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Episode 199: Manager Profile: Liam Manning
0 Playsin 7 hours
Southampton – Zak has put his history degree to use once again as we look at another potential candidate for the manager job. Today, Liam Manning.
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Transcript
Introduction and Transition
00:00:09
Zak
Hello and welcome to the Daily Southampton, part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. My name is Zach Ingo Finch and i am your host today. The reason that there might be a bit of a weird cutout delay there is that I totally forgot that, despite the fact that we're all here, that I'd be the one hosting. Despite the fact Greg asked me about three seconds ago.
00:00:27
Zak
so Greg, Oscar, are you doing, guys? Yeah.
00:00:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
but that are i
00:00:30
Oscar
Thank you.
00:00:31
Zak
yeah Let's just say the out-of-season heat is getting to me a little bit.
Liam Manning's Managerial Background
00:00:37
Zak
So it's Wednesday, which as much as it used to be Wildcard Wednesday, has now just become Zach talks about a potential manager that we've been linked with and does everything he possibly can to avoid talking about Gary O'Neill and Steven Gerrard.
00:00:52
Zak
Because...
00:00:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
I like to think of it as Zach putting his history degree to the use it always wanted.
00:00:57
Zak
mean, at this point, mate, it's more you, Stan, it was getting beforehand, which as harrowing as that is, it's just a fact of life when it comes to humanities degree.
00:01:07
Zak
yeah, so today we're going talk about Bristol City manager Liam Manning. So what do we know about Liam Manning, guys, other than the fact that his team recently just got knocked out by Sheffield United from the playoffs?
00:01:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'm going to assume no relation to Ryan Manning.
00:01:24
Zak
No, but there are a lot of Saints crossovers that we'll see that are a bit weird. i look forward to I look forward to telling you all about that.
00:01:31
Oscar
i saw I saw his post-match, I think last week after the game, where he was expressed some of his frustration about the refereeing.
00:01:40
Zak
I watched that game and I kind of agree with him. I don't understand how that happened. feel like you could have gone out and tried a little bit harder on the second leg off the back of it, but is what it is that they you know They massively overachieved and that is one of the reasons I think he's being linked with so many jobs, including ours.
00:01:57
Zak
So let's just crack on. Born in 1985, he is 39. So kind of on that trend of us hiring a young and upcoming manager, not had a significantly large amount of sort of clubs that he's been at previously.
00:02:13
Zak
As I said, currently the manager of Bristol City. And, you know, there wasn't really much of an expectation for him to get promoted this season, they did give it a good go. And obviously that was a big thing.
00:02:24
Zak
So he did have a career in football before he got into coaching. wasn't quite... it was a professional level but it was all sort of like non-league uh so he originally joined norwich's cat academy before moving to ipswich which is quite controversial considering they're kind of rivals but spent a year there as a professional but never got a game before being released in 2005 and that's when he dropped into non-league played for bishop stortford long melford leeston uh before going over to iceland and i'm not gonna lie looking at those names they they feel like they're out of like a children's fable like
00:02:31
Oscar
you
00:03:00
Zak
it's like can't say that I know where any of these places are any of anything about these teams. But he even went over and played in Iceland for a little bit before coming back to play for Woodbridge, Roxham, which again, not not debunking the idea that these are like fabled towns, and Ipswich Wanderers before eventually retiring and getting into coaching.
00:03:23
Zak
So he he has a bit of a playing career. just I have no idea where most of these places are apart from maybe Ipswich. just roughly. But obviously off the back of that, he went on to join West Ham's under-21s is what Transfer Market says. and Under-23s is what Wikipedia says, and it's kind of hard to pin
Success and Challenges at Various Clubs
00:03:45
Zak
down.
00:03:46
Zak
Youth setup, I guess, is the the main sort of thing, but not under-18s, above the under-18s. So he was with them for quite a long time and ended up coming into the under-21s as becoming the Un21's manager in 2018. So he was there like kind of doing a bit of coaching and then was so sort of became an assistant. so he rose through the ranks considering he came from sort of non-league football and it obviously showed that he had a bit more of an aptitude towards coaching.
00:04:11
Zak
There is a lot of... Links to him and a lot of praise around him for being one of the people that was key in the development of Declan Rice. So I don't know if that's just noise.
00:04:23
Zak
it's Again, it's like kind of articles of linking to it. I think I've got a link to it in the description if I remember to send Greg all the links this time. I don't have to manually edit it at like one in the morning. But yeah, so that that's a thing that apparently he is credited as having a hand in.
