Forest Green Rovers owner Dale Vince has made a bombshell admission, just minutes before the club kicked off their match against Hartlepool United on Saturday.
The National League side are currently without a manager, following the departure of Robbie Savage to League One side Peterborough United.
Heading into Saturday’s late game, Forest Green found themselves 16th in the table following results elsewhere, but knew victory could take them back into the top half of the standings.
However, Vince has revealed a surprise regarding the club’s pursuit of a Savage replacement.
Forest Green owner drops bombshell
Recently, National League Lowdown’s Callum Moseley released an article looking at four potential replacements – with the general consensus being that they would look to find his successor.
Despite this, Vince has spoken to journalist Billy Hunt via BBC Gloucestershire about life after Savage – revealing fans are in for a surprise.
He stated…
“We are in a position where we aren’t in a hurry and we aren’t actually having any conversations, we haven’t spoken to anybody about the role.
“We like where we are; we’re going to see how it goes, maybe for a few games, maybe for a month. The coaching team have been doing the heavy lifting anyway and know the team inside out and think the three of them make very decisions between them.
“We aren’t talking to anybody I promise you, we haven’t had a single conversation – all of the speculation in the media is just speculation, nobody’s in the frame, nobody’s connected to the job and at the minute there is no vacancy.”
Media reports had suggested that Ebbsfleet United’s Josh Wright was a target – but this has now been ruled out.
Vince did go on to address the role further by adding…
“We’re going to try something new and see how it goes and where it goes… I think there’s no drama. Without Robbie (Savage) I think we’re fine.
“The thing I see in football is that teams are led by big ego managers and I’m not sure that they always make the best decisions and we’re going to try something different to see if we can get a more balanced outcome.
“We’re going to run without the big ego manager for a little while and see what happens.”
Recent managers of the club have included the likes of Savage, Troy Deeney and Duncan Ferguson – all of which are big personalities within the game.
Forest Green have enjoyed success more commonly with inexperienced managers such as Rob Edwards, suggesting the board may be targeting a return to those days.
How big of a risk is their approach?
Currently, there are several ‘big names’ without a club that Forest Green could have turned to – such as Luke Williams, Stuart Maynard or Mark Hughes – but it appears as though the preference for Vince is an entirely new direction.
Since Savage’s exit, Forest Green have been led by a three-man managerial team in Jonathan Gould, Josh Bowen and Yan Klukowski – with Vince’s comments appearing to confirm that they will be entering permanent managerial roles moving forward.
This approach isn’t entirely new to the National League, with Lincoln City previously having Danny and Nicky Cowley and Woking have Jake Hyde and Craig Ross, following Jermain Defoe’s exit during the summer.
The club have had back-to-back play-off appearances, since their relegation from the EFL, but have twice fell short – yet currently find themselves in the bottom half of the table.
Their next clash is in the FA Cup, before matches against in-form Barrow and Eastleigh, but if this approach backfires and results fail to improve – the club may be forced to search for a new manager sooner as they risk falling further behind in the promotion race.
