June 23 – Gaffer Idol
IT seems that no TV programme today is complete with a public vote to decide the outcome. How long until the likes of Eastenders have to film two alternative endings to each show so the public can vote which way it should go. “Text ‘MURDER’ to 61188 if you want to see Phil shoot Ian Beale in his chip shop, or text ‘EARRINGS’ if you want to see Pat doling out some useful grounded advice to Ricky.”
Even football is not immune. Last year we had Ebbsfleet United taken over by the thousands of members of MyFootballClub.com who now vote online for important decisions like new signings. But Ebbsfleet were beaten to the public vote thang but Luton Town.
Today in 2003 the new owner of the Hatters, the shady John Gurney, conducted a bizarre telephone vote to decide on the new manager of the club.
Gurney had sacked the previous incumbent, the popular Joe Kinnear and his assistant Mick Harford upon taking the club over – a move that left most fans furious and bewildered.
When the votes were counted, the recently-sacked Hartlepool manager Mike Newell was announced as the winner, having beaten Kinnear by just four votes.
“The vote was much closer than we anticipated,” said Gurney. “I would now make an appeal for anyone connected the club to get behind the club.”
Newell said: “The supporters will have a big say in this club and I’ve got to win them over. The only way you do that is with results.
“But I not only have to win over the supporters, I have to win over the players as well. I can only do that by being honest with them and proving I’m capable of doing the job.”
It then emerged that the players had held a separate vote in which they backed Kinnear to return. Newell responded: added: “I think it’s a natural thing for the players to have stayed loyal to Joe and I understand that fully.
“I think if the same thing had happened to me at Hartlepool I would have been guaranteed the players’ vote as well.”
But, as we’ve learned to expect from public votes, there was something afoot. For a start, Newell was very much the outsider, with Kinnear expected to easily win the telephone vote after garnering a lot of support during his time as manager at the club, not least among fans who were unhappy at the way he was sacked.
Even allowing for malicious Watford fans backing Newell in the vote it seemed odd that the rank outsider had beaten the heavily fancies favourite. There were also suggestions that Newell had ben offered – and signed – a contract before the results were in.
But, such is football with its twists and turns, whether the vote was rigged or not, it turned out to be a pretty good appointment for the Kenilworth Road club.
Despite off-field and financial problems Newell steadied the ship in his first season, and then took the club up as champions the following term. He followed that up by finishing an excellent tenth place in his first season in the Championship before an increasingly loose-cannon mouth and a down turn in results got him the sack.
Still, it was a novel way to appoint a manager, but we wouldn’t want Simon Cowell or John Gurney near our club.
Also on this day, the Scots were taking a leaf out of England’s book with a heroic World Cup failure. More tomorrow folks, so keep it OTFD. And real. Obviously.
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