Who Comes Next?

Sir Les was spotted at the Milton Keynes Dons game last week so Liam Manning might have been offered the job already. As a former West Ham youth coach it would get the approval of TF. 

There's nothing really in the press linking us to him but I like the look of Manning.

He's only 36 but had really educated himself and works tirelessly by all accounts.

The press release when he joined MK Dons reads very promising:

www.mkdons.com/news/2021/august/liam-manning-named-head-coach-of-mk-dons/



He's taken them from 13th to challenging for Automatic promotion...sound familiar?

Well... That would be a brave appointment. Young, up and coming manager.

Like you say Single, if he gets MKDons up he may want to stay

Whoever they decide to appoint it has to be done quickly. With so many players out of contract and several others likely to be on the radar of bigger clubs we are going to need several replacements.

The next manager will join the club in a lot better financial situation than the likes of Holloway, McClaren and Warburton so it's a really big opportunity for a young manager. In addition we have a core set of 7 or 8 players who any new manager can base their squad around. 

We have had 8 different mangers under the current regime (10 years 8 months) and the youngest manager so far was Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank who was 43 when appointed. 

Only Redknapp and Warburton have managed to get past two full seasons, the others never lasted more than a season and a half. 

Considering the Spurs players being linked with a loan I think Manning is a genuine possibility - though it'd be a slight surprise if he left MK should they get promoted. Obviously the budget may be persuasive, but would I jump ship? I'm not so sure. For the same reason I don't see Richardson, Critchley or even a Mark Robins doing the same thing. The other thing I would say regarding Manning, the trajectory of Russell Martin may suggest that there is something deeper going on at MK structurally than just their manager's being of a particular quality. If that is the case, then I would questions and reservations as to whether our internal operations and footballing structure matches MK. If it doesn't, then I'd consider Manning a risk, both for us and him too. He's on a positive trajectory, and even if MK missed out on promotion or were promoted and then relegated, I don't think his image would be as heavily damaged as if he came to us and failed enormously (see Hasselbaink as an example).

I still think Karl Robinson is a realistic candidate, maybe not first choice (probably not my choice) but certainly a contender. Oxford are quite a good footballing style, he has benefitted from bringing in young players who haven't made the grade at Premier League clubs, and has developed players and made tidy profits (see Dickie, Atkinson, Whyte, Ledson, Rothwell, etc). Ainsworth, as has been said, will get a mention and deservedly so, Wycombe Wanderers should not be where they are and would be a Championship side but for the Football League's inept handling of Derby County's situation. The natural criticism of him is obviously his style of play, but much of that is conditioned to the boundaries within which he operates. I would expect him to change his tact if he did get a bigger job, opening up to a more expansive, attacking style. But without evidence in the bank to rely upon, he is going to get beaten with that same stick of 'limited manager who plays limited football' all the time.

Personally I think whoever we appoint carries an enormous risk. I would actually like Darren Moore at Sheffield Wednesday but if they get promoted that's gone. Even if they don't, they are a bigger club than us, even though that feels remiss of me to say. If Moore got it right in his second season at the club, Wednesday are the kind of club who could achieve back-to-back promotions such is their size, so I don't see him leaving that job unless he is sacked. Whoever comes in, we will be fighting towards the bottom of the table next season simply because of how big the turnover is likely to be on the playing side.

If I was a bookie, I'd have Eustace and Manning at the shortest odds. Robinson and Mowbray probably the two closest to them. Then you're looking at speculative names beyond that.

On a side note, I don't think it is entirely out of the question that Chris Ramsey is given another chance. Not saying it will happen, I just could conceive a situation where that would occur.

i actually wouldnt mind karl robinson 
hes a good young manager