00:04:38
Zak
then he ended up leaving West Ham, weirdly, to go to the City Football Group, which you'll know, obviously, for Manchester City and New York City, where, like, if you remember rightly, all of this kind of weird intermingling championship stuff where Frank Lampard played for a little bit when he was on loan at City, which was bizarre.
00:04:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank
00:04:58
Zak
And, yeah, he became, like, originally their director of coaching, but then eventually became their like academy director. So it's kind of like, I'm be guessing he did a really good job at West Ham and then kind of managed to kind of jump into what I would consider quite senior roles quite early on from from that kind of jump from coaching. like you've You've worked a lot in coaching Oscar as well.
00:05:17
Zak
like I don't know. I feel like that's kind of insane to go from sort of non-professional league kind of straight into something. So it seemed like so of West Ham after doing a little bit
00:05:25
Oscar
Yeah, that is it is unusual. Like to go straight into the twenty three is usually, especially if you've not been a player, i mean, it's not unheard of if you're an ex-player for that to happen. But for a non-player to go straight in at that level, you know, it would have also depended on his badges and how...
00:05:42
Oscar
how he managed to get his badge. I mean, potentially if he was in Iceland and did it out there, that maybe that makes a bit of sense. But, you know, if if not, if he hasn't been fast-forwarded, then it must just go to show that he's, they showed a lot of faith in him and he's he's demonstrated some good qualities to be accelerated.
00:05:57
Zak
Exactly that. So like after being the Academy Director, he managed to get his first role in coaching. It was like actual management, where he went to say actual management, you know what I mean? Actual manager of a football club.
00:06:09
Zak
And it's kind of weird where some of the parallels across some of the other candidates we're looking at, like Will Steele, where he ended up going to the Belgian League. So was the Belgian First Division B, which is basically just their championship. At one point, I'm pretty sure they just called it the Second League.
00:06:22
Zak
Why they decided to change that to a more confusing name, Who knows? But he went to take charge of Lommel SK. He managed to get side that was bottom to third in the table at the end of the 2020-21 season. So like we fast-forwarded quite a bit and had all his coaching career at the different places out of the way.
00:06:42
Zak
And you kind of really realise, oh man, this this guy's coaching career is only sort of five years long, but we'll see how quite of exciting it is. But I think that's kind of where we're being linked with. A lot of the people we've been linked with are very much sort of It's only been the last sort five or six years they've done stuff, and we're knowing who they are.
00:06:59
Zak
As much as I know you, Greg, want Sam Allardyce and keep... I can't work out if it's to wind me up at this point or semi semi-realistic. Whatever. Don't answer that question.
00:07:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
A little bit column A, little bit column B.
00:07:09
Zak
Hmm.
00:07:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
wouldn't be disappointed with it at the signing. I think that it speaks volumes about the quality of manager that's available at the moment and and perhaps the price tag on any of the the sort of managers that you would be hoping for.
00:07:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it's it's pretty clear that what we're going to be going for is potential. It's just that once again, that comes with risk, doesn't it?
00:07:32
Zak
Yeah. Yeah, we'll we'll get into it some more. And there are definitely some links to to Russell Martin. And I'll kind of talk about how his time at Lomolesk was and where he moved afterwards after a word from our partners at Bionique.
00:08:27
Zak
Wonderful. So we are back and where we left off. Manning had just sort of taken over Lomel SK. Again, he managed to get him from third up to third from bottom.
00:08:40
Zak
So third in the league is where they finished. Bottom was where he started. And during his 28 matches in charge, he won 14, drew three, lost 11, and managed an average of 1.61 points per game in charge. Now, don I don't know how much credence I give to this stat.
00:08:55
Zak
I keep marking it down, and I don't know why. I think it's just because it's something that you can kind of benchmark seasons against. However, is one of those situations where... That's obviously always going to change depending on how long somebody's at a place, right?
00:09:07
Zak
Because you could end up being like, his average is two points per game. And it's like, yeah, he only was at a club for like five games. But he kind of seems to have roughly the same sort of period of time at each club. The fact that this is, you know, 2020, 2021, and we've still got a couple of clubs to go shows you that he's he's moved around quite a lot in those years.
00:09:26
Zak
So after he managed to get them, obviously, up to third, he then moved on to a different challenge where he went to League One. And this is where he took over MK Dons in the 2021-2022 season.
