So Chris Hargreaves has the dubious pleasure of being the shortest lived Yeovil Town manager in many a year.
No question a decent man, a good football man, but someone who will not be surprised that a in the ‘results business’ his two wins in 15 National League fixtures and an exit from the FA Cup simply was not good enough.
His stubborn refusal to bend on a formation which obviously was not working from the start appears to be the hill that he has died on.
It seems his replacement will be Mark Cooper someone with a longer football CV than his predecessor with some considerable success taking Forest Green Rovers to promotion to the Football League in 2017, and guiding Swindon Town to the League One play-off final two years before that.
The big question is – is he going to get the backing needed to fulfil the club’s stated ambition of a return to the EFL? Maybe not immediately, the long-term financial health of the club has to be balanced against its on-the-field ambitions, but promotion would undoubtedly open my many a revenue stream.
Darren Sarll departed for Woking six months ago seemingly believing he had more backing there and, with his side which the Glovers will face in Surrey next Tuesday night sitting pretty in the play-off positions, it seems he was quite right.
Hargreaves spoke frequently about how he knew the Yeovil job was going to be a tough one from the moment he left his job as a pundit on BT Sport and prior to that a coaching career in the youth systems of many a League club.
So, if Cooper is the man for the job and he does not get the backing he requires, does it matter if it’s Pep Guardiola or Houdini who is in the dug out?
We’ve said it many a time on the podcast and in various articles, the words of chairman Scott Priestnall and his board of directors, which is only extends to Stuart Robins at the current point with more apparently set to arrive, need to backed up by actions.
In his most recent update a fortnight or so ago, the chairman spoke about his belief that Hargreaves was “building a team that can compete and I certainly believe we are improving in that department” and it would appear the exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Taunton Town and the capitulations in the past couple of league defeats quickly changed his mind.
I don’t think many Yeovil Town supporters would disagree it is the right decision with a relegation battle now well and truly in place.
That same statement spoke about “additional resources to improve the squad” being afforded to Hargreaves – were they enough? Hopefully if it is to be Cooper, he will have been very clear about the support he requires to do the job.
For us as supporters, we continue to have one job on the pitch, to support the team. A change many of us wanted has been made and now we have to hope it can spark us out of our malaise starting with an important match at Maidstone United this weekend.