Next Tranmere Manager Odds: Five candidates to replace Micky Mellon
After Tranmere Rovers dismissed club legend Micky Mellon as manager on Sunday, EFL pundit Gab Sutton looks at four of the favourites to take his place in the Prenton Park hotseat – then throws a fifth bonus pick into the mix!
Karl Robinson
Karl Robinson has emerged as the early favourite for the job with betting sites.
Although still a reasonably young manager at 42, Robinson has been in the business for 13 years: in that respect, he’s vastly experienced.
In that time, the former Liverpool youth coach has won automatic promotion from League One with MK Dons, after overseeing a period of steady progress, developing talents like Dele Alli.
After a mixed spell at Charlton, Robinson then took over an out-of-form Oxford side at the back-end of 2017-18, and kept them up prior to a streaky midtable season in 2018-19.
That year, 12th was a decent ultimate outcome to say his side often only had veteran Jamie Mackie as an option up top, and had been very wasteful in front of goal in the early weeks of that campaign.
What followed was back-to-back Play-Off finishes with a core of shot-stopper Simon Eastwood, full-backs Sam Long and Josh Ruffels, aerial centre-back Elliott Moore, destroyer Alex Gorrin, dynamo Cameron Brannagan, creator James Henry and poacher Matty Taylor.
The year after, the Yellows got to 76 points – two more than they finished sixth with the season before – but only finished eighth due to the high standard of competition in the Play-Off scramble that time around.
Robinson has started five seasons as Oxford manager, and four of them can be classed as good managerial performances.
And, while the Liverpudlian’s stock might be relatively low right now due to recency bias, Tranmere in their current situation were unlikely to attract Robinson when it was at its highest.
The manager has previously been a 4-2-3-1 disciple, but in more recent seasons his side have deployed a single pivot, with a 4-3-3 formation.
This could suit the Tranmere squad, with Lee O’Connor taking on the Gorrin role at the base, Hendry controlling a bit like Brannagan did for Oxford, and Kieron Morris creating in pockets similarly to Henry.
Plus, only playing with one up top might suit Tranmere, because the striker position isn’t this squad’s strong suit, and an extra midfielder would allow Rovers to get midfielders into the box, which is something they haven’t done well enough this season.
Robinson’s coaching would also ensure his side use the ball more economically than they have under Mellon, and create more precision-engineered chances, as opposed to crosses from full-backs that flash across the box.
However, Robinson’s sides have been known to be timid and passive at their worst, which has to be factored in as a mark against him if the club want the next manager to build a team that represents the people of Birkenhead.
Danny Cowley
Similarly to Robinson, Danny Cowley wouldn’t be in the conversation for the Tranmere job if this vacancy had come up at a time when their stock was at its highest.
The brothers won three consecutive promotions with Concord Rangers, inspired part-timers Braintree to the National League Play-Offs, and achieved two titles in three years with Lincoln City, either side of a top seven finish in League Two and EFL Trophy win – not to mention FA Cup history-making to boot.
Common perception is that, post-Lincoln, the Cowleys haven’t delivered at bigger clubs, but Huddersfield were in danger of emulating Sunderland’s implosion in 2019-20, and the duo kept Town up, even with a particularly high tally required for survival.
Similarly, they were unlucky not to get Portsmouth into the Play-Offs last season for the same reasons Oxford didn’t get there (see above), and were managing the club at a time when they were putting more money into infrastructure, at the expense of first-team investment.
The Cowleys left Pompey in 11th, which was not far off where they ranked in playing budget – only it was perceived less favourably because of the expectations that inherently come with managing a club as grand as that, along with home no-shows against MK Dons and Charlton.
At their best, the Havering-born pair are meticulous, pragmatic, flexible, passionate, personable, and not shy to the dark arts, whilst being capable of crafting excellent individual game plans to target the opposition.
They want their teams to be aggressive against the ball – which is the first thing any team representing natives of The Wirral should be – and positive and proactive on it.
After a couple of months out of the game to rest, reflect and refresh, the duo will be ready to rise again: could it be with Tranmere?
David Artell
Six of Tranmere’s nine permanent summer signings were Under 22, which suggests the club intended to move towards a more developmental route this season.
Only one of the sextet have caught fire in their first season, that being Ethan Bristow – albeit the Reading recruit has been one of the best attacking left-backs in League Two.
Some would argue that the crossing-heavy style of football under Micky Mellon hasn’t helped the club nurture talent, beyond Bristow, that can catch the eye of the Championship.
If that’s the primary remit, Rovers would be hard-pushed to find a better option for developing potential in League Two than David Artell.
Not only has the Yorkshireman won promotion from this level before, with Crewe in 2019-20, he did so with six of the most common starting XI being homegrown players, whom he’d coached in the academy: few if any have mirrored that accomplishment in modern history.