00:09:40
Zak
Now, this is where I talked about the Saints links, kind of adjacent. He replaced former Southampton manager Russell Martin at MK Dons. So Russell Martin had a bit of a rough season MK Dons, but he left to go to Swansea.
00:09:55
Zak
So obviously Swansea off did the job.
00:09:56
Oscar
you
00:09:57
Zak
There was also the whole COVID thing. So it was kind of, we'll talk about some of the ways that his football has been described later, but I'm not going to say more of the same, because when he moved there, after his first 11 games, he managed to win Manager of the Month September.
00:10:12
Zak
managed to get 11 points in a run of five league games. And he also managed to win Manager of the Month in January 2022 as well. So, like, clearly with a sort of similar run. So clearly doing some good work.
00:10:25
Oscar
Thank you.
00:10:25
Zak
There was a a bit of a sad thing where they managed to get third place. They missed automatic promotion by a ah ah singular point, which is always difficult because we know how important fine margins are, how especially how important fine margins are going to be in the championship.
00:10:42
Zak
I don't think that I can attribute these kind of things to simply him, but also like... sucks, right? they lost to Wickham Wanderers in the playoffs following poor start of the season.
00:10:54
Zak
The next season, he was then let go in December 2022 after only 15 points from 20 matches. So who knows why? Combination of potentially players that let go. Disappointment after the highs of almost reaching the playoffs, as as you we know how that can be for some clubs. you know There are some clubs where it's easy to rebuild, like with Leeds when they lost to us, have managed to go on, storm through the championship again.
00:11:17
Zak
and go up. you know They were picked apart, but they've managed to recruit pretty well. It's been lot more difficult to do in League One. I was talking to Greg how about how I remember that game, because I remember the...
00:11:27
Oscar
I can't remember.
00:11:29
Zak
The Beast, if you remember rightly, he was the one who used to play for Wicked Wanderers. can't remember his name. Afeng Kenwa?
00:11:35
Oscar
can
00:11:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
back in Femois.
00:11:36
Zak
Yeah, so so he was he played his last game in the playoff finals against Sunderland after they beat MK Dons. So that was his his last ever game for him before like but leaving them. Obviously, they they know lost to Sunderland anyway.
00:11:52
Zak
And that was, I think, around all the time that all of the the documentaries and bits and pieces were going on. Yeah, so obviously after he was let go, you know he we'll have a look at his full time in charge. So he was in charge of 83 games. He won 41, drew and lost 28, averaging now 1.65 points per game. So it's it's climbing.
00:12:13
Zak
That's 0.04 if you're keeping count. So, you know, good for him. He had a couple of months off between that time. So after he was laid off in the December, he was picked up by Oxford United in March 2023.
00:12:26
Zak
And he had ah one of those fantastic new manager bounces where he won four out of five games and ended up getting manager of the month again, because, you know, you you'll do that if you win four out of five games.
00:12:37
Zak
But he left in November 2023 after 29 games in charge. So during his short stint in Oxford United, managed 14 wins, seven draws, eight losses with an average of 1.69 points per game. So again, steadily climbing.
00:12:52
Zak
The reason that he left Oxford United was because he was offered a job at Bristol City.
Manning's Style and Future Prospects
00:12:56
Zak
And him and his assistant, a bloke known as Chris Hogg, who I'm sure he will go wherever he goes with him, joined Bristol City in 2023, signing until 2027, which is where he currently resides.
00:13:10
Zak
And obviously, as we know recently, a failed playoff bid with Bristol City. His City career has been a bit more varied. It's been know longer for starters. So most of the time, beat we're talking a singular season.
00:13:23
Zak
So he's been there since 2023. And he's over his he's managed to win 28 games, draw 25, and lost 29. So the average has dropped. as I said, he's also been here a whole like season more.
00:13:36
Zak
And so, yeah, that's kind of his career up until now. One of the yeah one of the the upsetting taglines that I also sent to Greg as a sneak peek was that apparently he favours a high possession of the high press style of football.
00:13:51
Zak
people You know, if he goes to Southampton, people have talked about how it might be nice for him to continue his three at the back, which is a sure as something.
00:13:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
uh...
00:14:01
Zak
However, according to Transfer Market, his typical formation is 4-2-3-1. So knows? Maybe it will change a little bit.
