Author: Liam

Russ Wilcox was the manager of the League One club Scunthorpe United and the English manager became an important figure for the club after Wilcox managed to guide Scunthorpe United through League Two and earned a promotion to the higher tier League One but after going through a disastrous start of a season in this new league, he was sacked on October 8.

The start of the season saw Scunthorpe United suffering 7 successive defeats in League One out of the 8 opening matches of the campaign and Russ Wilcox was sacked due to this abysmal series of defeats.

Steve Pressley is the coach of Coventry City and he has not been shy in unveiling his opinion concerning this sacking. Pressley does not agree with this decision as he told the media that used to have more time for them to make their mark in their clubs and that losing as well as winning is all part of being a manager and part of football, everything takes time according to the boss of Coventry City.

“I look at Russ Wilcox and his record is phenomenal. I was at the LMA awards at the end of the season and he received the manager of the year award, he has an indifferent period and then he loses his job. Managers used to have five or six years to restructure and develop their club and the biggest example is Sir Alex Ferguson and I think it’s something that’s forgotten in the modern game’’

“Part of being a manager, part of success, is going through difficult times and proving you can come out at the other end. That’s part of football, part of sport but a lot of the time these managers aren’t given that time. That’s what disappoints me; that’s why I get frustrated when I see some of these managers losing their jobs” Coventry City’s Steve Pressley said.

Coventry managed to enter into the draw for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy second round after 1-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers. This was also the club’s first win in the last four matches, which made it more special for manager Steven Pressley. He would be hoping that his players managed to take this form into the league campaign, where they have only one victory in the five matches. As result of this victory, Coventry are unbeaten in the last five matches, while also conceding only one goal in the last three.

Pressley had a number of youngsters in the starting line-up against Wycombe in a move that was clearly designed to see the best team for the league campaign. After a goalless first half, McQuoid managed to get on the scoresheet and take his team into the next stage of the competition. It was vitally important for Coventry considering that they were recently knocked out of the League Cup in the first round. The confidence provided from these results is likely to help in the next two home matches against Gillingham and Yeovil Town. This was after three consecutive away matches in two different competitions.

Pressley says that it was certainly not a great performance from his team because they were not allowed to play their game by the opposition, but he is happy to get the result nonetheless.

“In terms of the fluency of our football I don’t think it was brilliant. That is credit to Wycombe who really pressed us and forced us into making mistakes at times but ultimately football is about winning games and getting results. Coming here with such a young squad and getting a win is a terrific result for us. Eleven of our 16 players are academy-based players and nine from the 11 that finished the game is probably a record for Coventry City, which is outstanding,” said Pressley.

The head coach of Carlisle United, Graham Kavanagh has a released a large number of player during this summer transfer window as he wants to trim his squad and make it more compact by allowing some of the dead weight on leaving the club. There have been however a few players in the squad who have opted to extend their stay with Carlisle United which is the case of the midfielders Paul Thirlwell and James Berrett.

James Berrett prolong his career at Carlisle United by accepting a new contract that will allow him to stay performing with the club for 2 more years while the 35 year old midfielder Paul Thirlwell is expected to sign a 1 year contract extension.

The relegation that Graham Kavanagh and his club suffered has made the tactician take a twist in the squad as a large number of changes and switches keep on happening but it’s with the ultimate objective of improving the squad and earning a promotion spot back to League One.

Dan Hanford is a new arrival that will be making his way to Carlisle United after being snatched up on a free transfer. Hanford is a 23 year old shot-stopper that has already worked alongside the first team coach Tony Caig on a number of occasions and Gravam Kavanagh revealed details concerning the new player.

“He knows what to expect. It’s obviously a position we’ve been looking at since we released Greg Fleming He’s looked good in training and he’s starting to understand the way we’re trying to work.” Kavanagh told the club’s website.

A few more arrivals are expected to make their way into Carlisle United as well as the future of certain players in the squad will be decided within the next few days or weeks.