New managers looking to make a point

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

The new SkyBet Football League season is now just a couple of weeks away, with Fulham and Newcastle United kicking off the campaign on Friday, 5 August.

As with every summer, there is a host of new managers in the Championship looking to make an impact with their new teams.

Here are some of the movers and shakers over the summer and whether they can take teams forward, stabilise them or improve their own reputations.

Blackburn’s risk with Owen

Since the Venky’s from India took over at Blackburn Rovers in November 2010, stability is a word that hasn’t been used too much at Ewood Park. Relegation soon followed from the Premier League, followed by a host of new managers that seemed to be entering and leaving Lancashire via a revolving door.

After Gary Bowyer’s departure last November, Paul Lambert was brought in but he parted company straight after the previous campaign ended, citing a lack of trust in terms of money being made available to strengthen the squad.

Owen Coyle is back in English football as the new boss at Blackburn

Blackburn have turned to Owen Coyle (pictured) in an attempt to get them back up the table but with former star asset Jordan Rhodes sold to Middlesbrough in February and Grant Hanley recently departing for Newcastle United, they don’t have a huge amount going for them.

Coyle is no stranger to the region, having managed Burnley and Wigan Athletic. He also had a spell with Bolton Wanderers. To have managed Blackburn’s two bitterest local rivals means the appointment has received a very mixed response. His track record is not good either. Relegated with both of his last two appointments in England, you sense this could be a make or break move for both manager and club.

If they aren’t careful, the 1995 champions of England will be sliding into the third tier of English football. This is a risky appointment.

Stubborn Stubbs

Alan Stubbs was always a tough opponent to play against in his playing career. He’s now back in the English game after succeeding Neil Warnock at Rotherham United.

Stubbs has been in Scotland for the past two seasons but failed to get Hibernian promoted from the Championship. Nevertheless, he finished on a high with the Edinburgh giants, achieving a stirring Scottish Cup final triumph over Rangers at Hampden Park in May.

He has wasted no time in bringing players with him from north of the border. Will Vaulks was the most recent capture from Falkirk whilst Jake Forster-Caskey has arrived on-loan from Brighton & Hove Albion.

This is Stubbs’ first managerial job in this country and the Championship is notoriously known as the toughest league in European football. He has a challenge but it is a positive move from the Yorkshire side. After finishing last season nine points clear of the drop, Stubbs has the potential to carry on Warnock’s fine work. The Millers could be one of the surprises in the upcoming season.

The Dutch way in Berkshire

Reading wielded the axe for the second time on Brian McDermott in late May after an underwhelming campaign which saw the team do well in the FA Cup again but struggle to a mid-table finish in the Championship.

Rather than look at experienced options, the Berkshire club have taken a completely different route and hired a rookie in the form of Dutchman Jaap Stam.

Stam was an integral part of the Manchester United squad that famously won the treble back in 1999 and also had successful spells in his career with PSV Eindhoven and AC Milan.

He has done his training in Dutch football, acting as an assistant manager at one of his former playing clubs in Ajax and with FC Zwolle too.

If Stam gets his tactics right as much as he did when playing in defence in this country, Reading might have just made a very shrewd appointment. He will need time though to establish himself as the no.1 of a managerial team.

Continental at Forest

The new man at former European Cup winners Nottingham Forest is Frenchman Philippe Montanier.

The 51-year-old has been out of the game for six months after leaving Rennes in January. His most successful job was at Real Sociedad, guiding them to a fourth-placed finish and a spot in the UEFA Champions League in 2013.

He becomes the first foreign manager ever appointed by Forest but will need to hit the ground running immediately. Chronic injuries to their key players including Henri Lansbury and Britt Assombalonga have meant there has been little to cheer about at the City Ground in recent years.

Nottingham Forest have been in the doldrums for far too long now. 1999 was the last time they played Premier League football and it is time for them to make a return to the top-flight of the English game.

This looks like a positive appointment on paper but they have an unhealthy habit of hiring and firing new managers. Since the Al-Hasawi family from Kuwait purchased the club in July 2012, no fewer than six permanent managers have walked in and out in next to any time.

This will either be a great success or one which has the ingredients too to go disastrously wrong.

A Welsh flavour at Cardiff

Vincent Tan has often left fans perplexed during his reign as Cardiff City owner. That theme continued this summer when Russell Slade’s job title changed from manager to Head of Football, only for him to quit the role less than a month later. He is now the man in the dugout at Charlton Athletic instead.

It is a member of Slade’s former coaching team who has been promoted to the main hotseat at the Cardiff City stadium in the form of Paul Trollope.

Trollope had five seasons in charge of Bristol Rovers but has been out of the managerial game since 2010. He has more recently worked as a coach at Birmingham City and Norwich City when Chris Hughton was in charge of both teams.

He recorded a 37% win ratio rate whilst in charge of Rovers. He will need to improve on that at Cardiff. Time is something Vincent Tan does not give to his managers. The Bluebirds must be in the play-off shake-up at a minimum for this appointment to work.

All the ingredients are in shape for what should be another gripping campaign in the SkyBet Championship.