Wolves must keep the faith in under-fire boss Kenny Jackett

by/ 16 November 2015, 18:41

Wolverhampton Wanderers have been struggling for form of late, leaving boss Kenny Jackett in full glare of the dreaded managerial spotlight. But, guest writer Mike Holden (@Ratings_Mike) constructs a compelling argument as to why the Midlands club should keep faith in the diligent 53-year-old.

When Steve Morgan spat his dummy out and put Wolves up for sale, all he managed to do was chuck Kenny Jackett a ticking time bomb. It was a needless, counter-productive statement of intent, designed to unsettle a fanbase displaying what Morgan considered to be a lack of appreciation for eight years of endeavour and financial investment.

Just a few days earlier, Wanderers supporters had voiced their discontent towards the owner as their team toiled against nine-man Preston. Morgan's reaction was knee-jerk and immature - in many ways, typical of his time at Molineux. If you're going to sell a football club, just sell it. There's no need to be such a diva.

But since the very day the Liverpudlian walked into the club, his heart has always ruled his head and that's essentially the crux of most of Wolves' problems. When the man at the top has misguided instincts and is continually making rash decisions, the value of his money diminishes. Strong, sensible owners are always much preferred.

So now Jackett is piggy-in-the-middle and taking the brunt of the fans' frustrations. Instantly, all of his good work over the past two years, remedying the problems accumulated under Morgan's watch, has been undermined. Through little fault of his own, Jackett's currency as a manager is beginning to fall because he is being judged by different criteria.

It's no longer about the progress made over the past two years compared to the mess he inherited, Jackett is now being measured according to a larger cycle, by events since the last takeover in 2007. How does the current team compare to the Mick McCarthy era? Have the past eight years been a complete waste of time? How attractive is the club to any potential investor?

Having started out on a mission to rebuild the team from the bottom up, promoting players from the academy and recruiting others in the under-23 category, Jackett is now up against an imminent deadline and being judged on the here and now. The job is no longer a cultural restoration, suddenly it's boiling down to the minutiae of his tactics on a week to week basis.

It's a shame because the pervading mood no longer plays to his strengths. Jackett is an introvert and an altruist, his personality promoting certain values in players that enable them to perform instinctively. And his humility ensures that many of his greatest qualities remain under the radar. Longevity is the only real clue to the fact that Jackett's not quite as ordinary as he seems.

With Jose Mourinho on the brink at Chelsea, it's suddenly fashionable to talk about managers having ten-year lifespans. Meanwhile, with every passing dismissal, the LMA remind us that the average managerial tenure is around 14 months. Yet Jackett has been managing since 1993, his average tenure is four years and he remains highly-regarded at each of his previous clubs. With good reason.

His people skills and ability to detect problems before they arise keep him ahead of the game in ways that go unnoticed. For example, it's no coincidence that a couple of veteran campaigners have arrived on loan within a month of Morgan's bombshell, providing a pre-emptive solution to a potential problem regarding experience, leadership and motivation.

Nobody will ever really know how crucial a part Mike Williamson and Grant Holt will play in shaping the mood of the Molinuex dressing room over the coming weeks because the issues they prevent won't have surfaced in the first place. But it's a fine example of Jackett adapting quickly to a change of circumstances, going against his prior ideology and doing what's best for the club in a given scenario.

It's just a shame that the club, particularly under Morgan, continues to deviate from any grand plan they put in place and bring turbulence on themselves, mainly due to a lack of endurance in adversity. Until they have a new owner, the Molineux crowd should be under no illusions that things could soon spiral out of control if their frustration with the current hiatus urges them to push Jackett towards the door.

Follow @thesackrace