00:14:10
Zak
Right. But then, obviously, I like to do my other little thing, which is the agents and the agencies he's part of. So he's part of a company known as Refuel Performance Management, which the more I see these names of these companies, the more fun I'm having.
00:14:23
Zak
They all just sound like different energy drinks. It's great.
00:14:26
Oscar
Thanks.
00:14:26
Zak
Like... each other Their most expensive player on their book books is Alfie Doherty, who plays for Newton. like I think he's worth like £8 million. So it's not like a hugely, let's say, prestigious agency.
00:14:39
Zak
But they have a fair few amount of players on there. A lot of championship players. You've got like a lot of people for Wrexham. A lot of sort of Ipswich, notting at like not nothinging i'm sorry Norwich. That sort of area. There's quite a few.
00:14:50
Zak
Yeah. there is a saints link there uh adli muhammad who is one of the goalkeepers uh for us in the premier league too i think he's had like 20 appearances or something like that uh he is part of that agency and also former saints goalkeeping coach andrew sparks who is now at qpr is also part of that agency One of the things to look out for before I put some questions to the floor is that like every manager that's been linked with us, he has also been linked with Leicester because apparently that's just going to be the story now, right? Because obviously Ipswich probably not going to get rid of theirs.
00:15:25
Zak
Us and Leicester coming down, we're kind of seen as a hot commodity for any manager that's up and coming. that probably wants to maybe take the next step up without immediately getting a job in the Premier League.
00:15:38
Zak
He's also recently been linked with Norwich as well. I think that the what you said, Greg, I've written down here that it would feel like a very Russell Martin-style appointment, but right?
00:15:48
Zak
Not only because apparently they they their play is similar, like he literally took over MK Dons directly after him. It's very much sort of a... he's He's risen through the ranks. Can he do it again?
00:15:59
Oscar
Thank you.
00:15:59
Zak
Not as an illustrious playing career as like Martin, obviously.
00:16:03
Zak
But he's also you know shown what he can do with limited resources. It's weird how history repeats itself. My only worry with this is that you know it would be a repeat of history repeating itself. We've come ah ah up against him as Saints before as well. He was in charge when they beat us 3-1 in February last year.
00:16:21
Zak
say Yeah, he's consistently worked his way up through leagues. As I said, he's had a bit of experience abroad and here from, you know, Belgium to League One to, you know, the Championship.
00:16:34
Zak
And that's pretty much his career up until now.
00:16:38
Oscar
ah ah sounds up yeah It sounds like an interesting one.
00:16:38
Zak
So maybe...
00:16:40
Oscar
Obviously, I think we've got a fairly fairly specific mould of manager in mind.
00:16:46
Zak
Hmm...
00:16:47
Oscar
i think but But I think, as you said earlier, like realistically, where we are as a club, we're either going for young up-and-coming potential into excellence, which has been a big, you know, strap thing at the club over the years.
00:17:01
Oscar
Or we're going old school, you know, someone that's been around the block because you're not going to get a combination of both because they're the ones that cost the most money and are probably already employed in reality.
00:17:13
Oscar
So, you know, i'd rather I'd personally rather go down the route of taking a chance, but the trouble with it is, you know, if they do poorly, then all of a sudden... It's, you know, sport public are terrible and we need to get rid of them and this, that and the other.
00:17:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's difficult, right? Because there's not a lot of wiggle room for it to go wrong with a risk.
00:17:31
Oscar
No, exactly.
00:17:31
Zak
Not this time round.
00:17:32
Oscar
and
00:17:32
Zak
And that's that the other problem.
00:17:34
Oscar
And then the other problem of of it is if they do really well, straight away, who's going to come sniffing for them?
00:17:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
Get poached, yeah.
00:17:40
Oscar
You know, is it going to be a short term appointment, long term? You know, it's just one of those.
00:17:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, that's exactly what I take away from what you've been saying about Liam Manning's career today, is that he's quite happy to jump ship up the ranks at any point. So if a ah ah bigger club comes sniffing, what's going stop him
00:17:59
Oscar
Okay.
00:17:59
Zak
I don't know. I think he's been very sort of happy at Bristol City and he's had some some personal tragedy as well that I think will probably, in my opinion, reaffirm his loyalty to Bristol City.
00:18:10
Zak
But it's like, it's something that from a footballing perspective, it's not really worth paying attention to and in the sense of, like, it's not his career. But he lost unfortunately lost his son and that has meant that he took an extended
Speculation on Southampton's Next Manager
00:18:24
Zak
period of time off.
