By Chris Dunlavy
MALCOLM CROSBY knows all about the importance of timing.
Twenty-four years ago, the new Gateshead boss was a rookie coach at Sunderland when his friend and mentor Denis Smith was sacked. With applicants in short supply and nobody else around, the former Aldershot and York midfielder agreed to hold the fort ‘for a week or two'.
Six months later, the then 38-year-old was leading the Second Division strugglers out at Wembley in the FA Cup final.
“At the time, it didn't really sink in,” says Crosby, whose side were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool at Wembley. “But clearly I was very, very fortunate to find myself in an FA Cup final just six months into my first job. Some managers work for 30 years and never do that.
“It was a wonderful time, especially being a Sunderland fan myself. And it was great for the area, for the people in the community. You could see the banners on the factories and houses, the shirts everywhere. It gave the city a big, big lift.”
Yet if fortune and good timing provided Crosby with his finest hour, the opposite is certainly true of his worst.
Thrust into caretaker charge of Birmingham City following Lee Clark's dismissal in October 2014, Crosby could only watch in lonely horror as his men were ripped asunder by a Bournemouth side steaming towards the Championship title.
By the time the scoreboard finally ticked to a stop at 8-0, St Andrews was all but empty and Birmingham had suffered their worst home defeat in 140 years.
“Everything that could go wrong did,” says Crosby, now 60. “I was the manager, so it was my responsibility. I was the one who had to front up for the media and the Press. It was a bad, bad day, the worst experience I've had in over 40 years of professional football.”
In fairness to Crosby, a hybrid of Brian Clough and Jose Mourinho would have struggled to wring a performance from that confidence-shorn Birmingham side. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Regret
But, stung by the defeat and loyal to Clark, Crosby resigned. And though he didn't realise it then, it was the first step along the rocky path that led to last week's appointment at Gateshead.
Crosby first rejoined Clark at Blackpool, only to find a club in worse shape than Birmingham. A farcical pre-season had left the Seasiders with a substandard squad, whilst years of underinvestment saw fans launch weekly protests against owner Karl Oyston. Bottom for the entire season, Blackpool were eventually relegated to League One with a record-low points total for the second tier.
Fortune, however, hadn't entirely deserted Crosby. Clark quit Bloomfield Road last month, leaving him without a job just as his old friend Graham Wood, the former owner and current chairman of Gateshead, was seeking to replace Gary Mills.
Wood was a director at Sunderland in the early nineties, a third-generation boiler-maker whose success in business allowed him to fund the club he supported as a boy.
Indeed, it was Wood who, on the eve of the final, took Crosby to London, handpicking a swanky hotel on the Thames waterfront and personally arranging training sessions at Bisham Abbey. And while Crosby would leave the club in 1993 the two men have remained close.
“I've been friendly with Graham ever since,” explains Crosby, whose CV includes stints under Jim Smith at Derby and Steve McClaren and Gareth Southgate at Middlesbrough.
“We both love our football, we both enjoy a couple of pints. We like to go walking and always meet up when time allows.
“I've seen Gateshead make tremendous jumps in terms of professionalism under Graham and Gary Mills did a tremendous job in getting them to Wembley last year. It's a great club.
Priority
“But I've never pushed myself for the job before purely because of our relationship. I didn't want to make things awkward.
“But when he asked if I fancied doing it then I had to give it serious thought. He rang me and more-or-less said ‘I've looked at a lot of people, I've spoken to a few but… don't you fancy it?' It took me aback a bit but I couldn't say no. It just felt like a good time to take it on.”
Naturally, many are questioning the wisdom of appointing a 60-year-old with no experience of Non-League who hasn't held a permanent managerial position since 1993. But in an era when young managers are in vogue, the 40-year veteran believes experience and contacts should not be overlooked.
“Although I haven't managed, I've been on the frontline with people like Gareth and Steve for a lot of years,” added Crosby, who will be assisted at Gateshead by his former Sunderland player Gary Owers. “Those years mean something.
“Partly it's the network you build up. I know Steve at Newcastle. I was with Gareth at Middlesbrough. They are always willing to help you with players. Obviously I've got a lot of history at Sunderland so I'm expecting a little bit of help there too.
“In England, we sometimes don't value experience enough. Look at Denis Smith. He should have been managing for a lot longer than he did but somehow fell out of fashion. If you go to Italy or Spain or South America, there are plenty of managers out there in their sixties and seventies.
“You just need to look at Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson and how fantastically consistent they've been over the years. Age never hindered them.”
Crosby's priority as he seeks to build on last year's tenth-place finish is a couple of strikers. “If you want to get out of the Conference, you have to score something close to 100 goals,” he says. “You need a good attacking force and that's my aim. I'm talking to a couple of forwards at the moment and if we can get them in then that should really pep us up.”
And his ultimate aim? “I'm getting old,” he laughs. “I don't want to keep moving around. I would like to think this will be my last club and I would love to finish by getting them into the Football League.
“That would be one hell of an achievement.”
