During my time watching County 36 individuals have taken charge of the Hatters, Some are rightly County legends; (Danny Bergara; Dave Jones and Jim Gannon), in that they presided over success on the field. Others have been true County clubmen who have stepped up to the plate when the going was tough and kept things on an even keel. Eric Webster and Alan Lord are certainly the leaders amongst them.
..
..
Colin Murphy had two brief spells. The second was crucial. He saved us from the drop into non-league. It had been a close call and one to be avoided in the future. We managed it for 24 more years, but I’ve always felt that Murphy’s achievement in 1986/87 could well have saved the club from oblivion.
..
..
There have been appointments which have promised much given the individuals previous record. Asa Hartford came, and much was expected with his connections in the game but the promise was never fulfilled. Ian Bogie arrived as we were plummeting towards regional football. His track record at Gateshead suggested that he would provide us with an immediate exit from the Conference North. It was short lived tenure. He lasted but 6 games at that level.
..
..
Neil Young came with an impressive record in non-league. I have to say that I was one of the naysayers with regard to that appointment. The denizens of the Yellow Board on the other hand were beside themselves. They declaimed that it was a great move. Those of us with a bit more nous took one look at his track record; noted that it involved a huge turnover of players with little continuity and certainly not about building for the future. Sure enough he departed within 5 months, involving 27 games; 8 wins and 34 players, (and that in only just over half a season). The disciplinary record was quite appalling as well.
..
..
There have been some truly bizarre appointments, prime amongst which was that of Darije Kalezic. We were in the Conference National. The guy came from Dutch football with no knowledge of the non-league scene. It was a disaster, but not of his making. He had been ‘sold a pup’ by the sweet talking Spencer Fearn and Ryan McKnight, whose names are near the summit of those who have done County a dis-service. He lasted 11 games, and by that time the die was cast.
..
..
Dietmar Hamann came in at the start of the first spell in the Conference. He played in a World Cup Final and was a Champions League winner but his knowledge of football down at the 5th tier was zero. And so it showed. His appointment has always been shrouded by the inferences that it was made not by a football decision in Stockport but by ‘business connections’ in Liverpool.
We have had big names – in terms of their playing record at the highest level. Hartford was mentioned above. Add to them Mike Summerbee; Sammy McIlroy; Gary Ablett and Carlton Palmer. Most of them hamstrung by the off the field situation it’s fair to say, but none of them departed having enhanced their reputation at managerial level.
..
..
We have seen appointments which were more than promising after their previous managerial record. Jimmy McGuigan; Chris Turner and Paul Simpson. They all came with good credentials at the lower level, but were unable to replicate them at EP.
We have had managers whose tenure wasn’t long, and who, in my opinion should have had the opportunity to building what, to me, had been a promising start. Many years ago I thought Alan Thompson did a fair job; we should never have parted company with Les Chapman to facilitate the disastrous arrival of Jimmy Melia and Ray Mathias was shamefully treated.
..
..
We have seen the bizarre situation of “management” being delivered by a ‘Committee of Players and Directors’ in the interregnum between Suummerbee’s departure and McGuigan’s arrival. Quite hwo this Committee was formed of I haven’t been able to uncover but in that spell they had an impact. Tommy Sword was signed!!
And then there’s the situation at Accrington in March 2011. Peter Ward had been acting manager since Simpson was fired. He had struggled, to put it mildly, and the tale goes that he was fired 24 hours before the game. No replacement was named by the Board, who purportedly were unaware of the fixture the following day. Rumour has it that the players turned up at the Crown Ground; looked around and wondered who was in charge. Apparently Ray Mathias, who had been appointed Technical Director a few weeks previously, stepped in. This is stuff that you really couldn’t write. It was symptomatic of a club that was spinning in a vortex of biblical scale mismanagement off the field, and on it the welcoming arms of the Conference National were awaiting. For the sake of the table below I have assigned Matthias as ‘Acting Manager’ for that game.
..
..
So all in all, over the 57 years, I have seen 36 individuals take charge. Here’s the roll-call.
..
A reminder that the stats below relate purely to the games I saw, and are not the complete managerial record of the various individuals. In addition the dates for First and Last games relate to those I saw rather than the first and last games they were in charge of.
