National League outfit Sutton United have provided a blow to a currently unnamed League One side, less than 24 hours after beating West Bromwich Albion in the NL Cup.
Despite a strong start to the campaign after a busy summer, Sutton have since won just one of their last nine league games, which came against Eastleigh a month ago.
Victory on Tuesday could be the morale booster that Chris Agutter’s side needed, in order to get their league form and subsequent promotion push back on track.
Sutton turn down League One approach
Sutton’s disappointing turn of form has saw them slip out of the play-off places, dropping to 13th at present – though they are still only five points off the top seven.
However, their form hasn’t deterred potential appointees from taking an interest in Agutter, who recently celebrated a year in charge of the National League side, following his move from Worthing.
As confirmed by the club’s Twitter (now X) page, Sutton have rejected an official approach from a currently unnamed League One side for Agutter’s services.
In the post, they say the decision ‘reflects the strong relationship between Chris and the club’ as well as stating that he is ‘fully committed’ to the National League side.
The 42-year-old is UEFA A-licensed coach, having had first team roles as a manager, as well as an assistant manager, youth manager and Academy coaching roles throughout his career in the game so far.
Therefore, it is likely that the approach for Agutter could be more focussed on a coaching/assistant role, rather than a first-team manager.
Across all competitions this season, Sutton have played 16 first-team matches, winning seven of them including key wins over Hartlepool United and Woking.
Who could the approach have been from?
Following three appointments within the last two weeks, there is now no available managerial vacancies in League One, with Michael Duff (Bradford City), Tom Hounsell (Wycombe Wanderers) and Robbie Savage (Peterborough United) joining their new teams.
However, the latter appointment featured a then-National League manager in Savage, suggesting that Peterborough United could well have been the side making the approach for Agutter, with their eyes already focussed on the fifth tier.
Savage himself referenced in a recent interview that he doesn’t yet have his assistant manager at Peterborough.
Similarly, Peterborough owner Darragh MacAnthony recently released an episode of his podcast, where he mentioned about potentially bringing in another coach to assist Savage, stating “I dare say we’ll bring one more person in to help” as well as also mentioning that the club were interested in “another young manager from non-League” whilst drawing up their shortlist – but no names were mentioned.
Whilst this individual could be anyone else other than Agutter, he fits the bill as well as the interviews being at a time when journalist Pete O’Rourke reported that several Championship and League One sides were monitoring the 42-year-old.
However, it currently remains unconfirmed as to who the side is, but what is confirmed is that Agutter is happy at Sutton United and remains committed to their efforts to try and return to the EFL once again.
