Jump to content

Saints Academy...for managers


david in sweden
 Share

Recommended Posts

Lots is written ...very regularly by contributors talking about how we " lose " Academy players to other sides, and then become successful. The main reasons that lads leave are (1) they really aren't good enough at that age - some develop later and (2) at last count... we're still only allowed to use 11 players at any one time, and you can't keep everyone .

However, in anticipation of Charltons game I noted that thier manager Phil Parkinson (Saints junior 1985-88) is YET ANOTHER former Saints youth player. (The Academy is a 21st century creation).

Paul Tisdale is currently holding the reigns at Exeter and quite a number of others have taken up managerial jobs at different levels, after having started their careers, or at least having played a significant part of it with Saints.

Former schoolboy Lawrie Sanchez (1974-78) also got to be manager of N.I. and Dennis Wise had been around a bit recently as manager at Leeds and Newcastle.

 

Of course, some people will say we shouldn't have let them go and so on, but the list maybe a little longer than you might think. Anyone willing to contribute other names of past juniors, (or even seniors) who made it to the managers office.?

Edited by david in sweden
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nick Holmes, Ian Dowie. TBH though, if you look at the sheer number of junior and senior players who have passed through Saints over the years, its surprising more dont surface.

 

If the criteria is Academy players/Apprentices, then Holmes would qualify but not Dowie. Shearer of course had a brief encounter with management last season, so he would count.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a manager,yes.

 

Doubt many will remember him as a player though,especially on here.

 

well of course, that WAS a long time ago..but getting back to the original topic..yes quite a lot of former players have ventured into coaching and management. I did consider that some of our former Academy lads who didn't make the cut at 19, made their way up through non League and lower league teams and eventually got the most unenviable job in football ..namely managing a " not-so-successful " team.

As for them ...they may have learned a lot from the coaches they had at SFC, whilst the journeyman players cum coach-manager have probably picked up a lot more along the way. The real success stories are those who are good tacticians and have players that are " coachable ". Many of the leading managers did not play at the highest level, and few were ever international players of note.

 

Although there are some successes... in general...good players do not make good managers. Ian Dowie is on his third ...? fourth club ? at Hull and doesn't look too promising just now and his main claim to fame was getting C. Palace in the play-offs some years back but apart from that ...:( not much to write home about. Others may get some success but will eventually lose their jobs when they have to sell their best player(s) to survive and the team never recovers and is relegated.

Tough life, but good to see that there are those who at least try.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...