The loss and loneliness of the unemployed football manager
One day they are the king of the castle. The next they are walking the dog and wondering if they will ever work again
By Paul Forsyth for Nutmeg magazine
The plight of the unemployed manager is a curious phenomenon, one that lurches from loss to loneliness and quite often a long, hopeless struggle to get back in. It can last forever, or for no time at all, but it is always challenging and usually it begins with a sacking.
Mark McGhee has been dismissed frequently enough to know it shouldn’t be taken personally, but he will never forget the first time. After four uninterrupted years as the manager of Reading and then Leicester City, his three years at Wolverhampton Wanderers came to an abrupt end when, after successive failures to win promotion, he presided over just two wins in 12 matches.
