NL Full Time Podcast

“It’s an unbelievably challenging job as a football manager, but damn it, we’re lucky to be doing it, aren’t we?”

Chris Hargreaves, manager of Yeovil Town and former BT Sport pundit, was our guest on the NL Full Time podcast last weekend. After a spell holding the mic, Chris is now holding the reins at the Glovers, unable to resist the lure of the football hot-seat again and returning to management, having had a period in charge at Torquay United in 2014/15.

The addictive nature of football means that there is never any shortage of interested parties when a job becomes available, and after around a dozen match days in the three divisions of the National League, vacancies are starting to crop up with more regularity.

There have been two changes in the Vanarama National League itself, with both of the clubs relegated from League Two of the EFL already under different stewardship. Whether that is merely a coincidence or evidence of a misjudgement about the relative strength of the National League is something only the boards of those two clubs can answer.

As Chris told us at NL Full Time, the National League and its competitiveness shouldn’t be that much of a surprise to anyone. The coverage afforded to the National League by BT Sport means that games are widely available, and indeed Chris believes that the coverage is the envy of some of the clubs in Leagues One and Two.

The National League’s status as League Three in all but name is perhaps reflected in the lack of stability for those in the manager’s chair. Just three managers in the division have been in post for five years or more; Maidenhead United’s Alan Devonshire, Boreham Wood’s Luke Garrard and Altrincham’s Phil Parkinson.

That lack of stability is now perhaps filtering down to the North and South. In the North, six teams, that’s 25% of the division, have already made a managerial change, and that’s with just over 25% of the season gone.

In the South the numbers are lower, with two clubs already making a change, but a total of 10 changes across the National League’s 72 clubs means around 14% now have a different man at the helm than they did just over two months ago.

There are exceptions, such as the trio of managers mentioned above and in the North, gaffers such as Paul Holleran, who has been in charge at Leamington for over 12 years and in excess of 600 matches.

Perhaps in the cases of Maidenhead’s Devonshire and Altrincham’s Parkinson their relative longevity is partially down to expectations. Until Altrincham went full-time this summer, both were in charge of semi-professional clubs in a largely professional league. Remaining in the National League has to be counted as an achievement, and the boards of both clubs appear to recognise that.

For managers such as Chris Hargreaves, the stakes are higher than ever and the risks and pitfalls of being a manager are clearly outweighed by the thrill of being involved in the game that he loves.

As soon as a managerial departure is announced, usually with one of those images of a corner flag preceding it on social media, the club’s phone will start to ring and prospective new ‘gaffers’ will start to throw their hat into the ring. It’s a world that can be harsh and lacking in sentiment, but all those who take the job on will know that, and still do so willingly.

We wish Chris a long and happy association with the Glovers, but he knows only too well that there wouldn’t be a shortage of willing candidates to succeed him if expectations aren’t met…

The NL Full Time podcast is available weekly throughout the season, sometimes we even throw in a midweek special edition too, and all episodes of the podcast are available here:

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to us on iTunes or Spotify, and you can also follow and interact with us on social media: @NLFullTime on Twitter.