There must be something in the water around East London that turns successful footballers into successful managers as I noticed there are a number of young gaffers out there now that once graced the Upton Park pitch week in week out in the not too distant past. Not only have a number of ex Hammers entered the managerial merry-go-round but they have done so successfully and at different levels.
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Take former holding midfielder Carl Fletcher as an example. The FA Cup finalist for the Hammers in 2006 is still a registered player of crisis hit club Plymouth Argyle, but the 31-year-old is now the full time manager at Home Park. The fortunes of Argyle have been dreadful for a few years now and with the club entering administration and dropping down to League Two, it seemed the club may even go out of business. However, without being paid for weeks on end, Fletcher stepped up to take caretaker charge of the Green Army after Peter Reid was sacked and made such a good impression he now holds the job permanently.
Hot favourites to be relegated out of the Football League altogether this season, Fletcher has headed an unbelievable turn-around at a club that sat bottom of the league not too long ago. Plymouth have lost just once in eight league games and are now outside the bottom two, giving themselves a real chance of survival.
Fletcher is an example or a young manager starting at the bottom and attempting to work his way up, which is of course something West Ham legend Paolo Di Canio is doing at Swindon Town. The cult hero at Upton Park spent four wonderful years leading the line for the Hammers and is doing a similarly excellent job in pushing Swindon for promotion from League Two. The Robins are currently four points clear at the top of the division and have won ten games in a row, fulfilling Di Canio’s expectations that they would cruise to the title. Some typical off the field exuberance has got the Italian into hot water with the FA on more than one occasion this season but the future Hammers boss wouldn’t be the same without it!
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Another manager that has lead his side to a comfortable lead at the top of their division is Charlton Athletic’s Chris Powell, who spent just two season at Upton Park, but made a big impression amongst the fans of the team he supported as a boy. Charlton have pretty much lead League One from the off this season and Powell’s clear capability to handle the transfer market has been the major success at a club that is sure to be playing Championship football next season. Powell’s side are currently ten points clear and are on their own impressive unbeaten run that has blown big club such as Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield Town and MK Dons out of the water.
West Ham’s opponents on Sunday also have a popular former Hammer as their boss as Malky Mackay has lead Cardiff to a Carling Cup final at Wembley and a realistic chance of making the play-offs in his first season in charge. Mackay, who turned 40 last month, had to deal with minimal funds and big name player departures such as Michael Chopra, Jay Bothroyd and Craig Bellamy in the summer but has still produced a terrific side after being headhunted from Watford last year. Cardiff won at Upton Park at the start of the season so West Ham will be looking to reverse that result on Sunday lunch time live on the BBC.
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Other ex Hammers that are now plying their trade as managers include Steve Lomas at St Johnstone and Chris Hughton at Birmingham who are both having good seasons that could end up in European qualification and promotion respectively along with Croatian manager Slaven Bilic who has produced an excellent side ahead of this summer’s Euros that will see them take on Republic of Ireland in the group stage. It was even a former West Ham left back that lead England out against Holland in midweek with Stuart Pearce taking control of his country for the first time and no doubt another former West Ham player and manager will be taking the permanent seat at Wembley after he typically walks out on another successful club side.
Have I missed any former Hammers out that have succeeded as managers in recent times? Let me know on Twitter: @Brad_Pinard
