Phil Gartside and co. have made decisions, maintaining the integrity of our club. How will this be affected as we choose our next manager
As I have mentioned previously, I am grateful to the board of directors for, on the most part, keeping the clubs moral values intact. Our last two managers- Owen Coyle and Dougie Freedman are both terrific people.
Coyle, from a modest background, has always struck me as a very nice, hardworking man. He is very religious- there was a lot published about his constant praying and visits to see Muamba after his heart episode. The way he handled the situation was admirable. My father met Owen Coyle on a train, shortly after he was appointed as the new Wigan manager. Coyle went on about how much he loved Bolton as a club and how disappointed he was that it didn’t all work out.
Dougie Freedman has always been very truthful and upfront. He doesn’t command attention like a lot of other managers nor does he complain when not given the necessary finances to make things happen. Sports journalists who have worked with him have always spoken very favourably of the Scot on a personal level.
We also saw QuickQuid turned down as potential sponsors last year, following input from unhappy fans who quite understandably didn’t want to endorse a company with questionable morals.
All of this is good stuff. However, unfortunately this doesn’t necessarily get you very far at all in football. Football is about getting as many point as possible in order to attain a high league position.
Neither Owen nor Dougie were particularly successful on the whole at Bolton despite moments of great form. If I were to rate their managerial spells out of 10 I’d probably given Owen a 6 and Dougie a 5.
The reason I brought this topic up is that on our poll, Malky Mackay occupies the ‘favourite’s’ position. For those who do not know, Mackay was involved in a discriminative text scandal.
I reckon Mackay to be a pretty good manager at this level and he could be a strong candidate for the job. However, would we want to put aside all of the moral values we have worked hard to put into place in recent years to appoint this manager?
Moral Philosophy is a subject that fascinates me greatly and I think here we could apply both Act and Rule Utilitarianism. The former would say that if the benefit to the club outweighs the negatives more than any other option, then appointing Mackay is the right decision. Meanwhile, the latter would mean that we’re not to appoint him as he has done wrong.
From what I’ve heard on Twitter, many fans are saying that he should just be appointed on the merit of his managerial skills though there are some who feel that we shouldn’t have people like this at the club. However, then you could also say that it is morally right to forgive people and give them a second chance.
I, personally, do think that we should consider what he has done in the past but to quite a small extent. We should consider all managerial candidates, then if there is a two way race between him and the other person then give the job to the other person. If Mackay is the leading candidate by some way, then I think we should still seriously consider him.
Now, when it comes to choosing a managerial candidate it’s largely down to their credentials as a manager and/or player. Mackay did get Cardiff promoted from the Championship recently and did a decent job in the Premier League. However, then you have to look at the money he was able to spend. Then wait a second- Tony Mowbray, another candidate, also got promoted to the Premier League. Then you realise that Neil Lennon has managed in the Champions League…
The basis upon which we choose our next manager is very complicated and hopefully, Phil Gartside will make sure that the system used is as water-tight as possible.
I wouldn’t complain about Malky Mackay’s past, if he were to be picked. However, I would want him to be picked because he is a lot better than the rest of the candidates as the scandal isn’t necessarily a good thing given how unpredictable our squad morale is and as fans, we want someone whom we can trust.
Leave your thoughts below.