Ben Herd: A spell on the sidelines has made me think about a career in management

English Football League / Ben Herd / 12 February 2009 / Leave a Comment

Shrewsbury's right back on Tony Adams' sacking, the merits of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and why Danny Murphy isn't done just yet.

The last seven days seem to have been dominated by managers getting the tin tack! The very likable 'Big Phil' has gone, last seen running towards Heathrow with a wheelbarrow full of readies!

Tony Adams may also feel a bit angered at getting the bullet, but something like 2 wins in 16 isn't going to endear you to many chairmen is it? Using Adams as a prime example, are young managers given enough time? A fair crack of the whip? I don't think that it is a straightforward "yes" or "no" answer. I mean: are fans expected to watch the demise of their club just so a manager can cut his teeth like Portsmouth with Adams?

Seasoned ex-players getting back into the game at management level is never an easy route these days, with the FA insisting on a qualification, namely the 'Pro Licence' which can take a number of years to achieve.

I believe a couple of the lads at Shrewsbury are working towards this: Jacko and Cocko. These lads, in my opinion, will go on to make decent managers. They are real students of the game and go out of their way to question and analyse training and games so they have all the answers when they start in management.

Nigel Gibbs was the same at Watford and is now doing well as a coach at Reading. Gibbsy is destined to be a manager one day but is learning from the experience of Steve Coppell. I suppose, in a way, he's doing his apprenticeship which perhaps more young aspiring managers should do.

Having not played over the last couple of months, I have realised how much I love the game and, by being more of a spectator I have thought more about going into management - hopefully many years from now! There are so many ideas and systems that I would like to implement and watching from the sidelines certainly gives you a different perspective of the game, so maybe being out of the team for a while has been a bit of a blessing in disguise as regards a future management career.

If I were to go down that route, then I certainly hope I fair better than my old man! Let me explain...when I was about 9 or 10, my twin brother Tom and I, played for our Cubs' side. We used to batter every team and win all sorts of cups and leagues. Then the manager at the time decided to call it a day, and my old man decided that he fancied a bit of the limelight. Things couldn't have gone any worse, not only did we not win anything all season, but we got relegated! Tom and I rib my old man about it now, but he plays the Arsene Wenger card of always having an excuse for why it all went wrong.

Talking of people craving the lime-light, the Oscars are coming up in a couple of weeks. Funnily enough, I've recently seen two of the films that are hotly tipped to do well, Slumdog Millionnaire and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Both films are decent, and I'd recommend going to watch both, although Benjamin Button does go on for nearly 3 hours so make sure you have a full bag of popcorn with you in the cinema if you go before dinner.

It's good to get away from football sometimes and enjoy other pursuits. We used to have a Cinema club at Shrewsbury which consisted of me, Kelvin Langmead and Ryan Esson. Before seeing a film, we would meet up at a pub called The Beaten Track to take advantage of their two meals for a tenner. However, since Esson's departure, I'm afraid to say I've had to make do with going with my missus!

Personally, I can't wait for the Oscars to be over and done with, which might seem a bit of a strange comment, but my missus has been dropping it in left, right and centre to anyone that will listen that she went to school with Danny Boyle's (director of Slumdog) daughter and is still friends with her to this day.

One player that is starting to resemble the early life of Benjamin Button, (those of you who have seen the film will understand), is Danny Murphy. Murphy is a good example of a real honest, solid Premiership player who has gone all the way from a lower league club, Crewe, to winning silverware with Liverpool and international honours with England . It is unlikely in my opinion that he will add to his international caps but he's captaining Fulham and bossing the midfield for them and he's certainly not done just yet.

Murphy's major barrier as regards getting a game for England is the sheer number of quality central midfielders he has had to compete with: Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick and Barry to name but a few.

If there was a like-for-like comparison for every player at every club, then the Murphy of Shrewsbury town would probably be the skipper Ben Davies. One thing that is massive in their armoury is their ability at dead ball situations, something which kept Fulham up last season. Cast your mind back to the number of direct-free kicks and corners from which they scored from, particularly in the last few matches on their way to beating the drop.

Fulham take on Swansea this weekend in the FA Cup and excuse the cliché, but this does have bannana skin written all over it! That's probably why Fulham are slight underdogs. However, I would back the draw at [3.4] and Under 2.5 goals at [1.71].