Next Cambridge Manager Odds: Five candidates to replace Neil Harris

Neil Harris’ exit for Millwall leaves Cambridge United in need of a new manager for the second time in two months.

EFL pundit Gab Sutton picks out five candidates for the job…

1. Michael Duff

Michael Duff would be the dream appointment for Cambridge.

The U’s have a realistic chance of acquiring the Northern Irishman’s services, after his tough stint in the Championship with Swansea may nudge him closer towards the League One market, but it is a slim one.

Duff made history at Cheltenham, leading them to their first top seven League Two finish in seven years, their first ever Football League title, and their highest ever finish across his three full seasons after taking them out of a relegation dogfight initially.

At Barnsley, meanwhile, he transformed the culture, established a clear identity, and got results straight away, leading them to the League One Play-Off Final last season.

Duff is unquestionably good enough to manage at Championship level: what held him back at Swansea was the club’s preference for extreme, possession-heavy football, and more outwardly passionate managers – and both favoured his predecessor.

At a club with a different set of values, both those things become irrelevant and there’s no doubt Duff would be the perfect candidate to help Cambridge work towards becoming one of the better teams in this league rather than looking over their shoulders.

The likelihood of this may hinge on Duff’s willingness to go straight back into management right now – he could attract a bigger opportunity, unquestionably, but may not want to wait.

2. Barry Corr

If he can deliver a result and/or a spirited performance in Saturday’s Cambridgeshire derby, in response to the 5-0 mauling suffered in the reverse fixture, the bandwagon for big bad Barry Corr may gain some traction.

Corr isn’t interested in the job permanently, but you never know how he’ll feel after a little taste, and perhaps a few memorable moments as caretaker as the U’s lean towards a familiar figure to help wrap up their League One status for another season.

That was how Mark Bonner got the job – and that certainly worked out.

However, there would also be a risk to giving Corr the keys to the job based on feel-good vibes off the back of a few positive results, and then possibly wasting a summer if he subsequently struggles to replicate an in-season impact from the start of a campaign.

3. Gareth Ainsworth

Gareth Ainsworth is likely excluded from the Championship market after his ill-fated stint at QPR.

The 50-year-old will argue he inherited deep-rooted structural, financial and cultural problems at Loftus Road, and that would be true.

Better performances and results were attainable, however, as highlighted by the subsequent turnaround under Martí Cifuentes.

Ainsworth remains one of the greatest motivators in English football who, when he gets buy-in, establishes a core of leaders, and sets the culture as he wants it, can achieve success far, far above anyone’s wildest expectation.

It may be that at Championship level, players want more than what Ainsworth can offer, and that he can be found wanting for more advanced tactical and technical detail – but below, his man management qualities have thus far significantly outweighed his limitations.

Hence, if Cambridge plan to strive to bridge League One’s budgetary gulf based on a culture-led strategy, revolving around gaining momentum from home form and becoming that underdog that everyone hates to play against - Ainsworth is the one.

Appointing him, however, would mean compromising developmental initiatives.

We must stress, of course, this doesn’t mean that Ainsworth hasn’t nurtured talents like Ebere Eze, Anis Mehmeti and Chris Forino, but that he likes to bring one or two talents into a group of experienced players, rather than the other way around.

Plus, there’s a perspective that what Ainsworth achieved at Wycombe – astonishing though it was, as an era that will go down in the great pantheon of Football League history – might be tricky to replicate as fresh ideas filter down the leagues.

Nonetheless, Ainsworth would increase Cambridge’s chances of beating the drop this season, and stabilizing in midtable next year.

4. Ryan Mason

If he wants to establish himself as a number one, Ryan Mason could be keen on a first job in management in the EFL.

The former midfielder, who had to retire early due to injury, currently assists Ange Postecoglou in the Premier League at Tottenham, but the top job looks unlikely even if the Aussie gets poached.

Dropping down to League One would give Mason a fresh challenge but it’s nothing that would overawe the rookie, who was the youngest top flight coach of the Premier League era at 29 in 2021, and he’s had six years of coaching experience, working with Antonio Conte and Postecoglou, as well as observing Jose Mourinho from afar from his Head of Player Development role.

We still don’t quite know how good Mason will be as a number one, but if he’s as good as his coaching reputation indicates, then it could be a risk worth taking – if Cambridge can acquire the next top managerial talent at the start of their career, it does give them a chance of defying the odds in League One, and a move like this would open doors in the loan market.

5. Ian Burchnall

Ian Burchnall was sacked at Forest Green midway through their ill-fated 2022-23 League One campaign which, admittedly, isn’t the most appealing opening tag line for a prospective new Head Coach.

However, the Nailsworth’s club’s subsequent struggles, both that season under Duncan Ferguson, and in League Two under David Horseman, Troy Deeney and Steve Cotterill, which leaves their League One status in jeopardy, does offer context.

Burchnall remains a highly valued coach: he was entrusted with replacing Graham Potter at Ostersunds before his time in Gloucestershire, and has since coached first-team football in the Europa Conference League with Belgian giants Anderlecht, and in the Premier League with Wolves.

The 41-year-old is very much a grass coach, who does his best work when his remit is streamlined to focus all his energies on what he does best.

At Forest Green, Sporting Director Richard Hughes’ exit for Portsmouth in September opened up a power vacuum that diluted Burchnall’s day-to-day priorities, and the quality of coaching may have been compromised, while other factors – injury crises, new level for the club, loss of five key players from the title-winning season and off-field personnel coming in and out of the building – all came into play.

Nonetheless, you could still see some of the patterns of play coming to fruition, and they were a tidy footballing side.

It could be argued that Burchnall’s working preferences lend themselves better to working at a higher level as a coach, rather than a number one.

However, the structure at Cambridge, with reliable people in Ben Strang as Sporting Director and Alex Tunbridge as CEO, should allow him to narrow his focus suitably.

The big question is whether Burchnall would have the squad at the Abbey to implement some of his modern ideas, and whether there’s enough scope in the summer to evolve things in his image.