Clarity, calmness and no Carleyton - Inside Dave Challinor's first Sheffield Wednesday press conference
Dave Challinor spoke to The Star and others at his Sheffield Wednesday unveiling press conference this afternoon. Alex Miller reports.
‘Thought Dave Challinor spoke really well at his introductory Sheffield Wednesday press conference. Impressive first outing.’
That’s the contractually-obliged theme of social media post sports journalists are prescribed to shovel out after a first press engagement of a new manager.
These ‘getting to know you’ press conferences take all-sorts. Some managers, perhaps with a grounding abroad, will burst in with their accents and their haircuts and their mentions of experiences at big-name clubs with big-name players. Some might dazzle with technical and tactical explanations around how they intend to storm a fresh path towards the Premier League. Some might sit there staring into the middle-distance in a look of dawning realisation while the person to their right slips into a crazed rant about a man called Carleyton.
The introduction to Dave Challinor was not to the same extremities, more a velvety pint of Guinness beside a roaring fire than the demonic flaming sambuccas of old. The former Stockport County boss is a solid and sensible appointment and gave a solid and sensible press conference, along with his long-time colleague Simon Wilson.
Topics were broad and varied and he handled them calmly, perhaps initially surprised by the Primetime lights now shining down on the press desk - having had a look myself, they do dazzle a touch on first sight. There were regular themes touched upon throughout and ‘clarity’ was a near-constant motif. And clarity he delivered.
There seems to be an obsession in modern football based on the personality traits of managers. But just as Sir Bobby Robson wasn’t a world class manager for his more gentlemanly touch, just as Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t achieve his greatness through hair dryers alone, as long as clarity and respect abounds it can take many an approach. It’s about coaching and management and pulling the whole thing together.
Challinor and his team arrive closer to the latter camp, with a reputation for gristle and discipline and old-school high demand. Watching a few minutes of their first training session at Middlewood Road earlier in the day, those qualities carried through.
But even a cursory glance at the Stockport County they built shows there is so much more to their approach than sleeves up and clenched fists. The Edgeley Park outfit are a sophisticated and clever side with great tactical nous, dynamic in their approach both on and off the ball. There may be moments of old-school delivery in how Challinor and co go about their communication, but there are more layers to the onion.
“The perception of Dave is this straight-talking, aggressive, assertive kind of person,” Wilson told The Star. “Certainly, I think he's very clear about standards and when standards are not met and he'll be quick to let people know for the benefit of creating a high-performance culture.
“He's actually smart, he's intelligent, he looks at things in different ways, he's creative at times as well, willing to take risks. He'll be the first person to do things at different times, you'll see that. I think it's very easy to see, get one version of somebody and again, I understand it from external perceptions, you don't get a lot of access a lot of the time to people but Monday to Friday, he's pretty calm. Saturday, maybe not! But very easy to work with.”
Teas and coffees were taken, polite conversation shared between reporters and a moment had for local journalists to shake hands with the man they’ll speak to more often than most family members over the next however-long. Sky Sports appeared to be the only national presence - it will be hoped that by the time a next ‘new manager press conference’ comes around the interest reflects the progress made. This is a steady mission with sustainability at its core.
As they always do, the tight allotted time frame outlined burst its banks and both men fielded questions with a measured and pleasant demeanour. Other new ownerships have launched flashy, bigger-name managerial hires within months of their arrival. Strange though it may seem for a football club not so long ago within days of extinction, that has had millions spent on it in a whirlwind and transformative few months, but on the sporting side it feels to be that sensible decisions at a steady rate of progress is the mix being searched for.
For all the fluff and the pomp and ceremony of a staged press conference, as always it’s what happens in the coming weeks, months and years that matters. A fine chat it was, mind. The final word goes to Challinor himself.
“The big thing for me will be clarity, real clarity around what our structure will be, roles and responsibilities, standards, behaviours that we need to live every day,” he said. “They'll get honesty. I expect them vice versa to be honest with us in terms of what we're looking to do.
“We're here to facilitate and get the best out of them. They'll get somebody who's all in and we'll do whatever it takes. I won't ask them to do something that I can't do, except maybe run around on a football pitch now, and they'll get high challenge, high support. I would be doing them a disservice if they weren't pushed to be the best versions of themselves every day, and that's something that's served me in good stead over the course of my managerial career, and I'll be no different here.
“We're not going to be judged around what we say. We're going to be judged on what people see. So hopefully what people see will be encouraging.”