After five months of searching, Swindon Town have appointed their new manager, former Lincoln City boss Mark Kennedy on an initial two-year contract.
What can Swindon Town fans expect from their new manager?
Mark first and foremost is a gentleman, he has a fantastic character and in my interactions with him was always appreciative of the time. Many will remember him for his extensive playing career, with Liverpool, Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers on his CV amongst others as well as 34 caps for his country.
After his retirement, he began coaching at Ipswich Town before moving to Manchester City’s Academy and later Wolves. His first full step into management was somewhat of a baptism of fire. He stepped into a Macclesfield Town side that was fraught with off-field issues in the COVID-19-shortened season. He resigned from his role and rejected the offer of a contract following their relegation after points deductions guaranteed non-league football.
Rather interestingly, rather than chase a new position in first-team management, Kennedy took the time to take stock of his situation. He opted to return to the Ipswich Town academy to shadow Bryan Klug to gain more experience in the development of players and to hone his coaching ability. He then left to take up the number two role at Birmingham City in the Championship alongside Lee Bowyer. Before eventually linking up with Lincoln City.
His spell at Lincoln City
Lincoln fans are somewhat mixed on Kennedy’s tenure, personally, I was a fan of his and understood the issues he was faced with. When joining the club he aimed to implement a “possession with a purpose” strategy, which was the antithesis of his predecessor Michael Appleton who was often accused of playing the ball around with no attacking impetus.
He began his tenure with a 4-3-3 attacking formation, which did gain some results, going unbeaten in his opening five games in charge. However, Peterborough United thrashed Lincoln 4-0 which I suspect somewhat dented the confidence in his side at the time. They continued with the 4-3-3 on the pitch but behind the scenes began working on what was essentially a 5-2-3 formation or a 3-4-3 depending on how you look at it.
He opted to make the club hard to beat, rather than continue the attacking strategy he had hoped for. This did prove fruitful, whilst sections of the fanbase became frustrated by the club at times ‘parking the bus’ it did get results against the top sides. Lincoln went unbeaten against the top three sides in the division in his first season in charge. However, the frustration grew as he continued with the same strategy against opponents lower in the table often resulting in scrappy 0-0 draws or 1-0 losses as both sides sat back and struggled to break each other down.
In his second season, there was hope that they would build off their 11th-place finish. Jez George (Director of Football) added the likes of Tyler Walker and Reeco Hackett to the squad to give a more attacking edge. However, early on injuries struck the squad with both Tyler Walker and fellow striker Ben House out for a long period of time. This meant that the Imps were at times left without a striker, or having to rely on academy graduate Jovon Makama and Hakeeb Adelakun who had nearly departed the club, unwanted in the summer. This meant that he had to revert back to a more defensive strategy again, much to the frustration of many of the fans.
Many understood the issues however and were hoping to get to January to recall Freddie Draper from his successful loan spell at Walsall and perhaps add another attacking signing. But some frustrations perhaps started to show from Mark who openly criticised Danny Mandroiu and a couple of academy player in post-match interviews, something that felt out of character for both Kennedy and for the club who had championed youth development. Shortly after this criticism Lincoln opted to part company with him citing that the reasons were not football-related.
Verdict
Kennedy has not had it easy in his managerial career so far, Macclesfield was an impossible job and perhaps taught him some valuable lessons on the importance of choosing a club wisely. His spell at Lincoln was full of frustrations, he never really got to play the football he clearly believes in and had difficulties with assistant managers leaving and attacking injuries that forced him into making decisions I don’t think at times he fully believed in. Overall he is a good manager, that has had it unlucky so far and that probably needs a fanbase and a home that will give him the time to express himself. Hopefully, he will show what he can do rather than what he has to do at Swindon.
He deserves this opportunity and I believe he has what it takes to build something special, so long as the off the field issues remain that way.