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THE NON-LEAGUE PAPER WEEKLY COLUMN

THE NON-LEAGUE PAPER WEEKLY COLUMN

Billinge FC Admin10 Nov 2018 - 13:30
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This week’s NLP programme column below, written by Adam Ellis.

October was a month which saw the managerial merry-go-round in full flow with destinations taking a different turn from what you might have expected.

Martin Gray found himself back in football at Ebac Northern League Division One side Shildon after his departure at York City earlier this season.

Heads were turned by the 47-year-old’s decision to make the drop three levels lower than his former employers. As much as football can be about turning on a swivel to beat a defender and endless stamina, the power of persuasion can be the basis for new beginnings.

If a chairman’s persuasive talents can wrap its arms around a manager or coach’s ‘gut feeling’, as was the case with Gray, then who are we to argue against it? Here are three other instances of the past and present where managers have made moves few could have predicted.

Kevin Nicholson – Mousehole

From the National League with Torquay United last season, to the new surroundings of South West Peninsula League outfit Mousehole AFC.

A drop from Step 1 to Step 7, but the Seagulls are a club who have no intentions of ‘standing still’ according to head of football operations Adam Fletcher.

UEFA ‘A’ Licence-holder Nicholson has proved quite the catch for the fishing port town based in west Cornwall, steering the team to a 11-1 league victory over Ludgvan last week.

Switching the Gulls for the Seagulls, Nicholson said he was “taken aback by the club’s footballing philosophy, coaching set-up, use of technology, committee support, infrastructure, fantastic Academy and forward-thinking ambition.”

Other moves which flew under the radar and hit national headlines

Tony Adams - FK Gabala

This was no high and dry decision by the Arsenal great who followed his sacking as Portsmouth manager with a move to the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan and top flight side FK Gabala.

His arrival at the one-time champions of Azerbaijan was heralded as a landmark moment to boost the Azerbaijan Premier League’s reputation, but results didn’t come consistently as Gabala were left to bide their time with mid-table finishes.

After leaving the club, Adams then returned in 2014 as sporting director and his recruitment saw the team post the their biggest points total in eight years when they finished third.

For the next two seasons, Gabala couldn’t crack the glass ceiling and would saddle consecutive third-place finishes with cup runs which fell at the final hurdle.

Adams most recently was appointed as manager of La Liga side Granada with the objective of staving off relegation. But the damage had already been done as Adams’ defensive nous wasn’t enough to overturn a minus-45 goal difference.

Sven Goran Eriksson – Notts County

A year after managing Manchester City backed by the mega wealth of Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed, the former England boss was lured to League Two Notts County as sporting director.

In one of British football’s most extreme cases of shady ownership, the takeover would become part of a wider investigation into the legitimacy of businessman Russell King for the Serious Fraud Office.

Proclaiming to have bought the rights to North Korea’s gold, coal and iron ore mining operations, King was the head of a company worth $2trillion. All the money in the world to help Sven take the Magpies from League Two to the Premier League.

And the Swede was totally sold on the idea he could do just that, reportedly travelling to Pyongyang to visit North Korean dignitaries.

But all was not as it seemed and once ‘conman’ King was embroiled in the investigation for fraud, the club ran up debts of £7million before being sold for £1 to local businessman Ray Tew.

Eriksson’s seven months at the club were at an end and the Swede later admitted the vanishing act had left him stewing in ‘anger’.

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