On the balance of things, I think I would quite like to see Danny Lennon do well at St. Mirren. Not at the expense of Caley obviously; if it is a choice between the Buddies being dragged into the division one abyss or us, I really don’t give a flying monkey’s about Lennon’s fortunes. But it feels like it’s been a while since young, successful lower division managers, both in Scotland and down south, have been given the chance to punch at a higher level – unless, like Billy Reid and Derek McInnes, they have got their sides promoted. If Lennon succeeds, it opens the doors for other managers to get their chance in the future.
Because, in the last decade, only Steve Paterson (Aberdeen) and Ian McCall (Dundee United) have been extracted from the lower tiers to ply their trade in the SPL. Neither exactly set the heather alight. Paterson lasted less than two seasons at Pittodrie, and was replaced by Tangoman Calderwood after an 11th placed finish. McCall stayed at Tannadice for only 26 months; whilst United had one top six finish under his charge, they were fighting relegation when he departed. Not a good omen for Lennon, actually. Neither is the dependence of Paterson, in particular, on signing players from the lower leagues – he didn’t have much money (certainly not the £500,000 fee that Calderwood paid, in total, for Barry Nicholson and Steve Lovell), but he forked what he had out on the likes of Falkirk’s Jamie McQuilken, Clyde’s Leigh Hinds, and Ayr’s Paul Sheerin. Not exactly Aberdeen legends, those boys; neither, of course, were the likes of Laurent D’Jaffo and David Zdrilic…though
he did have a rare success in Markus Heikkinen, the Finnish midfielder. McCall had a better time plucking players from division one – Mark Kerr did well for United and, later for Aberdeen, while Barry Robson was the big success story – making it to Celtic Park and a series of Scotland caps after leaving Inverness for £100,000. I wouldn’t say that Alan Archibald, Scott Paterson or Collin Samuel made terribly much impact, though.
I’d love to think that Danny Lennon has been made St. Mirren manager because he has done a sensational job at Cowdenbeath, with two consecutive promotions (though one of those came following Livingston’s demotion), and because he deserves his chance to make it at the top, rather than just being remembered for scoring for Raith Rovers at Bayern Munich (he really did, you know, in the UEFA Cup). But I think he has been appointed because he is the cheap option – a view supported by the fact that the Paisley side have lost the likes of Billy Mehmet and Andy Dorman this summer, got rid of many squad players, and replaced them with, well, Cowdenbeath players. Take Gareth Wardlaw, for example. He scored 19 goals in the second division last season, not even close to the likes of former Caley misfit Rory McAllister (who scored 27 for Brechin). It’d be one thing if he had potential, but he’s 31 and has just quit his job as a postie for his first shot at full-time football. Either Lennon is saving money for marquee signings, or he’s just saving money. And, as the quality of the SPL has dropped over the last seven or eight years, there has been a knock-on drop in the fare demonstrated at lower level. Div 1 and Div 2 will not produce another Barry Robson in a hurry.
Good luck, Danny Lennon – you may need it.
L.
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