00:18:25
Zak
And you know I think that when from an employer's perspective, I think that you are more willing to likely to show loyalty to somebody that's stuck by you for a tragedy like that. And again, a lot of these links are,
00:18:37
Zak
First sort of day out of the championship, like first sort of day that we were confirmed into the championship, Ivan Juric has been fired, right? And they basically picked probably the three up-and-coming managers and they consistently appear on all the same lists.
00:18:51
Zak
And those three are Danny Roll, Will Still and Liam Manning as kind of people that would fit into the this sort of mold of what we want to go for.
00:19:02
Zak
But we're kind of getting to a point now where we've had a ah ah couple of sort of manager profiles a couple of play for a couple of like up and coming managers or potential managers.
00:19:13
Zak
We've obviously got the other ones. After we have a message from our partners at Zencastr, where I've got both of you here now, I would like to ask both of your opinions on where you think it's going to go next and who you think we might appoint, what you'd be happy with, if Liam Manning would be something you're happy with. But yeah, first, a word from our partners at Zencastr.
00:19:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okey-doke. So here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform. Zencaster came out the clear winner. With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to start podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently.
00:19:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
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00:20:00
Zak
And we're back. So as I alluded to, obviously, we've done a couple of these manager profiles now, there's not going to be a huge amount left unless the odds start changing. and And they are in some respects more down the bottom than up the top.
00:20:12
Zak
I guess as we start to see where people go and the seasons actually wrap, we'll start to probably get more of a understanding as to where people's headspace are at. But yeah, it's been an interesting journey so far. So is everyone still on the roll train?
00:20:28
Zak
but but's Let's start with that, Oscar.
00:20:30
Oscar
I think I'm not sure Roel is expressing much of an interest at the moment, judging by what his comments have been recently. Look, and know he's probably not's not ruling anything out necessarily.
00:20:42
Oscar
ah ah do think there's an element of, I understand he's probably been frustrated at Sheffield, you know and there's nothing wrong with confidence. But I do feel like recently it's been breaching a little bit in towards, maybe not arrogance is a strong word, but it's quite a big jump to say I'm going to go from Sheffield Wednesday to the Premier League or the top of the Premier League or challenging for Europe or the Bundesliga.
00:21:10
Oscar
Fair play if it's going to happen. But, you know, if that's his aspirations, then is he going to want to have another season in the Championship?
00:21:17
Zak
it's it's difficult, right? Because, like, you look at where he went after he left us and, like, you know, when your assistants, you know, buy Munich and stuff like that and it's the actual German national team, yeah I think he's just naturally going to have bigger aspirations.
00:21:30
Oscar
yeah
00:21:30
Zak
And, you're right. I think that some of the things that haven't, haven't made me turn completely. And I know that a lot of people are very much still thinking, oh it's going to be great. It's that it just doesn't, it's not like, it's weird that he's our leading candidate, but he hasn't really talked about expressing a massive interest with us.
00:21:45
Zak
I think he was back like January time. And now it seems to sort of be like, well, actually, oh, there's, there's, there's like, there's opportunity elsewhere. And it's like, I'd hate for us to be a consolation prize. So Greg, where are you on the role train? Do you have a favoured managerial appointment, if not him?
00:22:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think it's a tough one. The more we talk about it and the more I think about it, the more I think there isn't a correct answer. Certainly it's going to please everyone. um I think that... I still think that Roll's a good fit if he wants to come.
00:22:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
But actually, of all of the manager profiles you've done so far, I think the most interest interesting prospect is Will still. comes with a bit of media attention as well I think which is always a good thing today I I would be just as interested if we hired some random South American manager out of the blue that none of us have ever heard of or never seen come in um'm I'm in for the ride whatever happens I guess is the real answer I just just hope it's good
00:22:49
Zak
i think I think we're all in for the ride, no matter what, right? ah ah I'm favouring towards Will still. And I think that the reason being is that the the mix of multiple different ah ah sort of... His background is interesting and that mix of being able to do well ah ah abroad at multiple different places, whatever you can say about the coaching badges. The fact that he kind wanted to try and and break into the Championship last season, didn't manage to get in because he applied for the Sunderland job.
00:23:17
Zak
I think it would just be a bit of a You allow someone to form that identity. the only problem is is the lack of championship experience, but also at the same time, like how else you get experience by getting the job, right?
