After Terry Brown’s struggles with the Shots, Gary Waddock was appointed the club’s next permanent manager in 2007. He had an instant impact, leading the club to the Conference league title. They easily retained their place in League Two last season and this season find themselves in a lofty 6th place. Waddock can surely do no wrong at the Rec – you would imagine his job security was almost as good as John Still’s. So why on earth would he swap this to join Wycombe? They have the worst record in League One, even worse than the frankly woeful Tranmere. They’re only six points from safety but anything other than an immediate impact could see that margin grow, leaving an almost impossible task. Has Waddock made a big mistake? Here are 5 more that have made rather poor career choices.
Iain Dowie – Crystal Palace to Charlton
Dowie led Crystal Palace to the Championship playoff semi-final in 2005/06 before resigning so he could, according to Palace supremo Simon Jordan, “go back to the north to be with his family”. Dowie refutes this and soon signed a contract with Charlton who were in the Premiership. It couldn’t have gone much worse – within 6 months he didn’t have a job any more and a court case hanging over his head from his former employers. Just 12 league games were played under his management, and only two were won.
Jacques Santini – France to Tottenham
Santini was hailed as something of a saviour when he took over after France’s disastrous 2002 World Cup campaign and turned the side back into a winning machine. They qualified for Euro 2004 with a 100% record and won the 2003 Confederations Cup with ease – but then Monsieur Santini decided to totally balls up his own career. On the eve of the Euros, he announced he was leaving to join Spurs after the tournament. His reeling side lost to Greece in the quarter-final and he then spent just 13 games with the North Londoners, winning 5 of them before resigning.
Paul Ince – MK Dons to Blackburn
It is slightly easier to understand Ince’s decision compared to some of the others in this list. He wanted to become a Premiership manager and took the quickest route, swapping his League Two champions Franchise FC for a shot at the big time. Ince had built his reputation by dragging Macclesfield back from a 7-point deficit to avoid relegation in 2006/07 before leading the Dons to promotion. He couldn’t resist Rovers’ lure but it came back to bite him – just 3 wins in 17 games sealed his fate and he was sacked.
Dave Bassett – Wimbledon to Watford
The old adage trotted out by many departing managers – “I’ve taken them as far as I can” – was Bassett’s line as he left the Dons. He’d taken over in 1981 and presided over a meteoric rise from the Fourth to the top half of the First Division by 1986, before succeeding ol’ Turnip himself, Graham Taylor, at Vicarage Road. He was so well regarded you can’t imagine he’d ever have been sacked by Wimbledon, but Watford had other ideas and he was gone before the end of the season. Watford were eventually relegated, having finished 9th the season before.
Alan Ball – Southampton to Man City
Bally was a well regarded player, part of the fantastic World Cup winning side in 1966, but his managerial fortunes have been rather mixed. After guiding Southampton away from relegation and to a creditable 10th place Prem finish the following season, he swapped it for a “bigger club” in Manchester City. However it all went a bit pear shaped for the croaky-voiced fella as he led City to relegation in his first season. A particular highlight was swapping 15-goal Paul Walsh for goal-shy Gerry Creaney.
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