An Artell arrival would likely mean a flip from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3, with Hendry operating as a pivot for his technical control, and O’Connor acting perhaps as a younger, fresher version of Paul Green at Crewe.
Hawkes might be converted from a left winger into a left forward, cutting inside onto his right foot, with Harvey Saunders bringing Owen Dale-esque directness to the right of Joel Mumbongo.
Tranmere haven’t had a good footballing side in this writer’s time studying the EFL, so there may be an appetite in the fanbase for something easier on the eye, as long as there’s a consistent level of tenacity, courage and intensity in performances.
Artell’s achievements have come at a club that expects smooth, passing football, in front of what is typically one of the more patient fanbases in English football, because youth development is ingrained in it’s DNA.
At Tranmere, however, there may be a couple more grumbles for sideways passes, some quarters might seek a higher press than we’ve seen from Artell’s sides previously, and there’s a greater demand for an immediate promotion push.
In that sense, the 42-year-old would have to go in knowing that the path to success at Prenton Park will look slightly different to the path to success across five of his six seasons at Gresty Road.
If Artell can implement his methods gradually, within the framework of a team that will fight for the shirt, press the opposition high and sustain an intensity for 90 minutes most games, then most natives will embrace, or at least be receptive to, the stylistic evolution.
Leam Richardson
For much of Leam Richardson’s post-playing career, he’s served as an assistant to Paul Cook, helping the Liverpudlian win titles at Chesterfield, Portsmouth and Wigan.
The 43-year-old stayed with the Latics in 2020-21, after a points deduction had seen them relegated from the Championship at a time of unpaid wages and financial crisis, keeping the club in League One that season.
After Talal Al Hammad’s takeover revitalized the West Lancashire club, Richardson inspired them to top spot in 2021-22, completing an astonishing two seasons in charge.
The step up to the Championship was difficult, though, due to the inability to improve the squad in the summer.
Perhaps funds were limited, with financial issues resurfacing after Richardson departed, or perhaps the club assumed that the intangibles in the group – fight, spirit, togetherness - would see them to comfortable safety in their first season up, and that investment wasn’t necessary.
If it was the latter, what the club miscalculated – quite understandably – was that it was an aging group with a lot of players from the late-20s and early-30s age brackets, who weren’t at a stage at which stepping up a level came easy.
As such, Wigan ended up with a squad that wasn’t quite good enough for the level.
Richardson was far from blameless, but he left the team only two points off safety – now, the gap is eight with relegation rivals having games in hand.
What the 43-year-old has in his favour is his ability to cultivate team spirit, which should translate to aggressive performances which home fans will want, and promotion-winning experience, having achieved the feat four times, always as a title-winner.
That feather in Richardson’s cap becomes bigger if the expectation from the board is a strong top-three challenge next season, but that will depend on the identity of that board.
Mark and Nicola Palios, plus Singaporean group Walutje Pte. Ltd, are currently the only shareholders to own a stake greater than 10%, however, nuggets of evidence would suggest that some form of change is more likely than none, and there are a minimum of two sources of high-profile interest.
Naturally, different ownership setups will have different implications for short, mid and long-term plans for Rovers, so predicting the state of play before that’s known would be foolhardy.
Where Richardson might fall down the pecking order is if the remit is to develop saleable assets, because his best work has typically been done with more experienced types.
Pete Wild
It’s possible that Tranmere aren’t prepared, or aren’t able, to pay big compensation for their next manager, and thus will select either a coach from a bigger club, or scour the out-of-work options.
If the club is prepared to push the boat out for a young, up-and-coming type who’s trending upwards, Pete Wild is their man.
The 38-year-old led Halifax to two Play-Off finishes in three seasons on a minimal budget, and because that achievement was made outside the EFL, it didn’t quite tally on mainstream radars.
Barrow took advantage, and they bagged themselves one of the best managers in League Two, who has led a team that finished 20th and 22nd in previous seasons up to 10th this term.
Wild clearly has excellent man-management qualities, his passionate touchline demeanour has struck a chord with natives, and he’s established a clear playing identity at Holker Street.
The Bluebirds are an intense, high-pressing 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 outfit that love to steal the ball in the final third, and attack opportunistically in transition.
The aggressive style would be an instant hit with the Super White Army, for reasons mentioned above.
At the same time, Wild has still been able to develop potential: Callum Lang and Tom Hamer at Oldham, Jack Earing, Devante Rodney, Kieran Green and Tom Bradbury at Halifax, Tyrell Warren, Sam McClelland, Robbie Gotts and Harrison Neal at Barrow.
If Wild were to have one more great season or even half-season at Barrow, he becomes out of Tranmere’s reach and his next move would be more like a Barnsley or a Blackpool type club.
As things are, there’s still a chance Rovers could attract him to Prenton Park.
Wild would tick a lot of boxes for what Tranmere need from their next appointment, so if paying compensation is an option, he has to be considered.
