THE new manager of Coventry City will have to rely on the squad Andy Thorn assembled and the backroom staff he leaves behind.
And he will also have to work closely with Steve Waggott who this week emerged as a key man – perhaps the key man – in the Sky Blues set-up.
Waggott was brought to the club by chief executive Tim Fisher, a former colleague at Charlton Athletic, to help negotiate transfers and loans and was subsequently installed as development director.
It was Waggott who rang Thorn on Sunday morning to tell him he had been sacked. And yesterday Fisher clarified his friend’s role, confirming: “Steve Waggott, as development director, heads up the overall football operation from the junior academy youngsters right through to the professionals, and is tasked with player recruitment.
“The first-team manager will work within that framework but is responsible for first team selection and coaching whilst determining and influencing the style of play of the Academy and the development squads through their respective managers.” On the face of it that seems to be the job description of a director of football or even a general manager. And Waggott will clearly have a major say in deciding whether Thorn’s successor is an in-house appointment or will be selected from the “plethora” of applicants who have contacted the club since the weekend.
Waggott told the Telegraph: “The manger is the most important person in the club; always has been, always will be, Everything revolves around him because, as the saying goes, their 90 minutes determines our 90 hours.
“We are looking for somebody with a high-grade CV who knows the league, knows where we are, knows the budget constraints and has worked in that environment before – somebody who can get us out of League One and is aware of what the needs are in the Championship.
“He has to be very keen on youth development because we want a seamless continuum of football from the age of seven to the first team.
“We’ve had discussions with Richard Shaw and Lee Carsley because historically what happens in football is that a manager comes in and brings his entire backroom staff, physios, everybody he’s worked with, everybody he thinks he can trust.
“That can’t be the case here – one
we can't afford it and two it wouldn't be right because these are two ambitious guys with their own ideas who have just wiped their feet on the welcome mat.
“Whoever comes in at the helm ­ and that's not discounting Richard or Lee ­ they'll be told `this is the club we are, this is the framework we've got, work with it' “We won't give false promises to anybody new who comes in; we'll be very transparent.
“I think there's a recognition across football in general that things are changing, that there has to be a financial constraint on how managers operate, but most of the applicants I’ve spoken to have said ‘you look as if you’ve got a strong squad who should take you up.” Most observers were surprised when Thorn – given a rousing vote of confidence after last season’s relegation – was axed after opening the League One campaign with three consecutive draws. But Waggott insisted: “I worked
very closely with Andy and I'm sure he would have thought it very unjust if we had let him go at the end of last season. He could have said `I haven't had a team, the resources were stripped away from me.' “He did have the opportunity to restructure the squad and the backroom staff. He was given the resources he felt he wanted and needed, and he had the summer and the pre-season but unfortunately it didn't work out.
“Throughout the summer, when we were restructuring the team with Andy, Richard Shaw, Lee Carsley, and Steve Ogrizovic, collective decisions were made about who were the players we wanted to bring in, who were the players out of contract who are probably on too high wages.
“The benchmark that we spoke about was that usually to get automatic promotion from League One you need 92 points ­ two a game.
“Different clubs work in different ways ­ chunks of five games, ten games ­ but Andy knew all along, from general discussions among us all, that the first three to four games were critical for the club to get off to a good start.
“He always knew the pressures ­ we all did.
“We have got without doubt if not the biggest the second or third biggest squad in the league and I would imagine that the budget, apart from Sheffield United, is the second biggest in the league.
“A load of new personnel came in which was a collective decision among the group of professional people we employ to look after the team.
“We delivered a team that he and his backroom staff asked us to put together, that all of us felt was without doubt strong enough to get off to a really solid start and be in a challenging position quite early.
“But it was the same general pattern of play we saw last season ­ not being able to close out a game, the nervousness, etc etc.
“You've got to give it time to gell and everything else, but we felt look ing at the fixtures that seven to nine points from the first three games was realistic.
“And it was the manner of losing a lead in three consecutive games.
“Yeovil's a tough place to go, Sheffield United we knew was going to be a test, but 2-0 up against Bury? Not being disrespectful, but we thought that we could put them away. “When they equalised we saw Andy turn and kick the hoarding. He knew that result and that second-half performance wasn't acceptable.“
And he will also have to work closely with Steve Waggott who this week emerged as a key man – perhaps the key man – in the Sky Blues set-up.
