Big Al’s Big ‘Sheffield’ Wednesday?
Posted on January 4th, 2010 | 98 Comments |
‘Big Wednesday’ was an American coming-of-age film portraying the ‘growing-up’ of a group of young surfers, dealing with the changes in their lives, and contemplating ‘the mythical day when the greatest, cleanest, most transcendent wave of all will come’. And maybe Shearer’s ‘Big Wednesday’ is close, when he finally gets chance to prove his managerial credentials, or not.
Some will argue that Shearer has already had his chance and proven that he’s not up to task, having singularly failed to have the impact we were desperate for in our relegation run-in. And it was ultimately under his guidance that we dropped like a black and white stone to the depths of the Championship.
But he was undoubtedly given an almost impossible task, as the damage was arguably already irreversible. Morale was shot, and the league position was damning when he took over. However, even his most resolute supporters were disappointed that he failed to inspire any sort of reaction from the hapless squad, and arguably the one thing we expected in abundance from Shearer, was inspiration for the troops. Though they may stop short of laying the blame squarely at his door, one win in eight was disastrously short of what we all hoped for.
Their argument will no doubt be that Big Al requires time, like any other manager, to build his own team and being chucked in at the deep end in such desperate circumstances, was hanging him out to dry. Of course having suffered the ignominy of being in charge of a relegated team, it was all the more painful for the fact it was his hometown club.
And perhaps Shearer felt like he had to make amends and that the best way to put things right would be to get the club immediately promoted. Whether that’s true or not, or perhaps it was down to disagreement on details is unclear but he was never given that chance. And instead Mike Ashley opted to give Chris Hughton the job on a permanent basis. A decision that has so far worked out well for us.
However, a source for the Daily Mail claims he is desperate to get back into management and is keen on the vacancy at The Owls.
‘Alan is keen to manage again and wants the Wednesday job,’
‘He has also said he would like Gary Speed to be his assistant.’
According to the report, former Bolton boss Gary Megson and Alan Irvine, who was dismissed by Preston at the end of December, are also in the running. As far as this particular footballer supporter is concerned, Alan Shearer has the potential to be a good manager but an appointment at this stage, considering their precarious position would still undoubtedly be a risk for The Owls. However, assuming there is any truth in the rumour, I’d say good luck to him and Sheff Wed.
I believe Big Al has what it takes to be a successful manager as he has shown that he is unlike many other managers, he has the guts to drop players who are not playing well. Eg. Michael Owen