Johnny Phillips: Lower leagues a proving ground for up and coming managers

Bowen made his first senior appearance in non-league football, with Hereford United, before establishing himself – primarily in the Championship – with Hull City. From there he joined the Hammers and has not looked back.

“It’s good that players go through the leagues and it’s probably the best route through for managers as well,” Moyes said. “The problem with managers (coming through that way) is that getting big jobs in the Premier League becomes more difficult.”

Moyes may have a point. Certainly, he is the only head coach in the top six who has taken charge of a team in the Football League, managing Preston North End in what is now League One and the Championship. The top jobs tend to attract overseas appointments, in the current era.

Admirable

But he is not the only Premier League boss with lower-league experience. Graham Potter, Brendan Rodgers, Thomas Frank, Marcelo Bielsa, Frank Lampard, Eddie Howe, Dean Smith and Sean Dyche have all managed in the Championship. Both Howe and Smith have managed further down, too, as did Roy Hodgson during a brief spell in charge of Bristol City in 1982.

There is something admirable about a manager plying his trade lower down, as Moyes suggests, and continuing to progress.

Howe’s ascent with Bournemouth was a remarkable story and his feats with the club have already gone down in folklore.

Who, if any, will step up in the coming years?

Well, here are six managers currently dotted around the Football League who might be worth keeping an eye on.

Given that this is a notoriously fickle business, it would be a push to suggest they will all rise to the top but each one has impressed during relatively short careers so far.

Steve Cooper made his name as a youth coach, leading England to under-17 World Cup success.

He took the Swansea City job in June 2019, taking over a team that finished mid-table in their first season since back in the Championship. Cooper twice led the Swans to the play-offs in his only two seasons in charge.

Now at Nottingham Forest, he is turning around the fortunes of a club who were rock bottom of the Championship when he joined at the end of September, with just one win from their opening eight games. Forest are now in the play-off hunt and gained national attention for their eye-catching FA Cup victories over Arsenal and Leicester.

At Cooper’s former club, Russell Martin is working under the radar.

The Swans manager is wedded to the art of possession, with his side averaging 65 per cent of the ball this season.

The startling possession stats include 94 more passes in the opposition’s half than the division’s average.

Swansea have found trouble playing it out from the back on several occasions, though, and their 16th-place league position is nothing to write home about.

Trigger-happy chairmen might even consider looking to make a change, yet given time to get it right, Martin has the potential to build something special.

Ryan Lowe was a free-scoring lower-league striker over a career which spanned almost two decades.

His management philosophy is based on an attacking style – we’ll score one more than you – which brings results.

His promotions from League Two, with Bury and Plymouth Argyle, put bums on seats.

Appointed manager of Preston North End in December, Lowe took charge of a club that had scored just 22 goals in 21 games, lying 18th in the table.

Already the signs look promising, with Preston now up in the top half of the division with an improved goalscoring record.

If he is backed, Lowe has the ability to mount a play-off push next season.

Leam Richardson had already proved himself as a capable number two working under Paul Cook during promotions at Chesterfield, Portsmouth and Wigan Athletic.

When Cook resigned from the Latics job in the summer of 2020 after the club went into administration, which resulted in relegation to League One, Richardson stayed on in an interim role until John Sheridan took over. Sheridan left after just 15 games and Richardson stepped forward once more.

Despite the squad essentially being asset-stripped, he kept Wigan up and is now leading a promotion charge against all the odds.

Of the many big names forecast for promotion in League One, Liam Manning’s MK Dons were not among them back in August.

The 36-year-old arrived in Milton Keynes after a short stint with Belgian club Lommel SK and a spell at West Ham’s academy prior to that.

Manning has earned a reputation for developing young players and trusting them.

Wolves loanee Theo Corbeanu would probably back that up, as he is enjoying his best run of senior football in his career so far, with MK Dons currently third in League One.

Rob Edwards is known locally for his work at Wolves, holding down no fewer than five different positions, from player through to interim manager during his various spells at Molineux.

Now at Forest Green, Edwards has built a side on the 3-5-2 model he utilised with the under-23s at Compton Park and his prolific team lead League Two by 11 points.

He made a shrewd appointment in assistant Richie Kyle, a former ‘Out of Possession’ specialist coach with England development teams, and Forest Green have blown away their rivals during a hugely impressive season.

What all young managers need is patience from those above them. Too often we have seen change for change’s sake.

It would be great to see more progress through the leagues and hopefully these six are given the opportunity to make a difference.