5 Men Who Were Born To Be Number Two

By: Rob | February 9th, 2009

Some men were born to lead. Sir Alex Ferguson, for example. Could you imagine him as anyone’s number 2? Tony Adams is facing the fact this morning that while he might be a wonderful Number Two, and as Assistant Manager was integral to Portsmouth’s recent success, he couldn’t quite cut it as a manager. Mind you he had a bit of experience of that, in the lower leagues.

Still, he’s not in bad company really – there are plenty of people who have resolutely failed to make the step up from Assistant to Big Boss. Here’s a look over some of the biggest misses in that department.

1 Sammy Lee
As Bolton tunred from decent Division One (Now The Championship) side, to yo-yo club, to established Prem side, to established Top Ten side, Manager Sam Allardyce took alot of the credit. He had put together a very successful coaching staff however, led by Sammy Lee. When Allardyce figured he’d done all he could for the Trotters and scarpered off to Newcastle, Bolton figured the cheap easy option was just to promote Lee. He might have had Big Sam’s funky walkie-talkie thing on his face, but that didn’t cover up his lack of managerial prowress.

He was sacked mid-way through his first season in charge, with Bolton staring relegation in the face.
He’s now Rafa’s Number Two at Liverpool, where they’ve gone from 4th best team in the League to title contenders.

2 Chris Hutchings
Ah, Chris Hutchings. His name has been noted several times in reference to Tony Adams, and indeed it was a similar situation. Hutchings took over the role of Assistant at Bradford under Chris Kamara and Paul Jewell was impressed enough with him to keep him in that role, as the club got promoted to the Premier League. After Jewell moved to Sheffield Wednesday, Hutchings got a promotion. After winning his first Prem game (against Chelsea) things looked rosy. However he failed to win again and 11 games later he was shown the door.
He decided to rejoin Jewell as Assistant at Wigan. And what do you know, History repeated itself in May 2007, Hutchings replaced Jewell again. What was anyone involved thinking? Hutchings knew it didn’t work before, Wigan knew, what did they think was going to happen?
Alas, six games lost in a row and he was sacked. 7 years to the day after being sacked before.
Lightning threatend to strike thrice, when he rejoined Jewell at Derby, Jewell resigned and Hutchings became Caretaker Boss. Fortunatly Derby decided that they didn’t want to have to bother sacking him come November and hired Nigel Clough instead.

3 Brian Kidd/Steve McClaren/Carlos Quieroz
Ah, the be overshadowed by Sir Alex Ferguson. The United Manager has been succesful for a lifetime at Manchester United, helped by various assistants along the way. They tried their hands at management and they all looked better off as Number 2s.

Brian Kidd was the first Assistant to taste success with Sir Alex. Part of the management team that bought through Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and erm Nicky Butt, he helped Fergie guide United to Prem titles, Fa Cups galore. In December 1999 as United were on the cusp of a historic Treble, Kidd got his chance to be his own boss, and became Blackburn Rovers manager. They were sent down by Manchester United in the closing stages of the season – even Fergie looked a touch dissapointed when he was told. After not managing to bounce back at Blackburn, he was sacked.
Kidd became Number Two to Sven Goran Eriksson for England, when the country beat Germany 5-1. He had to step down from the role due to Cancer, which he has recovered from, since taking small coaching roles at Sheffield United.

Steve McClaren took over from Kidd at United in early 1999, and indeed was Assistant during the Treble win. Things hadn’t gotten off to a great start, he was introduced to the fans as “Steve McClaridge”. McClaren though was building a reputation, introducing the United players to Sports Psychology.
His chance to manage came from Middlesbrough and things started okay. He steadily pushed the side up the table (from 14th to 11th no less), and reached an FA Cup Semi-Final. After Kidd’s bout with Cancer he was offered the chance to be Sven’s Number Two while being Boro boss full time. He Won the League Cup in 2004, and helped England to a penalty loss against Portugal. in 2006, Boro’s form went all over the place. They reached the UEFA Cup Final, though they were outclassed by Seville in the final, but their league form left alot to be desired. They lost to Sunderland (local rivals and having a “Derby County” season), getting stuffed by Villa and Arsenal. With Sven’s departure from England however, he was made England Boss.

England of course was a disaster, and despite his mixed time on Teeside suggesting maybe he could make the jump from Number Two to Number One, the England time suggested otherwise.
In a desperate attempt to look different from Sven, he froze out Theo Wallcott, and axed David James and David Beckham. The five matches from October to March effectively sealed McClaren’s fate, with dreadful performances producing only one goal. The final lack of qualification for Euro 2008 at Wembley against Croatia was too much, and he was sacked. He’s now manager of FC Twente. With a Dutch Accent.

Carlos Queiroz completes the trimuverate of Man United Managers who can’t make it on their own. Queiroz had been a success for the Portugal U21’s, uncovering such gems as Figo and Rui Costa. Man United grabbed him to replace Steve McClaren as Fergie’s Number Two. The twosome seemed to get on well, and immediately it translated onto the pitch, where United picked up a Prem title.
So he was given the Real Madrid job. Except, he sort of wasn’t. A manager in name only, he had no input in transfer descions – he was forced to sell Claude Makélélé against his wishes – and rumours rang round that he was forced to pick Galacticos against his will. Famously he asked if he could buy Pepe who he regarded as the best centre-half of his generation, for 2 million Euros. Madrid said no. Pepe later cost them 30m Euros.
He returned to Old Trafford as Number Two after his unsuccessful spell as Manager in Madrid. His return to United upset the apple-cart as Ferguson entrused alot of the Portugese, which supposedly upset Roy Keane, who ended up being ousted from the club. However United went on to pick up the 2007 title, and Fergie started talking up Carlos Queiroz as his successor.
Then he went and took the Portugal NT job, they are currently underperforming, sitting third in a group they should win.

4 Chris Hughton
A longtime affiliate of Tottenham Hotspur – where he came through as a player, Hughton served under a whole range of managers at Spurs as coach before becoming Martin Jol’s assistant. Spurs finished 5th twice, but when Jol was shown the door, so was Hughton, so he joined Kevin Keegan at Newcastle. When Keegan went walkabout, Hughton became Caretaker Boss, and it seemed like he was going to be manager forever. The trouble was he looked so helpless at the whole, bizzare situation, you couldn’t help feel sorry for the fella. Things didn’t go well, though when Joe Kinnear was bought in, Hughton was kept at the club, and indeed was Caretaker boss at the weekend whil Kinnear was ill.

5 Ray Wilkins
The Crab as he was known at Manchester United as a player, has never really gone forwards as a manager. He became QPR player-manager in 1995, but only managed to get the side relegated from the Prem – to which they’ve never got back despite the modern megabucks.
Speaking of Megabucks, when Mohamed Al-Fayed decided he’d take a break from heckling the Royal Family and turn Fulham into a Premier League side, he enlisted The Crab. At least untill the play-off Semi-Final where he was unceremoniously dumped for Kevin Keegan.
Wilkins found his niché as Number Two, with Gianluca Vialli, first at Chelsea, then at Watford. He then became England U21 assistant to Peter Taylor, before becoming Chelsea’s Number Two all over again, this time for Big Phil Scolari.