Former Sligo boss Ian Baraclough was appointed Motherwell manager this week and immediately raised some eyebrows with his statement suggesting that the club's ambition such be to challenge for the league title.
I want to win trophies. Why not at Motherwell? Why can’t we win the? Premiership?
Motherwell finished second last year so, in most other leagues they would be the default words of an incoming manager. However, they also finished 29 points behind Celtic and currently sit third from bottom with just 11 points.
Stuart McCall left to become part of Gordon Strachan's Scotland set-up and in came Baraclough who was a breath of fresh air in his first year with Sligo but became a bit stale towards the end of his tenure. He left the club with well wishes and many thanks for a league title and that was that.
However, it seems his time in Ireland has created some kind of immovable stink around him that doesn't sit well in the lofty climbs of the Scottish Premiership. Daily Record journalist and former player Gordon Parks has today penned an opinion piece entitled 'Ian Baraclough wouldn't be the first boss from Ireland to try and fail in Scotland'.
Before we get into it, let's just say that this won't be some kind of head in the sand, 'Irish domestic football isn't really that bad if you actually watch it' kind of thing. It is bad and Ian Baraclough wouldn't be the first boss from Ireland to try and fail in Scotland. It's more the details of Parks' analysis and the high and mighty tone that we've taken umbrage to.
He opens up by saying that Baraclough is probably not Brian Clough, thanks for that, and goes on to trot out some absolute nonsense.
The old joke about an Englishman, an Irishman? and a Scotsman could be adapted to raise a snigger at a host of managerial exports from the Emerald Isle into our own top flight.
Then comes the names 'Stephen Kenny, Pat Fenlon and Willie McStay and whisper it – Jim Gannon' whose collective accomplishments are whittled down to:
All men who have seduced Scottish clubs with a bit? of the blarney by their achievements in a coaching backwater.
Yes, Kenny and Fenlon are two of the most decorated coaches in the League of Ireland's recent history but apart from some significant Cup success with Dunfermline and Hibs respectively, they were not roaring successes in the SPL.
Scotsman Willie McStay won the First Division with Sligo back in 1994 before going on to work with the background team at Celtic for the better part of a decade. By way of Hungary he eventually landed a job as manager in the Scottish top flight with Ross County in 2010.
Once again he didn't do particularly well but to assume his work with Sligo 16 years previously was the reason for him getting the job is fanciful to the say the least.
Then we come to Gannon, who took charge at then First Division mired Dundalk only to well, stay mired in the First Division with a brilliant record of 10 draws from his final 10 games in charge. He then went to Stockport where he did a very impressive job of getting them promoted to League 1. After Stockport entered administration he made his way to Scotland and Motherwell where he didn't do particularly well.
If raising McStay's name was foolish, then adding Gannon just serves to highlight the deficiencies of Park's theory. If Motherwell hired him because of the decidedly vanilla job he did at Oriel Park then football administration in Scotland is in even worse shape than it is here.
To rub salt into wounds that are as non-existent as his theory, Parks goes on to say:
Jim is now working as a used car salesman just a few years after being hailed as the next big thing due to his work with Dundalk.
He even links to the source of this information, this tweet.
Ex Stockport and Vale boss Jim Gannon on is first day as a car salesman!! Going up in the world. #pvfc pic.twitter.com/EfAUIlTEoO
— Chris Chadwick (@chadders_scfc79) April 1, 2013
Yes, that's a photo of Jim Gannon in a showroom from a year ago. The taker even admits that he has no idea if Gannon is a salesman or not, and even at that there's no mention whatsoever of used cars, that looks like a fairly expensive kind of place. But all that is beside the point.
Parks goes on to finish with this delightful sign-off line that would be brilliant if he meant it as the wonderful piece of irony that it is.
But best of luck, Ian, just? don’t expect a CV of success? in Ireland to be any kind of comfort blanket now you’re in the big league.
'The big league'. Yes, that's right, the Scottish Premiership, well coloured me surprised. You only have to take a look at the C.V.s of the other managerial appointments in Scotland over the past couple of years to realise just how idiotic the column is. Baraclough managed Scunthorpe United before Sligo, hardly groundbreaking stuff but easily enough to get him a job somewhere in Scotland.
Last year St Johnstone hired Tommy Wright whose CV consisted of Limavady, Ballymena and Lisburn. He's currently guiding St Johnstone to a comfortable mid-table finish. Yes, Mr Parks we realise you see the League of Ireland as amateurish shit but just know that you're not that far away from us.