..
| PERMANENT MANAGERS | First Game | Last Game | Games | W | D | L | Win % | |
| Jim Gannon | } | 21/01/06 | 02/05/09 | 176 | 77 | 41 | 58 | 43.8% |
| } | 19/11/11 | 15/01/13 | 59 | 18 | 14 | 27 | 30.5% | |
| } | 19/01/16 | 07/03/20 | 163 | 86 | 22 | 35 | 52.5% | |
| 398 | 181 | 97 | 120 | 45.3% | ||||
| Danny Bergara | 07/04/89 | 25/03/95 | 298 | 142 | 68 | 88 | 47.7% | |
| Eric Webster | 30/04/82 | 08/05/85 | 128 | 45 | 33 | 50 | 35.2% | |
| Dave Jones | 01/04/95 | 03/05/97 | 124 | 59 | 34 | 31 | 47.6% | |
| Andy Kilner | 07/08/99 | 27/10/01 | 105 | 27 | 39 | 39 | 25.7% | |
| Gary Megson | 09/08/97 | 01/05/99 | 96 | 33 | 27 | 36 | 34.4% | |
| Alan Lord | 07/09/13 | 11/04/15 | 88 | 34 | 23 | 31 | 38.6% | |
| Jimmy McGuigan | 17/11/79 | 20/04/82 | 87 | 26 | 18 | 43 | 29.9% | |
| Carlton Palmer | 15/11/01 | 16/09/03 | 80 | 23 | 14 | 43 | 28.8% | |
| Asa Hartford | 18/08/87 | 13/03/89 | 70 | 19 | 24 | 27 | 27.1% | |
| Sammy McIlroy | 18/10/03 | 20/11/04 | 52 | 14 | 16 | 22 | 26.9% | |
| Mike Summerbee | 31/03/78 | 09/10/79 | 50 | 18 | 15 | 17 | 36.0% | |
| Chris Turner | 26/12/04 | 26/12/05 | 50 | 7 | 14 | 29 | 14.0% | |
| Gary Ablett | 08/08/09 | 08/05/10 | 45 | 5 | 10 | 30 | 11.1% | |
| Colin Murphy | } | 20/08/85 | 26/10/85 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 33.3% |
| } | 15/11/86 | 08/05/87 | 27 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 40.7% | |
| 39 | 15 | 10 | 14 | 38.5% | ||||
| Les Chapman | 01/11/85 | 24/04/86 | 31 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 41.9% | |
| Neil Young | 08/08/15 | 09/01/16 | 27 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 29.6% | |
| Paul Simpson | 07/08/10 | 03/01/11 | 25 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 20.0% | |
| Alan Thompson | 22/04/77 | 25/03/78 | 25 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 56.0% | |
| Dietmar Hamann | 12/08/11 | 05/11/11 | 20 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 15.0% | |
| Eddie Quigley | } | 24/01/75 | 24/01/75 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
| } | 05/11/76 | 18/04/77 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 40.0% | |
| 16 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 37.5% | ||||
| Ian Bogie | 23/03/13 | 31/08/13 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 16.7% | |
| Darije Kalezic | 02/02/13 | 16/03/13 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 27.3% | |
| Jimmy Melia | 26/08/86 | 27/10/86 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 25.0% | |
| Roy Chapman | 26/12/75 | 26/12/75 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% | |
| Walter Galbraith | 06/01/69 | 06/01/69 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% | |
| Trevor Porteous | 12/10/63 | 12/10/63 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% | |
| CARETAKER MANAGERS | First Game | Last Game | Games | W | D | L | Win % | |
| Eric Webster † | } | 18/09/81 | 02/01/82 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 43.8% |
| : | } | 03/11/86 | 03/11/86 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
| } | 17/03/89 | 27/03/89 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.0% | |
| 19 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 36.8% | ||||
| John Hollins | 20/09/03 | 14/10/03 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 28.6% | |
| Mark Lillis | 27/11/04 | 14/12/04 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0.0% | |
| Players / Directors Committee | 19/10/79 | 10/11/79 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 25.0% | |
| Phil Brown & Dave Conlon | 14/04/15 | 25/04/15 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 33.3% | |
| Jim Gannon | 02/01/06 | 14/01/06 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 33.3% | |
| Craig Madden | 30/10/01 | 03/11/01 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0% | |
| Mike Flynn | 16/01/16 | 16/01/16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% | |
| Alan Lord | 19/01/13 | 19/01/13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% | |
| Willie McStay | 12/11/11 | 12/11/11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0% | |
| ACTING MANAGERS | First Game | Last Game | Games | W | D | L | Win % | |
| Peter Ward | 08/01/11 | 05/03/11 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 16.7% | |
| Ray Mathias | 08/03/11 | 07/05/11 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 18.2% |
† – Eric Webster’s first spell as a Caretaker Manager, (September 1981 – January 1982) was due to Jimmy McGuigan’s illness.
Recent Comments