Pundits and newly appointed managers/head coaches invariably say that three years is how long it takes to make a club successful. Since its formation BFC has had 53 managers/head coaches, but only 12 have had 3 or more years tenure, with Danny Wilson (1994 - 98) being the last. How much has this impacted on how the club has prospered since 1998 ? A lot has been said that recruitment has been the key issue for success or the lack of. It's also been the key issue regarding certain departures. In Michael Calvin's book "The Nowhere men", which is about talent spotting, there is an interesting quote from Barry Lloyd. Lloyd an ex Chelsea and Fulham player and Brighton manager for seven years said "The average lifespan for a manager is around 18 months. The reason for that is poor team selection and recruitment. End of story. Most managers fail because of poor recruitment but clubs (owners/directors) underrate it." Is this the story of BFC ? BTW I thoroughly recommend the book.
Player power, agents, greedy owners etc have changed the game substantially since the launch of the Premier league, and made it virtually impossible for managers/head coaches to build a team and retain players over a 2 or 3 year period. Especially for the smaller less fashionable clubs such as ours. Those days are gone in the leagues below the Premier league. In my opinion there is too much greed and lack of patience in the modern game for anyone to truely build and keep together a successful team for any length of time.
I'm talking about building a regular team such as the 70s Leeds or Forest. Not about a one off successful season then straight down the next. It's happened to us many times over the past few years. The destruction and dismantling of a successful team because we can't afford to retain those players.
There has to be something in that I think Redhelen. And it's one of the reasons I wanted a UK based manager this time around, because I believe a manager from the continent is less likely to stay for several years. Valerian posted a lovely photograph on Twitter this morning: I wouldn't have wanted to spend so much time away from my children (especially when they were this age) for three years. Hope I'm wrong of course!
True. Tbf they are of an age that could come over here and benefit though. Hopefully they might come over once he's settled, these things take time.
I'm sure Davey had 3 years. Or was it 2 and a half? Anyway, we ended up being lumped with Odejayi and el Haimour when he got the boot.
It’s that type of picture on his Twitter that makes me think he won’t last anything like 3yrs especially with a young family.
