Who will be the next Chesterfield manager?

Chesterfield have sacked their manager John Sheridan after not winning any of their first three games in League 2.

To sack a manager this early in my opinion is a little crazy but now there have been two sacked already, (Andy Thorn at Coventry City) so maybe now you need a quick start to the season to keep your job especially if you are expected to be one of the favourites for promotion. But, I think they need to take a step back and it may be clichéd but the Football League is a marathon and not a sprint, you cannot get promoted in the first three games and certainly can’t get relegated. John Sheridan must have split opinion because he did very well at times by winning them the League 2 title in the 2010-11 season and then followed that up with the Football League Trophy the season after, but in League 1 they struggled and were rightfully relegated because they just weren’t good enough. Now, was that because of Sheridan’s tactics or something else? He had a decent record as manager winning 63 of his 163 games in charge which gives him a 39.38% win record so I fully expected them to be up there come the end of the season. Tommy Wright and Mark Crossley have been placed in temporary charge.

First name to put forward for the job permanently is Brian Laws who has been quite successful in Yorkshire before when he was manager of Sheffield Wednesday so at least he knows the area and it won’t take him long to settle down and can focus on the job straight from the off. He has also gained two promotions from League 2 in his career, both at Scunthorpe United, so he knows exactly what is needed in the division. Plus, he has Premier League experience and there may not be a lot of them linked with the job so he could have a few contacts to call upon to bring in decent players.

Next, is a manager that I feel was harshly sacked at his last club and that is Sean Dyche. He led unfancied Watford to 11^th in the Championship last season and they looked very good under him, playing good football and on the whole looking very solid. Dyche, had to work on a small budget an use a lot of the youth players so this would also be beneficial to Chesterfield. Also, the icing on the cake and what makes him favourite for the job in my mind is the fact he started his career at the club and played 231 league games for them scoring eight goals. I’m sure he would be a fans favourite and popular choice.

Finally, another manager that has links to Yorkshire, Mark Robins, who has managed both Rotherham United and Barnsley. This would be an interesting choice because of the rivalry between Rotherham and Chesterfield but he has been successful in this division before and performed admirably at Rotherham when they were going through quite a turbulent time, starting one season with a 17 point deduction. His time at Barnsley didn’t go as well but he still achieved their targets and kept them in the Championship and only left because of differences with the board so he may even still be there now if they could have worked it out.

Arctic Monkeys have changed a lot since their debut album

Arctic Monkeys performed a Beatles classic at the Olympic Opening Ceremony in ‘Come Together’ in front of Sir Paul McCartney and this must be a massive moment for the band.

All four of their studio albums have reached number 1 in the UK

It was a very good cover of the song and nobody should be surprised that they were able to pull it off as they have showcased their talents for many years and performed a number of different songs. With their sound changing slightly throughout each album, choosing to do this song may have been challenging but achievable as they didn’t really have to change much and could do it as a straight cover. The band do seem to enjoy doing covers as they have participated in BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge a few times and performed one of the more interesting covers when they decided to do Girls Aloud’s ‘Love Machine’.

They were always destined for great things but they may not have thought they would be performing in front of The Queen at such a massive event that the whole world would see. Their debut album ‘Whatever People Say I am That’s What I’m Not’ was fantastic and is still the fast selling debut album and has been hailed as a modern classic so they were always going to be successful but they achieved it in their own way. Alex Turner was clearly aware of everything that was going on around him and could fit it all into the lyrics, ranging for prostitutes in the Sheffield area in the brilliant number one single ‘When The Sun Goes Down’ to the drama and familiarity of being in a relationship in ‘Mardy Bum’. All of the lyrics seem come off as his past experiences and his thoughts and feelings which give it more depth and the storytelling more engaging. They even sing about the state of affairs in a town and how much things have changed over the years with their being more love and dedication to a local football team than anything else. One of the biggest compliments you could give the lyrics is that they paint a picture that is instantly recognisable to a lot of people in the UK, in particular the song ‘A Certain Romance’ which is slightly different to the rest as it is a slightly slower song as opposed to the guitar led, jumping around sounds of some of their other songs.

This debut album achieved number one in the UK and somewhat surprisingly number 24 on the Billboard 200 in America. It is not because of the actual music that I am surprised by this but the fact that Turner didn’t try and hide his Yorkshire accent and used some slang words in the songs that many Americans may not have understood. But, it does appeal to a wide audience with the riffs having a punk feel to them and it being placed as more of an indie sound will certainly have attracted many listeners from different genres.

This was just the beginning for the band and with their recent albums you can see how they have grown and matured more as this album does have a heavy focus on going out on a Saturday night, looking at girls, ultimately getting turned down and getting into fights while waiting for a taxi. They have made different music now but as they say themselves, ‘There’s only music so that there’s new ringtones.

Who will be the next Rotherham United manager?

Rotherham United sacked their manager Andy Scott after less than a year in charge and placed Darren Patterson in temporary control.

Rotherham United are currently 10th in League 2

Patterson got off to a great start with a 4-2 victory over Macclesfield Town leaving the club in 10^th place, eight points outside of the playoffs and in the process has done himself no harm in getting the job permanently. He has managed before at Oxford United but looking back on his career he seems to want to be an assistant more than the main man at a club but he could be tempted to take the job as Rotherham are very ambitious and want to be playing in a higher division. He currently has a 38.8% win record which isn’t terrible and he could possibly do a good job for the club.

However, there are many other candidates and one they should surely be looking at is Mark Robins, as he is currently available and has worked at the club before and therefore knows a bit about the place. In his first spell in charge he was quite successful and he almost got the club promoted from League 2 even though they started the season with a 17 point deduction. He may be a good choice but some people believe you should never go back to your old club no matter what as it could ruin your reputation there so maybe the board should be looking at a different person to take them forward rather than looking back into the past.

Brian Laws is also in the running for the job and he already has links to Yorkshire with him being the manager of Sheffield Wednesday for three years. This could be a good thing or a bad thing as he will know the area and it won’t take him long to settle in the area and people always perform better when they are settled. However, it could go the other way and because of his time with Wednesday the Millers fans may not take to him very well and if results aren’t going his way they may turn on him very quickly. He has secured promotion twice from this division with Scunthorpe United and this is exactly what the club wants so he has a good chance of getting the job.

If they don’t mind paying compensation for their next manager then maybe they could look at Steve Evans at Crawley Town because he has done very well there and they are currently 5^th in the table and are hoping to be at least in the playoff positions come the end of the season. Evans is an ambitious manager and will be hoping for automatic promotion but if he thinks that Rotherham have a better chance of getting promoted it wouldn’t surprise me if he left Crawley. He isn’t the most liked person in football and can annoy people at times.

Rotherham have a lot of potential and have been knocking on the door of promotion for a number of years and eventually they will achieve what they want but they have to give the new manager some time to get his own ideas across to the players and also the opportunity to bring in his own players.