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Saturday 09 May 1998
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 News 8 
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DON'T BE A BUNCH OF KNEEJERKS
Managers' Union Urge Clubs To Show Patience
LEAGUE Managers' Association chief John Barnwell has told impatient club chairmen that they should give his members a fair crack of the whip before blaming them for the team's failure. The former Wolves boss spoke out just hours after Division Two sides Millwall and Fulham sacked Billy Bonds and Ray Wilkins respectively, suggesting that the reason why certain teams haven't won promotion may lie in the boardroom not the dressing room.
History tells you that clubs who change managers regularly never get success, he said. And if they're continually changing, are all those managers wrong? I suggest they're not. Therefore, the people making the choice of manager aren't very good. Everybody wants to win something - that's the nature of the business - but impatience is a major issue and the desires of a football club are sometimes unrealistic.
I think we've seen around a third of 92 clubs change managers this season, he said, which is a very high percentage. We've lost 135 since January 1985 and that is just in the Football League. The figures on that are horrendous. And 50% are not back in football and lost to the game, so something needs to be done.
Barnwell also wants to see new rules regulating contracts, so managers that do get the boot are paid their compensation in a reasonable amount of time.
''We are massively concerned that Football League managers are not protected by a code of conduct like the Premiership has,'' he said. ''It's a two-way agreement - a manager just can't leave one Premiership club for another without compensation being in place, and if they sack him they have to pay an agreed amount before 28 days, otherwise it goes to an independent tribunal.
''In the Premiership, clubs just pay up whereas we have the example of Stewart Houston, who was sacked in November by QPR, and was just settled up this week - that's not right, Barnwell continued. The current legal system allows clubs to dance around the pillars a bit. They elongate the case as long as it's convenient to them.
The Football League AGM will be held soon, and Barnwell says he is reasonably optimistic that he can persuade them to agree to a code of conduct that gives managers' contracts some meaning.
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TOULON'S TOO SOON FOR SAINT DAVIES
SOUTHAMPTON starlet Kevin Davies has been forced to withdraw from England's squad for the Toulon Under-21 tournament because of his continuing injury problems.
The 20-year-old striker got off to a flyer in the Premiership, scoring 12 goals for Saints in the first half of the season following a £750,000 move from Chesterfield. It all started to go wrong in January, when he damaged an ankle scoring the winner against Manchester United at The Dell. Davies missed three months with that problem then, on his comeback last month, suffered a badly gashed ankle that still isn't healed enough for him to face Spurs in the last game of the season tomorrow.
"I won't be ready to play against Tottenham and I've now given up hope of making it with England as well," he admitted. "I'm moving a bit better now, but I've not really played for four months so I've lost so much fitness. The second part of the season has been a real anti-climax. I'm just looking forward to resting through the summer and starting again next season.
GOLDEN ‘EAGLE' EARNS AWARD
VETERAN manager Jim Smith has joined the exclusive list of English football stars such as Sir Stanley Matthews, Alan Shearer, Peter Shilton and erm… John Motson who have been presented with a Carling No 1 award.
The Derby County boss gets the prestigious award for his managerial achievements with eight clubs, including Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, Queen's Park Rangers and Oxford United, over 25 years. Career highlights for ‘The Bald Eagle' include back-to-back promotions with Oxford in the 1980s, a League Cup runners'-up medal with QPR in 1986 and returning Derby to the top flight in 1996 after a five-year absence.
The Carling panel, which includes England coach Glenn Hoddle, said: "Jim's 25 colourful years as a football manager has brought a terrific amount of pleasure to his peers, players and fans alike. Jim is one of the most respected names in the game, and we send him our wholehearted congratulations."
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BARCELONA ENTER
THE WOLVES' LAIR
IF YOU can't join ‘em, meet ‘em in a friendly! Wolves have missed out on the chance of Premiership football once again, meaning they are still at least two-and-a-bit years away from mixing it with the best teams in Europe. But Wolverhampton's continually comatose giants have arranged to give their long-suffering fans at least a taste of the big time by setting up a pre-season friendly against Barcelona.
The Primera Liga champions will face Mark McGhee's men on August 1 as part of a three-game tour of Britain, 38 years after the clubs met in the second round of the European Cup. Barcelona won that tie 5-2 over two legs with 55,535 squeezing into Molineux for Wolves' home match.
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