Bonner's Next Club

[dunk]

arsenal u21’s, hes been touted for that job before he became our manager.

[pgtips (lurid)]

I hear Cambridge United are looking for a manager. I think he would do very well there.

[kentishu]

I think he would be well advised to take a break for at least 6 months, he's going to be feeling pretty bruised right now, and some time away will help him refresh and refocus.

In terms of doing something where he has a decent chance of success, I would suggest managing a conference club. He's been good at finding players with the right temperament, and getting them to outperform as a team. That is replicable (given a decent opportunity) and works well at conference level, but less so at L1 where egos and expectations are much higher. Likewise you need some tactical nous to succeed at L1, much less in the conference.

Whether he will want to do that is another matter, he will get better paid opportunities because his CV as a manager looks excellent.

Kentish

[Tom Shaw's Fist of Rage]

Dec 5, 2023 3:14:25 GMT kentishu said:

I think he would be well advised to take a break for at least 6 months, he's going to be feeling pretty bruised right now, and some time away will help him refresh and refocus.

In terms of doing something where he has a decent chance of success, I would suggest managing a conference club. He's been good at finding players with the right temperament, and getting them to outperform as a team. That is replicable (given a decent opportunity) and works well at conference level, but less so at L1 where egos and expectations are much higher. Likewise you need some tactical nous to succeed at L1, much less in the conference.

Whether he will want to do that is another matter, he will get better paid opportunities because his CV as a manager looks excellent.

Kentish

Curious to why you don't think he should get a job at the level where he finished 2nd in his one full season?

[camloyal]

Dec 5, 2023 3:14:25 GMT kentishu said:

I think he would be well advised to take a break for at least 6 months, he's going to be feeling pretty bruised right now, and some time away will help him refresh and refocus.

In terms of doing something where he has a decent chance of success, I would suggest managing a conference club. He's been good at finding players with the right temperament, and getting them to outperform as a team. That is replicable (given a decent opportunity) and works well at conference level, but less so at L1 where egos and expectations are much higher. Likewise you need some tactical nous to succeed at L1, much less in the conference.

Whether he will want to do that is another matter, he will get better paid opportunities because his CV as a manager looks excellent.

Kentish

Managing a conference club? No chance and what a waste. He's got a league 2 promotion and never suffered a relegation.

[kentishu]

As I said, his CV looks excellent, and I am sure he will have better paid opportunities than managing a conference club. In terms of his prospects were he to become a L2 manager, yes of course he got us promoted, due a mixture of his skills and some special factors (Mullin, Hoolahan etc) and I think both would be required for that to work a second time.

Kentish

[milesfenton]

Has a club ever been promoted without anyone playing well for them before?

I never hear anyone say Beck's promotions didn't count because he just got lucky with Dion Dublin.

[El Goodo]

Hoolahan's a bit of a different matter but the lack of credit for Bonner's part in Mullin having the year he did is baffling to me. He'd never scored more than 9 league goals in a season before he came here. You know who else had a fairly unimpressive goalscoring record but then went on to have miles and away the best of his career? Sam Smith.

You think identifying a way to get the best out of them (which included getting the right players in the right structure around them, like Ironside, Hoolahan & Knoyle) was luck? And that's without mentioning Okenabirhie who, despite barely playing for 2 years & the team he's playing in having a fairly underwhelming season particularly in terms of creating chances, was going at a rate that would make this his best ever goalscoring return too.

Anyway I'm sticking with what I said after he went. I don't think his next job will be as a manager/head coach.

It's a shame the EFL highlights show doesn't do any analysis anymore as no doubt he'd have turned up on there once or twice while he takes some time out. Even without the amber specs, he was a really knowledgeable & engaging pundit when he was on before. Perhaps he'll pop up doing some other media work in the meantime.

[Mike Osbourn]

Yep, I don't get it either. There seem to be some very strange attitudes on here to Bonner.

It seems he's to take the blame for failing to get the best out of the players at his disposal, but when we have achieved good things he's not allowed to take the credit, instead it was despite Mark somehow? It's just a nuts argument. Maybe we don't need a manager/head coach under that logic, because good things only happen when we're lucky enough or they're supposed to anyway...?

[harrymonk]

Cambridge City. He could walk to work when the ground is finished.

[Zinedine]

Love the idea that Mullin and Hoolahan were "special factors", as if Bonner won them in a raffle and their impact and influence occurred entirely separately to his management of the team.

Really hard to know what his next job will be - feels like he'd back himself as manager though, so I think probably a League Two job is more likely than a stint as an assistant or whatever somewhere else.

[eenyc]

Because he is so much one of our own, I think we're all going to be checking in on what MB is up to on a regular basis over the years. I can see this becoming a thread that will go on and on, sometimes quiet but getting revived every time a new step is taken.

That makes me think about the career span of football managers. MB is (with only this one actual managerial gig under his belt) at the start of his career in management. Assuming he wants to get to the highest level he can (though he may personally have other prioirities) what would be his best tactics?

If his next few outings (8-10 years?) are all in the range from National League to bottom-half League 1, will that typecast him as a manager for those levels and effectively close off a tilt at something higher up the food chain? If he finds an opening in the back rooms of a bigger club, would that get him a toe-hold for future consideration at Championship or Premier level?

Part of the reason for these ramblings is that I have always been fascinated by how you can objectively identify a good football manager; someone who is adept at managing football teams under any circumstances because of a specific talent for the job. Each level seems to have its pool of managers whose names always come up when there is a vacancy. Many of those managers never seem to climb the ladder, either through promotion or recruitment. In the case of the Premier League, they never seem to slide down the ladder - usually being deemed 'too big' a name to take on a more lowly club.

I'm still waiting for some TV company to produce the reality TV show "Manager Swap", where Guardiola or Klopp have to spend a season with a mid-table League 2 club and whatever limited resources it has, while Dave Challinor or Simon Weaver, for example, get to marshall the talents of the world's most expensive players in the Premier League.

Not going to happen, of course. But as far as MB is concerned, I'll keep watching this space.

[cambsno]

Dec 5, 2023 3:14:25 GMT kentishu said:

I think he would be well advised to take a break for at least 6 months, he's going to be feeling pretty bruised right now, and some time away will help him refresh and refocus.

In terms of doing something where he has a decent chance of success, I would suggest managing a conference club. He's been good at finding players with the right temperament, and getting them to outperform as a team. That is replicable (given a decent opportunity) and works well at conference level, but less so at L1 where egos and expectations are much higher. Likewise you need some tactical nous to succeed at L1, much less in the conference.

Whether he will want to do that is another matter, he will get better paid opportunities because his CV as a manager looks excellent.

Kentish

I think this should win the award for the most stupid post this year!!

He had one season in L2 and finished 2nd (after making sure we were safe season before)

He led us to 11th in L1, beat Newcastle away and then survived last season. We have also not been in the relegation zone this season. To suggest he should head to the Conference is simply laughable.

[imp566]

Dec 5, 2023 10:36:43 GMT Zinedine said:

Love the idea that Mullin and Hoolahan were "special factors", as if Bonner won them in a raffle and their impact and influence occurred entirely separately to his management of the team.

Really hard to know what his next job will be - feels like he'd back himself as manager though, so I think probably a League Two job is more likely than a stint as an assistant or whatever somewhere else.

No, they were an aberration on that failed recruiting policy that Ben Strang presides over!

[fatherjhackett]

JONNO: BONNER HAS HAD OFFERS SHOCK. WILL TAKE BBBC WITH HIM HORROR.