00:23:29
Zak
And this is the problem we had where... with you remember There was like the the merry-go-round of when we joke about things like Big Sam and stuff. it's It's because for a long period of time, there was a merry-go-round where all of the same... like we was just the same managers at every single club. You could carbon copy-paste.
00:23:46
Zak
Whereas now I think it is quite different and I think the championship is a very good sort of battleground for that. But i also land on the page where, yeah, I just don't think anybody's going to be wholly happy with an appointment because I don't think that there is a one size fits all for what...
00:24:01
Zak
the challenges are for our club. There's no easy, simple transitionary period because we have rebuilt our identity so many times over the last couple of time like couple of years. Like we used to have this like thing called the Southampton way. And I haven't seen that mentioned in forever.
00:24:15
Zak
I don't know if there is a specific Southampton way. The big thing for the Southampton way is focusing on the youth apparently. But even that is kind of upset by this idea of the multi-club model where they are
00:24:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:24:27
Zak
bringing in young players but then sending them off straight away to Turkey and elsewhere. So it's like, I feel like it would be, you don't want to build with your entire identity around ah ah a new manager but also I think that you need a manager with enough charisma and enough understanding of the situation we're in to do that.
00:24:43
Zak
And I think Russell Martin had the charisma, it just... when the naivety to getting into the Premier League is what I think blew him completely out of the water. And now you've got a situation where whoever replaces him, you've just got a hope that if we can do it again, it doesn't happen the next time around. Like, unfortunately, as much as, you know, Rusk has annoyed us with the Leicester game, he managed to pull off a masterclass by just completely frustrating Man City to the point where they were throwing their toys out of the pram.
00:25:13
Zak
players who are like worth hundreds of million pounds more than most of our club is worth being upset that they couldn't play football because no one else was there to play and it's like it' so so like you it shows that you know Pete I can't remember somebody commented on our post that basically said we would be higher than Manchester United right now if we'd played like that all season.
00:25:33
Zak
And that's like that's nuts to think about. And it's it's awful. I don't know if I'd want to watch that. But having that like pragmatism and intelligence to to switch things up when things go go bad, and hopefully we won't have that level of naivety where we all knew that we were conceding tons of goals in the championship.
00:25:49
Zak
Why we just thought that would go away in the Premier League, of I don't know. But like maybe there'll be a bit more of a plan now. And I just think that whoever comes in will need to get the fans on board probably nice and early.
00:26:02
Zak
and But I also don't want them to rush the appointment.
00:26:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:26:05
Zak
And the fact that there are so many points here is why it's such a problem to pick a manager. So, Walska, just before I finish off, did you actually have a like preferred managerial appointment?
00:26:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:26:18
Oscar
Yeah, its i was i was fully on board with Danny Roll until, you know, obviously started expressing...
00:26:18
Zak
Because obviously...
00:26:25
Oscar
as I as know, i'm not I'm not against Will still. I'm not against... My one slight thing with it is the Championship is a league, I think, that does require experience. I'm not saying it has to be...
00:26:34
Zak
Mm-hmm.
00:26:34
Oscar
I'm not saying it has to be a Sam Allardyce or whatever, but, you know, look at the managers that have recently gone up. Scott Parker's had a couple of years in there. Chris Wilder, Daniel Farker, a very experienced that championship manager in getting promotion.
00:26:48
Oscar
You know, when it was Brentford, if we're looking at their model, Dean Smith's the one that came in, got them promoted. It's so solidified them in the league and then they moved on to a Thomas Frank, a bit more of a a fancy or a bit more of a flary name, shall we say.
00:27:03
Oscar
And my, not concerned, my wondering with Saints is how often recently have we ended up with a manager that we thought early on? Quite a lot of them recently have come out of a bit of left field fairly late on and then suddenly gathered a lot of momentum.
00:27:18
Oscar
So it's hardly possible it might be someone we've not spoken about at all.
00:27:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mm-hmm.
00:27:23
Zak
I'll have to say
00:27:25
Oscar
In fact, I would probably err unlikely with that. I don't think we'll go down the route of back down an old manager. I think the Russell Martin thing, I don't think that's a goer for anyone.
00:27:34
Oscar
I wouldn't be upset if Hasnag was too fancy have another go and everyone was all for it. But again, I don't see it happening. It's not a not a normal thing.
00:27:41
Zak
that for him.
00:27:43
Oscar
It just feels like it wouldn't work. So yeah, you know I think just keep an open mind with it. As long as I think as long as, you know, they've they've got a little bit of charisma because that was always my thing.
