Thetownend.com

Means you can usually make it to Dear Deadrie before having to dislodge.

On a less serious note the Steve Clarke resigning to head off to West Ham.  Not the first time overtures have been made to the Chelsea assistant but how much difference does the 2nd man in charge at a club make?

Objectively every case is different and can be argued either way although is the fact The Hammers are probably talking quite a significant amount of cash for an assistant manager who wants to depart an indication of the state of the Premiership or evidence of the difference a good number two can make?

Thinking back to our own chief cone gatherers of the past few years.  Steve Coppell although only on secondment made a significant impact and the legendary Crozzer’s departure coincided with the wheels starting to fall off the King era.  And who can forget poor Mike Walsh possibly the most maligned numbers two in years gone by?

The buggers never make good managers but I wonder if there is as much a talent and skill in being an assistant as there is a manager and does that skill transfer outside of a successful partnership?

Oooh forgot linkage for those that have not seen:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/7612103.stm

Im having one now

 Brian Clough was never quite the same without Peter Taylor..it was Taylor wh spotted teh cheap bargains and Clough polished them...Clough left to himself bought some right stumers.

The wealthier teams tend to have far larger set-ups now so I think the role of the assistant isn't as important as it used to be. It's important for a manager to have someone they trust as their right-hand man... It suprised me that Malpas didn't bring a chum down from Scotland.

Everytime I see Steve Clarke on the Chelsea bench he looks bored and totally redundant.

Agree about Crosby. i think we began to miss him very quickly

 Problem with Crosby, was that he was appointed in the Brady era, on very good money.

 When his contract was up, he was offered a new deal, but on a vastly reduced rate.

 It didn't take much for him to take a job in the Prem.  Walsh who was out of work at the time, was happy to step in for the bag of peanuts on offer. The old adage that you get what you pay for, was true in this case

John Gorman - a classic example of a damn good assistant... well, I think so.

Agreed.

Shame that for us he was a shit manager...............

According to rumours Hoddle was a little aloof in terms of ability, from the players who served under him Gorman was the players man.  As far as MM not bringing a chum from up north down, I put that down to him not being allowed to, it seemed that AF didn't want to get rid of DB and AW straight away. 

Hmm, that's fair enough but surely Ady Williams would have continued his role as injured player/part time coach and David Byrne would have gone back to his youth job quite comfortably. Not that I'm at all bothered by it... It just struck me as odd back then.

But as MM had not managed in England mayhap he wanted someone with local knowledge?

Perhaps. But I wonder if David Byrne, with youth football his area of expertise, could truly provided this? Byrne as assistant goes against the old trend of bringing in chums.

This sounds like I'm critising the current regime which I'm not at all. Maybe none of MM's friends up in Scotland simply fancied it... The fact Malpas upped sticks and came down his admirable in it's own right.

Again not a criticism, but upped sticks as opposed to what? IIRC he was considering a career change if nothing in football materialised. I'm not in the "give him x games" brigade since I want him to succeed as the team's success goes hand in hand. So, as we may have been last chance saloon, as you say it is unlikely that any friends wanted to take a punt. Bit different if he had found another job in Scotland perhaps. For me, the whole set up is a process of evolution. AF and co. are enabling the off-field part of that process and I believe MM, DB etc are developing into a potent management crew.

Bloody well hope so. 

I've noticed at recent games that fans have begun singing MM's name, so in view of his new-found relative popularity I have decided that I don't like him anymore.

But back on topic, Alex Ferguson won a lot when he's had a decent right-hand man (Brian Kidd, Steve Maclaren, Carlos Keerosh), but then when he hasn't had one he hasn't won anything at all.

I think that's right.

I'm not disagreeing Rich, at the time I'd have preferred MM bringing in his own backroom staff, but now 6/7/8 months down the road I think he and DB are developing a good managerial relationship, still not convinced by AW but don't know enough about the situation to be too down about that.

And I think Michael's right, Fergie's been the most succesful when the likes of Archie Knox and co were strong number 2's.  Mike Phelan does not fall into this bracket however.  I see Carlos has already had a set back in charge of Portugal, so he I wouldn't be surprised if he was back at OT by the start of next season.