The merry-go-round of management

Oh dear, it's that time of the football season again!  The festive fixtures are complete, the Christmas points have been tallied, there are winners (see Arsenal), and there are definite losers (cite Torquay United).  Now, Arsene Wenger might be off to enjoy a little January cheer before his big North London derby, but spare a thought for poor old Alan Knill, who's dismissal from Plainmoor yesterday leaves him queuing up to ride the merry-go-round of management once again.  Football's a strange business, and football management is the ultimate performance-related job description.  It's all about results and, if they don't come frequently enough, this invariably means the end of the road.

The merry-go-round of management

Now, I've been following the Gulls for a good many years now, and we've seen our fair share of managers come and go.  In fact, I can count twelve since I started regularly watching the team as a 14-year-old lad.  Between them, they share two promotions, two relegations, five play-off campaigns, three visits to Wembley Stadium, one trip to Old Trafford, an FA Trophy final, and cup matches against the likes of Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham City and Tottenham Hotspur.  Talk about drama, it's never a dull moment at Plainmoor - in fact, in 16 seasons of support, the club has either been fighting for promotion, or battling against relegation, in eleven of them.  Unfortunately, this season we are engulfed in another titanic struggle to save our League status, so preciously won back on a glorious afternoon at Wembley five years' ago.  Off the back of a miserable first half of the campaign, gaffer Alan Knill paid with his job, and we now all have our eyes glued to the merry-go-round to see who's next to take the reins.  Whoever it is, they'll have a fight on their hands.

Torquay's new manager

So, who are all the people that have been in charge at the club since I started following?  Well there was Kevin Hodges (1996-98, dropped us like a stone when Plymouth Argyle came knocking on his door), Wes Saunders (1998-2001), Colin Lee (originally brought in to advise Saunders, then took over as caretaker in 2001 but rejected the job full time), Roy McFarland (2001-2002, who left after he was told there was no money to employ his assistant), Leroy Rosenior (2002-2006, and then again in 2007, but lasted less than a day, because a consortium bought the club hours after his appointment and relieved him of his duties), John Cornforth (2006), Ian Atkins (2006), Lubos Kubik (2006-2007, who we had never heard of and who turned out to be particularly hopeless), Keith Curle (2007), Paul Buckle (2007-2011, took over following Rosenior's stunted second spell), Martin Ling (2011-2013) and Alan Knill (2013-2014).  What a repertoire!  

Managers, managers, managers

Incidentally, in all the time of chopping-and-changing at our beleaguered little club, Arsenal have had only one manager, suggesting that perhaps, after all, a little stability is the key to success in the footballing world.  So Arsene, if you're reading this and fancy a fresh challenge, there's a club on the bay that might just have your name on it... 

Well, I think this smile says it all.

Does he fancy the challenge?