenty of clubs could perhaps take a leap from Bentley’s book, particularly clubs like Salford who simply aim to throw money at the side in search of glory.
Why not check out last weeks column here looking at the recent managerial changes in the EFL, the League shake-up so far this season and the September awards. Don’t forget to follow Talk the Football League Twitter to hear all the latest Football League news and join in on the discussions @TalktheFL.
By Sam Greasley-Machin
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