Mark Kennedy Sacked

Let me stress, I do not feel happy a man lost his job, nor Danny Butterfield. I’m sure both meant well and tried their hardest to make things work. However, in the weeks after the Sheff Utd game, things just started to feel wrong.

The post-match interviews Mark gave were often tetchy. He started talking about being in the ‘losing my job’ business, and some players came under fire. Against Wolves, a game we won 2-0, he started his post-match interview with a bit of a dig at Michael Hortin, something that was later edited out of videos. He called Jovon out after that game, then there was the Mandroiu incident. However, the Burton game was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I’d become disillusioned with the output. Even the game we won after West Ham, against Cheltenham, was unconvincing. It all felt like we were moving towards a precipice that we might not be able to pull back from. Then, one Wednesday afternoon, I was out for a run, and my phone rang, giving me the heads-up. I hadn’t considered how I’d feel if it happened, but it was instant relief that we might now see change, before it was too late.

Even now, whenever anyone asks me about Mark Kennedy’s reign as manager, my first thought is that feeling I got running down my road, the Hallington Top Road. I even know the exact point I was on the road when I got the news, the exact spot. That’s really telling.