Outgoing Barnsley head Conor Hourihane has been named on a three-man shortlist to take over the manager’s role at Salford City.
The Ammies are on the lookout for a new manager after sacking Karl Robinson in the wake of their League Two playoff final loss to Notts County, despite guiding the Moor Lane club to their best-ever EFL finish.
Hourihane In Frame
Now, with the hunt for a new manager progressing, Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke has revealed that a three-man shortlist has been drafted in Conor Hourihane, Dave Challinor and Darren Ferguson.
Hourihane exited Barnsley towards the end of the season, agreeing to leave Oakwell by mutual consent last month after just over a year in his debut managerial role.
He is rivalled by Dave Challinor, who had masterminded Stockport County‘s rise from the National League to the doorstep of the Championship, having won the League Two title before mounting back-to-back playoff campaigns with the Hatters in the third tier.
He decided to step away at Edgeley Park in the aftermath of the loss to Bolton Wanderers in the playoff final, and despite links to the Blackburn Rovers job, no move to Ewood Park has materialised.
The Hatters have since moved on to recruit Rochdale boss and former player Jim McNulty to fill Challinor’s boots, having beaten Stevenage’s Alex Revell and Notts County boss Martin Paterson to the hotseat.
Darren Ferguson rounds out the shortlist to take over at Salford, having not been in management since his sacking from Peterborough United midway through the season, who he has guided to three EFL Trophy wins and three promotions to the Championship.
Who Should Salford Consider?
After a fairly debatable sacking of Karl Robinson at Salford City, it seems that the club are now becoming ambitious with who they are considering to be the former Oxford United man’s successor.
All three shortlisted managers have had varying degrees of experience in League One, exactly what a club like the Ammies are wanting as they aim for a first-ever season in League One.
Conor Hourihane may be the weakest of the three, considering both Challinor and Ferguson’s prior experiences with promotion, and while he had a strong but uninspiring spell in charge of Barnsley, the final months of his tenure were bleak.
Challinor, of course, has been one of the EFL’s best rising stars in management, considering the way he has galvanised Stockport County in recent years, and that kind of atmosphere could work for a club like Salford, who do have some talented players among their ranks like Kelly Nmai.
However, the best candidate to take over at Moor Lane is Darren Ferguson, who has been a serial promotion winner in his time in the game.
Having got a team promoted twice from League Two, with both Peterborough and Doncaster Rovers, he has had a nous for developing talents to kick on and become stars of the game, and with a smaller financial outlay like Salford have, that buy-to-sell policy could generate a lot of much-needed income they can use to strengthen the club.
While the decision to appoint the former Posh head may result in some criticism due to the connections between his father and the Ammies’ ownership group, it is undeniable that the 54-year-old is more than capable of leading a League Two club to promotion.
However, as much as that might be an aim, it is clear that short-term success is what any new manager will be judged on, and with the right backing in the market, either Challinor or Ferguson should be finally able to get the club over the line.
One Response
Conor would be a bad choice, he constantly played players out of position and we had the worst defence in the league.