Waggott was brought to the club by chief executive Tim Fisher, a former colleague at Charlton Athletic, to help negotiate transfers and loans and was subsequently installed as development director.
It was Waggott who rang Thorn on Sunday morning to tell him he had been sacked. And yesterday Fisher clarified his friend’s role, confirming: “Steve Waggott, as development director, heads up the overall football operation from the junior academy youngsters right through to the professionals, and is tasked with player recruitment.
“The first-team manager will work within that framework but is responsible for first team selection and coaching whilst determining and influencing the style of play of the Academy and the development squads through their respective managers.” On the face of it that seems to be the job description of a director of football or even a general manager. And Waggott will clearly have a major say in deciding whether Thorn’s successor is an in-house appointment or will be selected from the “plethora” of applicants who have contacted the club since the weekend.
Waggott told the Telegraph: “The manger is the most important person in the club; always has been, always will be, Everything revolves around him because, as the saying goes, their 90 minutes determines our 90 hours.
“We are looking for somebody with a high-grade CV who knows the league, knows where we are, knows the budget constraints and has worked in that environment before – somebody who can get us out of League One and is aware of what the needs are in the Championship.
“He has to be very keen on youth development because we want a seamless continuum of football from the age of seven to the first team.
“We’ve had discussions with Richard Shaw and Lee Carsley because historically what happens in football is that a manager comes in and brings his entire backroom staff, physios, everybody he’s worked with, everybody he thinks he can trust.
“That can’t be the case here – one
we can't afford it and two it wouldn't be right because these are two ambitious guys with their own ideas who have just wiped their feet on the welcome mat.
“Whoever comes in at the helm ­ and that's not discounting Richard or Lee ­ they'll be told `this is the club we are, this is the framework we've got, work with it' “We won't give false promises to anybody new who comes in; we'll be very transparent.
“I think there's a recognition across football in general that things are changing, that there has to be a financial constraint on how managers operate, but most of the applicants I’ve spoken to have said ‘you look as if you’ve got a strong squad who should take you up.” Most observers were surprised when Thorn – given a rousing vote of confidence after last season’s relegation – was axed after opening the League One campaign with three consecutive draws. But Waggott insisted: “I worked
very closely with Andy and I'm sure he would have thought it very unjust if we had let him go at the end of last season. He could have said `I haven't had a team, the resources were stripped away from me.' “He did have the opportunity to restructure the squad and the backroom staff. He was given the resources he felt he wanted and needed, and he had the summer and the pre-season but unfortunately it didn't work out.
“Throughout the summer, when we were restructuring the team with Andy, Richard Shaw, Lee Carsley, and Steve Ogrizovic, collective decisions were made about who were the players we wanted to bring in, who were the players out of contract who are probably on too high wages.
“The benchmark that we spoke about was that usually to get automatic promotion from League One you need 92 points ­ two a game.
“Different clubs work in different ways ­ chunks of five games, ten games ­ but Andy knew all along, from general discussions among us all, that the first three to four games were critical for the club to get off to a good start.
“He always knew the pressures ­ we all did.
“We have got without doubt if not the biggest the second or third biggest squad in the league and I would imagine that the budget, apart from Sheffield United, is the second biggest in the league.
“A load of new personnel came in which was a collective decision among the group of professional people we employ to look after the team.
“We delivered a team that he and his backroom staff asked us to put together, that all of us felt was without doubt strong enough to get off to a really solid start and be in a challenging position quite early.
“But it was the same general pattern of play we saw last season ­ not being able to close out a game, the nervousness, etc etc.
“You've got to give it time to gell and everything else, but we felt look ing at the fixtures that seven to nine points from the first three games was realistic.
“And it was the manner of losing a lead in three consecutive games.
“Yeovil's a tough place to go, Sheffield United we knew was going to be a test, but 2-0 up against Bury? Not being disrespectful, but we thought that we could put them away. “When they equalised we saw Andy turn and kick the hoarding. He knew that result and that second-half performance wasn't acceptable.“
