Ben Garner is one of six managers in League One about to embark on their first full season in football management, and one of a growing number who never played the game at the professional level. His long journey into the professional ranks reveals a strong character and an almost obsessive dedication to his art.
Born on 19 May 1980, Garner began his playing career in the academy system at Crystal Palace. Working his way through the youth teams, he spent a short time playing under Terry Venables until suffering a dislocated and fractured ankle at 18 that ultimately ended his playing career. Venables apart, he has spoken of his dissatisfaction with the coaching methods experienced during his youth career. Believing that too much focus was placed upon physical aspects ahead of technique, his perception of where current coaches were failing led to a decision to quit playing in favour of coaching. It was a bold move: he was just 19 at the time. That belief in the importance of technique has underpinned his method ever since.
His first target outside of football was to complete a university degree in sport and exercise science, and he also achieved his Level 2 coaching badge at this time. In order to widen his experience, he took on a number of varied positions including coaching junior teams at Chipstead FC, and working with schools and development teams for Fulham before spending six months running a soccer school in Chicago. Still a long way from entering professional football, he returned home and took a job as head of boys’ PE at St David’s College in south London. At the same time, he was playing part-time for Sutton United until the old ankle injury led to his permanent retirement on medical advice. It was also while he was teaching at the school that he began to coach at his old club Crystal Palace on a part-time basis from June 2005.
Over the course of the next seven years, he progressed from the U11 side, through the U13s and U16s to the U18s, at which point he became a full-time coach with the club. Eventually, he ended up taking on three teams at the same time. His standout achievement came in October 2011 with the foundation of a link with a local school – the Oasis Academy Shirley Park in Croydon – to ensure a high standard of education for Palace’s young players. In exchange, the school benefitted from a high standard of coaching. The connection paid immediate dividends as the OASP team won the U15 English Schools National Cup in July 2012 from a pool of 792 teams.
The Palace academy produced a string of notable names during this time including Victor Moses, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Nathaniel Clyne and Wilfried Zaha, all of whom graduated to the first team and gained international honours. Fledgling coach Garner served under no fewer than ten managers at Selhurst Park including Peter Taylor, Neil Warnock, Ian Holloway, Tony Pulis and Alan Pardew, two of whom were to play pivotal roles in his career. Whilst not providing a great deal of stability to the club, the rapid turnover did give him an insight into different playing styles and philosophies. Another famous name to come his way during this time was a certain Jose Mourinho, then manager of Chelsea. Garner was required to interview a famous manager as part of his UEFA coaching badges; not only did Mourinho agree, he also acted as his mentor on the training ground.
Garner’s first big opportunity came in March 2013 when he was promoted to first-team coach by Ian Holloway. Palace were challenging for automatic promotion to the Premier League, but a disappointing end to the season saw them finish fifth. However, the disappointment was soon forgotten as an extra-time Kevin Phillips penalty sealed promotion with a 1-0 play-off final win over Watford at Wembley. Unfortunately, the 2013-14 season got off to a poor start, and Holloway left Palace by mutual consent on 23 October after winning one and losing seven of his first eight Premier League games. Tony Pulis was appointed a month later, and retained Garner as first-team coach. Form improved gradually, and Palace pulled up the table to finish a creditable eleventh. Surprisingly, Pulis resigned two days before the start of the 2014-15 after a dispute with chairman Steve Parish and was replaced by Neil Warnock. Garner again kept his job, but the partnership lasted only four months until Warnock departed with Palace in the bottom three. Garner again kept his job under new manager Alan Pardew, and an excellent run of wins through March and April saw Palace finish tenth. However, Pardew decided to bring in his own coaching team, and Garner departed in July 2015 by mutual consent. To this day, he cites the play-off win as his finest moment in football.
In October 2015 he joined his former Crystal Palace manager Tony Pulis at Premier League West Bromwich Albion as first team coach, also taking responsibility for recruitment and analysis. Albion had a good season, although a run of only four points from their last nine games saw them finish in the bottom half. Garner also took charge of the first team for a 1-0 friendly win over Delhi Dynamos in March 2016. Later in 2016, he completed his UEFA Pro Licence, thereby obtaining the highest coaching qualification in the game. Pulis promoted him to one of three assistant head coaches in September 2016, with Garner helping to lead training sessions four days a week. Albion remained outside contenders for a European spot in 2016-17 until another poor end of season run of two points from nine games left them tenth. In January 2017 he was linked with the vacant manager’s job at Nottingham Forest after the departure of Philippe Montanier, although that came to nothing.
His time at The Hawthorns then came to a disappointing end. Pulis was sacked in November 2017 with Albion a point above the bottom three, and caretaker manager Gary Megson controversially felt that Garner did not have the character the players needed to lift them. Garner and assistant head coach Megson had previously clashed over training methods, which had had caused friction. With Megson holding the power, Garner officially left the club in December 2017.
