Page 5 - The Deal Roundup - February 2019

The Three Horseshoes

A great, friendly, traditional pub in Great Mongeham where you will
find a warm welcome from
Landlords Rachel and Johnny.
01304 379216
POOL TABLE - DART BOARDS
and all football matches
shown on HD screens
Christmas Bookings Now Being Taken
BOOKINGS - Now Being Taken For; GARDEN PARTIES - WEDDINGS
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS FOR ALL AGES - CHRISTENINGS -
ANNIVERSARIES - (A Small Deposit Secures)
The Above Includes; Free Use Of Garden Facilities.
(Bring Your Own Food Or We Can Supply)
Children Have Free Use Of;
BOUNCY CASTLE - SLIDES - SWINGS - TRAMPOLINE
BOOK EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT - PLEASE PHONE TO BOOK

Scratch the surface and you can see some reasoning: if a club purchases a player for such
a nominal fee - even the £1 million Leicester City paid Fleetwood Town for Vardy’s services
in 2012 - there is so much to gain and so little to lose. But taking a manager from the lower
leagues, who is expected to make a team gel and manage players’ egos, well that’s a different
challenge. And, where such appointments are concerned, chairmen and board members
don’t want any egg on their faces.
That said, if Football League clubs could have a window into the work and lives of many Non-
League managers, they would see so many astute footballing brains that are complemented
with the key ingredient needed for success: hard work. Yet still our managers are being ignored,
and if they are given a chance, it is invariably with a club that is swimming against the tide.
Paul Hurst’s recent ill-fated stint at Ipswich (pictured) is a case in point. Despite a playing
career where he chalked up close to 500 games
in the Football League with Rotherham United,
Hurst cut his teeth in management in the lower
leagues, working alongside Rob Scott at Ilkeston,
Boston and Grimsby before taking the job with the
Mariners on a full-time basis. He then moved to
Shrewsbury before Ipswich came calling last May.
With one of the lowest budgets in the
Championship in a division that has become, pound for pound, arguably the toughest
in Europe, the task at Portman Road was never going to be an easy one. It proved
beyond Hurst, and now instead of celebrating the talents of a man who has gone from
the Conference to the Championship in the space of two years, we are left scratching our
heads as to when the next bright light from Non-League will be given the chance to shine.

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