AROUnD THE
GROUnDSIAn HOLLOWAY
FFT’s columnist is still coming down after the high of Bristol Rovers’ stunning final-day promotion from League
Two, overseen by Joey Barton. It didn’t start well for him, says ‘Ollie’ – but that’s why young bosses need timeF
orgive me for getting excited here- I’m still trying to get over what
happened to Bristol Rovers on an
unbelievable final day where they
beat Northampton to automatic
promotion with a five-goal swing. I’ve
never seen anything quite like it. We
needed seven goals in the end... and
got seven. I mean, how many times
does that actually happen?
I remember talking about the Gas
and Joey Barton at the start of the
season. Rovers had gone down, he
was about to start his first full year
and I remember saying, ‘Whatever
you do, give him a chance to settle in’.
And at first, it wasn’t working... not
that I was surprised. When you take
over a heavily changed club, like I did
at Leicester, it can be a complete and
utter nightmare. You’ve got different
sets of players brought in by different
managers, and that’s just how Rovers
ended up. Changing gaffers so many
times in quick succession is the worst
idea anyone could ever have.
At the end of the day, you need
stability and you need your DNA as
a manager all over the signings. You
need to stamp it on their forehead:
‘This is where you are, this is what
we do here’. And thank God they kept
faith with Joey, because that’s what
I believe he’s done so far with the way Rovers play. I know he’s got passion, and
I know he’s also got his issues. But I’m delighted that our owner has stayed with
him – the support he’s shown this year has been absolutely fantastic, and the club
have been rewarded. Joey is the perfect example of why you need to give a young
manager time to learn and succeed. Because if you don’t show faith with a guy
like that, what’s the point of hiring him in the first place?
You’ve got my old player Barry Hayles in this magazine, talking about wanting
to start out in management. When I first had him at Rovers, he had a stuttering
problem with his speech – after the first time he got man of the match, he asked
if I could speak to the press instead of him. He’d had some ups and downs in his
life, but it was all down to a lack of confidence. In the end, he succeeded because
he’s a wonderful, magnificent man. I don’t doubt that he can do it again.
If he was here in front of me, I’d tell
him two things about management:
you need a huge slice of luck, but you
also need to start forming some really
positive relationships. Rome wasn’t
built in a day, and nothing is built
instantly in football. Without lots of
connections, you’re not going to have
that great network you need to thrive.
Rovers wouldn’t have gone up without
Elliot Anderson from Newcastle, but
Joey was a good friend of their loan
manager, Shola Ameobi.
You’ve also got to keep going and
be resilient – if things go wrong, you
bounce straight back. You keep going,
believe in what you do and become
that standard-bearer. I look at Gareth
Ainsworth, one of my former players,
with absolute pride – he’s nearly
been at Wycombe for 10 years now.
He was a flying winger in his day who
didn’t like defending. Now his teams
can defend brilliantly – the way they
got into the League One play-off final
against MK Dons was terrific. So you
have to keep learning whoever you
are, but it’s all about understanding
the world you’re trying to create on
your training ground – and sticking to
it. The minute you go away from that,
or you change your mind, players lose
faith. That seems to be very easy for
them these days – just look at what happened to Manchester United this season.
If you ask me, I think their senior players want slapping.
There’s no easy ticket to early success, but being open and honest is a good
start – forging a relationship with the media and supporters will give you some
extra time, which Joey did at the end of last season. He spent a lot of time talking
to a very disgruntled group of fans after relegation, and they basically came back
and said, ‘No, this lad’s good’. As a manager, all you want to know is what sort of
ground you’re stood on – you don’t want to be on ice because it’s slippery and you
don’t know if you’re going to go through it. You want to be on solid stuff, knowing
where you stand – and others in turn want to know where they stand with you.
So like Joey, I’d wish Baz the best of luck in his coaching career – it’s now their
turn to show what they can do. Like winning 7-0 on the last day of the season...88 July 2022 FourFourTwo“WHEn YOU TAKE OVER A HEAVILY
CHAnGED CLUB, IT CAn BE An UTTER
n IGHTMARE. BUT THAnK GOD THAT
ROVERS KEPT FAITH WITH JOEY”
WHAT’S OCCURRInG