During his time out of the game, Garner continued to build his coaching knowledge by visiting a variety of clubs, looking into the dynamics of other sports, and developing his sports science skills. He also read a lot about the management side of the game rather than coaching, concluding that football is a human science more than a sports science.
He was ready to take the step up to a manager’s job, but it continued to prove elusive. Failing to get the vacant manager’s job at League One Bristol Rovers in December 2018, the following month he accepted the position of assistant head coach of Indian Super League club ATK under Steve Coppell. Before leaving for India, he was critical of the limited opportunities available to English coaches in the domestic game. In an interview with The Times, Garner explained that he felt compelled to take the job in India for want of a better opportunity. On a number of occasions, he has also stated that his lack of playing experience makes it harder for him to be taken seriously within the game.
Under the new partnership of Coppell and Garner, ATK finished in sixth place in the Super League, five points short of the end of season play-offs. They did reach the semi-final of the Indian Super Cup in April 2019, unexpectedly losing 2-0 to the league’s bottom side Chennaiyin, for whom former Lincoln midfielder Chris Herd played a prominent role. Coppell was sacked, and the Indian adventure was over for Garner.
At the start of December 2019, he took on the role of Global Coaching Mentor for online coaching platform MiMentor. However, life was about to change. Having failed to secure the manager’s job at Bristol Rovers a year before, the job had become vacant with the departure of Graham Coughlan to Mansfield. Garner was finally appointed to the position on 23 December on a two-and-a-half-year contract. After fourteen years coaching in academies, he had secured his first manager’s job in the Football League.
Bristol Rovers were having a great season, sitting in fourth place in League One and challenging strongly for automatic promotion. Unfortunately, Garner got off to the worst of starts, losing at home to struggling AFC Wimbledon on Boxing Day. Everything was put on hold almost immediately when Garner was granted indefinite leave of absence from 12 January due to ill-health of a close family member. Fortunately, he returned ten days later, although the disruption did nothing to reverse a poor run. Garner took just four points from his first ten games, and the promotion dream vanished into thin air. Criticism of his style of play mounted, with fans feeling his favoured 4-3-3 formation was unsuited to the players at his disposal. The side also exited the FA Cup and the EFL Trophy, extending his run to no wins from thirteen games. Rumours of dressing room dissatisfaction circulated on social media, and Rovers had slipped into the bottom half of the table by the time the under-pressure manager picked up his first win. A late Josh Ginnelly goal gave Rovers a 2-1 victory over ten-man Blackpool in mid-February, although three more straight defeats followed before they ended the curtailed season with a 2-0 win over faltering Sunderland. A season that promised so much had quickly become one to forget.
If nothing else, Ben Garner and Bristol Rovers will be hoping for some stability this season. His first six months as a manager were challenging for a variety of unforeseen reasons, and he would be forgiven for seeing 2020-21 as a new start. Rovers have cleared their huge debts through various means, and a new training ground is under construction at Almondsbury. Plans for a new stadium are constantly under discussion, although the realisation of it remains some way in the future. In July there was a nice example of the wheel turning full circle when he appointed Jack Mesure as his assistant manager: the two were colleagues for many years at the Crystal Palace academy.
That UEFA Pro Licence and the League Managers Association diploma in applied management certainly give Ben Garner the formal qualifications to back up his twenty years of coaching experience. Whether he can translate everything he has learned into practical success remains an unknown at this point. Extensive changes to the squad took place during the close season, and Garner knows he has everything to prove. Now he has his own players, the first half of the new season will give a more realistic indication of his abilities as a manager.
Key:
P = Promoted; R = Relegated; SF = Lost in play-off semi-final; F = Lost in play-off final; PO = Won play-off final; D = Demoted.
Figures are league games only; cup matches and play-offs are not included.
League position shown is either the position at the end of the season or the position at the time of departure
Writer: Scotimp
If you haven’t already had a go at our quizzes, this is a great way to learn some random information about the Football Club, as well as helping us generate much-needed page views: Quiz No.1, Quiz No.2, Quiz No.3, Quiz No.4, Quiz No.5, Quiz No.6, Quiz No.7, Quiz No.8, Quiz No.9, Quiz No.10, Quiz No.11, Quiz No.12, Quiz No.13, Quiz No.14, Quiz No.15, Quiz No.16, Quiz No.17, Quiz No.18, Quiz No.19, Quiz No.20, Quiz No.21, Quiz No.22, Quiz No.23, Quiz No.24, Quiz No.25, Quiz No.26, Quiz No.27, Quiz No.28, Quiz No.29 and Quiz No.30.
Who Are The League One Managers?
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