Mark Kennedy Lashes Out In First Interview Since Sacking

Sheff weds Kennedy — Credit Graham Burrell

Former Imps head coach Mark Kennedy has given his first interview as Swindon Town manager, and there are a couple of references to his time at City.

Kennedy was head coach at the club for just under 18 months, guiding us to 11th in League One, before being relieved of his duties in October. That followed a defeat against Burton where he called out Danny Mandroiu, but there were deeper reasons behind him leaving the club.

Those haven’t always been clear, and whilst there are plenty who feel they have some insight, this is the first time we’ve heard Kennedy speak of them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that he left the club under something of a cloud, he doesn’t talk glowingly about aspects of his time at Lincoln. Perhaps the most cutting answer came when asked what the biggest lesson was that he learned from his time at Lincoln.

“I have to have a relationship with my director of football,” was his short answer. Nothing left to the imagination there. However, earlier in the interview, he had been asked why he chose Swindon, which also hinted at his Imps time.

“I felt a real connection with Jamie (Swindon’s DoF). Although we’re new to each other, a huge importance on my decision was actually my relationship with Jamie. From previous experiences, I think it’s so important that you work with somebody who’s aligned with you, very, similar values and can see the game and wants to see the game evolve and go forward in a particular way.”

Was this a dig at Jez? Possibly, it is ambiguous, but there’s no ambiguity at all about his short answer when quizzed on lessons learned. However, my understanding of the situation is that it wasn’t only one individual that there was a clash with. Or even two.

Tashan Oakley-Boothe – one of the 23 and under players Kennedy enthused about when he joined Credit Graham Burrell

Our former head coach seems keen to learn lessons from the transfer market also, as he was quizzed on player development. He was asked about his time bringing on young players at Lincoln, and his reply hinted at some disparity between players he wanted and players we signed.

“The model of the last club I was at was 23 and under particularly, and it was quite successful,” he said before explaining why it wasn’t successful for him.

“The flip side of that, you’re only ever shopping in one shop. Whereas when you start looking outside, and you can buy 25, 26-year-olds, I’d rather have the pick of everybody as opposed to, I don’t want to say pigeonholing, but we were only shopping in one supermarket in my previous club.

“I thought that was a negative, but you have to respect the model of the club, and it’s successful, and it’s very good, whereas here at Swindon, we want to bring in the best players, and as long as they can add value to the club.”

Finally, I found his comments about his playing style very interesting as well. He was asked about his style and our tight defence during his time here, and this was his response.

“When I went to Lincoln, and I want to talk about Swindon, but I will answer your question, we were 4 3 3, build up, play out from the back, play out from goal kicks at all costs, be a high pressed team.

“What I figured out really quickly was we hadn’t got the players to do and we weren’t comfortable enough doing it. And from that, we evolved into a 3 4 3 counter-pressing, counter-attacking team, and we were excellent at it.

“Ultimately, you build your team around the players you’ve got. Formations are just the by-product of the people you’ve got in the building. Um, one thing I do believe I am is an adaptable coach and somebody who can play both. I’ve always played and worked with possession-based teams.

“But I actually am incredibly proud of changing the mindset, the recruitment, and the style of play that we did at Lincoln to be really successful because it’s not a very easy thing to do.

“When we had the ball, we were pretty pleasing on the eye. But you have to maximise the qualities of the players and hide the deficiencies at every level.”

So, to summarise, we played the wrong style for the players we had, but Kennedy changed the mindset of our team. He didn’t work well with Jez, but he did influence our recruitment, but not as much as he’d liked because we only shopped in the under-23 market.