00:27:56
Oscar
It is an entertainment business at the end of the day. I'm not saying they have to, the football always has to be, you know, I'm not not against grinding out a nil-nil draw, but, you know, I do like a manager that's got a bit of charisma.
00:28:07
Oscar
I struggled with Claude Puel, if I'm brutally honest.
00:28:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:28:09
Oscar
Like,
00:28:09
Zak
Yeah, Yeah, ah that is a I think, 100% a reason that he struggled as much as he did. And like I think we did episode a long time back, I don't remember, don't know if you don' think think you'd even joined at that point, where you were saying, Greg, that you want more characters in football, right? You're missing the amount Jose Marino as we have and kind of stuff like that. and I think that is that is important. That was a big, I think, problem strike against Ivan Juric, is that like you could see the passion there when we won.
00:28:34
Zak
that one game that he was there for. But like at the same, other than that, when your press conference is are five minutes long and yeah all you're hearing is kind of like, well, this player is not being played. Why is he not being played?
00:28:44
Zak
And then you don't hear anything. You do, I think, need the charisma to be able to. So, so yeah, it would be interesting either way.
00:28:50
Oscar
I'll tell one championship veteran who I'd be fully on board with that I think Sandra would lose her mind.
00:28:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
Neil Warnock.
00:28:57
Oscar
But if Neil Warnock came about and fancied another go, and would be all for it.
00:29:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'm 100% in. Yeah. yeah You talk about characters in football.
00:29:05
Zak
oh
00:29:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
He is right up there with one of my favourite characters in football.
00:29:12
Oscar
Yeah, 100%.
00:29:13
Oscar
hundred percent
00:29:14
Zak
I remember when we saw him at Wembley, Greg, because obviously I was in Corpo, like, sort of business-y bits, right, for player finals because I got tickets from my workplace and it was like, oh, this close to Wimbley, you can hear him. It's incredible. You can hear him do his punditry from, like, a mile away. It's fantastic, but...
00:29:33
Zak
Yeah, I think that you guys have hit the nail on the head. It is just keeping it an open mind. There are some prospects that look more attractive, but at the same time on paper, you know you've seen... Unless it's going to be like that one time that Everton had Ancelotti, which was just insane.
00:29:48
Zak
i You're right. We just kind of have to hope that who comes in has been picked for the right reasons. But I can also fully understand that people don't really trust the Sports Republic to do that.
00:29:58
Zak
Yeah. But what can
Wrap-Up and Social Media Engagement
00:30:01
Zak
we do? we're We're not the ones making those decisions. We're not the ones that own the club. All we can do is try and bring you as much information as we can on the multiple different targets. And you're right. What's going to happen is that two weeks before they make an appointment, all of the odds will change.
00:30:14
Zak
All of the stuff that I've done will be wasted, other than the fact that people have got the entertainment value about me talking about a bunch of random managers. And that kind of feels like my degree, where I did a bunch of essays on a bunch of historical topics that now, if you ask me anything about them, I don't know. so you're right.
00:30:31
Zak
It is the best use of my degree. But it's been an absolute pleasure. Next week, we'll see. I might at some point, much to everyone's upset, have to cover at least the managerial career of Steven Gerrard because I'm not going to cover his playing career. we don't have enough time.
00:30:48
Zak
But that is becoming a more and more, like a a better prospect, apparently. I don't i don't really know why I don't know if if he's going to get let go from where he's currently at or what, but
00:31:01
Oscar
Not for me.
00:31:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah ah I don't know, mate. I'm going to have to give my season and ticket up for my misses if that's the case.
00:31:03
Zak
Strange one.
00:31:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's the problem. Genuinely.
00:31:09
Zak
But right.
00:31:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
you own
00:31:09
Zak
So obviously we've still got two games left to get through. We'll probably have something for tomorrow. We don't not have a crossover. Unfortunately, we are daily Everton guys aren't available.
00:31:23
Zak
So yeah, we'll figure out something as we always do. And we will see you in the next one. ah If you fancy, like what you listen to, we're on all the social medias, Facebook, Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, all that kind of stuff. We've been having a bit of a whale of a time over there.
00:31:39
Zak
We'll often try and respond to as much as possible as well because I'm chronically online, not so much Greg and Oscar. But I usually have it all up while I play games. So that there's that. But thank you very much for listening and we will catch you in the next one.