Lancashire is arguably the quintessential homeland of football. The region west of the Pennines has the most Premier League clubs of any in the country and a rich history in the beautiful game, after all the Football Museum is in Preston. The Deepdale faithful currently find themselves rock bottom of the Championship and after exactly one year at the helm Darren Ferguson was sacked earlier this week. It is not always like father like son as Sir Alex’s offspring has never really cut it as a manager in the second tier. This is not to belittle his achievements further down the Football League, Ferguson junior having guided previous employers Peterborough United to back to back promotions from League Two to the Championship.
It has been in both jobs the level at which he has come unstuck. Last November Barry Fry and the Posh board gave him the sack with the club in the same position North End find themselves inhabiting thirteen months on. What has done for Ferguson is loyalty to players that may have got the job done in lower leagues but have never been able to replicate that form in the second tier. Admittedly there has been an increase in austerity with the finances at Deepdale over the last few years and when you look at the current side it couldn’t be more different from the so-nearly promoted squad of Billy Davies’s that lost twice in the play-offs.
Why did Ferguson bring in two of his players from Peterborough who hadn’t made the step up the previous season? Welsh international Craig Morgan has been awful in defence (Gary Speed take note) and I’m still not sure what dimension Paul Coutts adds to the XI, the Scotsman having been equally useless out wide and in the middle of the park.
The story is not quite one of abject failure though. Stoke pair Michael Tonge and Danny Pugh who signed on loan are both decent players at Championship level with promotions to the Premier League on their CV so they know how to win matches. There is one triumph of Ferguson’s that must be highlighted from his tenure at Preston though. In an otherwise dismal calendar year one of his signings, Irish winger Keith Treacy, has shined. The former Blackburn man has always looked dangerous and his form was rewarded with an international debut in the Republic of Ireland’s first match at the newly revamped Aviva Stadium at the end of August.
Sadly the rest of the team, with the exception of North End’s long serving goalkeeper Andy Lonergan, have been a disappointment. The strike force lacks potency when the opposition defence marks Jon Parkin out of the game and at the back they’ve been shambolic, possessing the joint worst back four in the division. To have any chance of survival the board must appoint a successor quickly so that some business can be done in the January transfer window and whoever that might be they must motivate the players for the relegation scrap that Deepdale finds itself in.
Burnley were replaced by another northwest outfit in Blackpool in England’s top flight over the summer. This rags to riches success story is one that captivated fans of the underdog everywhere, but never before and probably never again will a club enter the Premier League with only three stands on their ground. When Owen Coyle was signed by Bolton last winter he was an impossible act to follow, evidenced by the current high flying position Wanderers currently sit in and by the fact that his Turf Moor successor Brian Laws was finally sacked this week. In the wake of the man who got the clarets promoted to the big time’s departure the club showed the least ambition by appointing someone with zero Premier League experience to his name and had little to no success even in the division below.
When the Burnley bubble burst his appointment was an admission of defeat and a display on the part of the chairman of a lack of courage again proven by Laws’s eventual dismissal. So many excuses have been made for a very likeable football figure. He had a tight budget to work with at Sheffield Wednesday, but some of the blame for their relegation to League One last season must be put at his door along with taking the clarets down. What you can say for Laws is that he did a fantastic job at Scunthorpe United, taking them from a mid-table League Two club to establishing them as one that yo-yos between League One and the Championship.
He made no signings to improve the defence. Danny Fox who joined from Celtic last January is much like a Scottish, left-sided version of Glen Johnson, fantastic at attacking from full back, but ineffective at defensive duties. Leon Cort who joined from Stoke at the same time has been shipped out on loan ironically enough to Preston after failing to make his mark with a number of not too clever displays from Britain’s brainiest footballer. The midfield has been bolstered by the arrivals of Dean Marney from Hull, Ross Wallace from North End and the versatile Jack Cork on loan from Chelsea during the summer.
These were joined by target man Chris Iwelumo who flopped in the Premier League with Wolves, but has experience at Burnley’s current level and is their leading scorer so far. Despite adding to the ranks with players who have the knowledge of how to be a success in the Championship and highly rated youngsters, the clarets under Laws became inconsistent and that is not an ingredient which will make for a return to the top flight at the first time of asking, which is surely the club’s target.
In order to get their promotion push back on track the Turf Moor board need to appoint someone who will use the current squad’s strengths to maximum effect. Service needs to be created for Iwelumo, whose goals have dried up after a scintillating purple patch early on in the season because he is not the most mobile striker. A defensive signing in the January sales could be a welcome addition that may turn some of those draws into wins.
A Happy New Year and a prosperous 2011 to all JC Football readers!
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