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Who Are The League One Managers? No.5: Jake Buxton (Burton Albion)

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What would you say is the worst job in football? A club with no money would present logistical problems for sure, while one with tiny support naturally creates diminishing returns. A megalomaniac chairman provides insecurity and interference from the boardroom, and there are always numerous basket cases with ownership problems. There are clubs without a ground to call their own, and others located in run-down areas and towns at the end of a long road to nowhere. Some would suggest Grimsby Town as the ideal place to end a managerial career. But a valid contender for the worst job in football must be a club where the previous manager has enjoyed great success and popularity.

Following a manager with legendary status has long been a hiding to nothing. Spurs were relegated from the old First Division less than three years after Bill Nicholson retired. Manchester United found it impossible to replace Sir Matt Busby when he retired in 1969, and he was forced to return to steady the ship within eighteen months; even so, they too were relegated three years later. Fast forward to the present day, and history has repeated itself. United are on their fourth manager since Sir Alex retired in 2013, and cynics believe the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was born more from desperation than anything else. On a lower level, Lincoln were relegated two years after the departure of Graham Taylor, and were relegated from the Third Division to non-league football within two years of Colin Murphy leaving in 1985. There are many more examples we could give, all suggesting that new Burton Albion manager Jake Buxton may have a difficult job on his hands. To add to the challenge, 35-year-old Buxton has never managed before and will continue to play.

Born in nearby Sutton-in-Ashfield, Buxton has spent all but one year of his life within thirty miles of his place of birth. Starting his career in the youth system at local club Mansfield Town, the young centre-half was given his first-team opportunity at the age of 17 in 2002-03. Mansfield had just been promoted from the Third Division (the fourth tier at that time) but were struggling in the higher division. His debut came in a Football League Trophy game at home to Crewe Alexandra in October 2002, although Mansfield were already 4-0 down by the time he appeared as an 83rd-minute substitute. At least Mansfield did better than in the league fixture at Field Mill a few weeks earlier – Crewe had won 5-0 on that occasion. His full debut came in a Third Division game at Blackpool on Easter Monday 2003, which ended in a 3-3 draw. The defeat left Mansfield five points adrift of safety with two games remaining, and they were relegated without playing the following Saturday when local rivals Chesterfield effectively ensured their own survival with a 2-0 win over Bristol City.

After a brief spell on loan at Alfreton Town, Buxton appeared sporadically throughout the following season, scoring his first goal in a 3-1 defeat at Leyton Orient in January 2004. Mansfield ended the season with a play-off final defeat to Huddersfield, although Buxton did not appear in any of the play-off games. He became a regular in 2004-05, scoring in his first appearance at Chester to lift Mansfield off the foot of the newly renamed League Two. The side finished in the bottom half after an inconsistent season that saw manager Keith Curle replaced by Carlton Palmer, but Mansfield had entered a period of decline. Palmer resigned in September 2005 after a poor start to the season, and Mansfield were to finish just five points clear of relegation to the Conference under new manager Peter Shirtliff. The high point of the season came in January when the Stags were beaten by an 80th-minute Alan Shearer goal at St James’ Park in the FA Cup third round in front of 41,000.

Mansfield finished in the bottom half for the third successive season in 2006-07, a season which saw three different managers at Field Mill. A personal milestone for Buxton was being handed the captaincy. However, 2007-08 was to prove the worst season in the club’s history. A 3-1 defeat at home to Lincoln in mid-August started a run of eight defeats from nine games that left the side bottom of League Two. Manager Billy Dearden was replaced by Paul Holland in March, and there was a brief revival. A 2-2 draw with Barnet left Mansfield six points from safety with five games to play, but the season was to end disastrously for Buxton. He was sent off in the 2-1 defeat at promotion-chasing Stockport in April, and Mansfield were relegated to the Conference after Chester drew 0-0 with Stockport in the penultimate game. Buxton’s career at Mansfield was to end on yet another low: he was sent off again in the final game at Dagenham & Redbridge, his third red card of a poor season. The fans turned against him, the club acquired new owners, and there was only one option. Having rejected the offer of a new contract, he left Field Mill in May 2008 after 5 goals from 174 appearances.

After an unsuccessful two-week trial with League One Crewe, he accepted a one-year contract from Conference Premier side Burton Albion, then managed by former England striker Nigel Clough. Burton had made the play-offs in 2007-08, losing to Cambridge in the semi-finals, and expectations were high. Burton got off to a slow start, sitting eleventh after the opening ten games. Then an astonishing run of fifteen wins and one draw from seventeen games took Burton 13 points clear at the top of the table, and promotion to the Football League looked a certainty. Manager Clough then delivered a bombshell by resigning to take over at Championship neighbours Derby County in January, replaced by former England centre-half Roy McFarland on a caretaker basis. Burton’s good form continued under McFarland until a 2-0 defeat at Cambridge United at the end of February sparked a poor run. Burton went into the final day of the season three points clear of Cambridge, and a 2-0 defeat at Torquay did nothing for their nerves. A 4-0 win for Cambridge over lowly Altrincham would have taken the title, but they drew 0-0 despite dominating the match. Burton were champions, and Buxton was voted Player of the Season by the club’s fans.

Burton were in the Football League for the first time in their history, but Buxton would not play a part. After 43 appearances for Burton, he rejected a new contract to sign for Clough at Derby on an initial one-year deal. After making his debut in the 2-1 win over Peterborough on the opening day of 2009-10, Buxton endured a season that was affected by a series of injuries. He did enough to earn a contract extension, but Derby finished in a disappointing 14th place. Derby had an even worse season in 2010-11 by finishing 19th, but another series of injuries restricted Buxton’s own season to just two minutes as a substitute in the 1-0 win at Sheffield United. Derby started the 2011-12 season well and were in the play-off positions by the time Buxton made his first appearance of the season in November alongside future Lincoln captain Jason Shackell. Unfortunately, Derby lost 3-0 at home to Cardiff that day, and Buxton lost his place after losing the next game at Peterborough. He regained his place in January and remained in the side for the rest of the season. He scored the winner in a 1-0 win over rivals Nottingham Forest in March, although Derby fell away to finish in 12th place.

Buxton’s first appearance of the 2012-13 season saw an astonishing 5-5 draw with Scunthorpe in the League Cup after leading 3-0 at half-time. Buxton scored two goals for the first time in his career, but Derby managed to lose the match 7-6 on penalties. Buxton scored again on the opening day of the league season against Sheffield Wednesday, and Derby remained in contention for the play-offs for much of the season. Buxton’s late winner at Leeds on 1 April left Derby six points behind the top six with six games to play, but two successive defeats put paid to the promotion dream for another year. After an inconsistent start to 2013-14, Nigel Clough was sacked on 28 September and was replaced by former England manager Steve McClaren. There was an immediate upturn in form, and Derby remained in contention for promotion for much of the season. They eventually finished third, and a 6-2 aggregate win over Brighton in the play-off semi-final took Buxton to Wembley for the first time. A 90th-minute winner from QPR’s Bobby Zamora consigned Derby to another season in the Championship. It was QPR’s only shot on target in a game Derby had dominated, and Buxton’s Premier League chance had gone.

Buxton was in and out of the side over the first half of 2014-15, not helped by two red cards by December. Buxton lost his place at the start of March 2015 despite scoring twice in the 3-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday, and did not play again that season. He was not part of the side that needed a point from the final game at home to strugglers Reading to guarantee a play-off spot for the second successive season, which Derby lost 3-0 to finish eighth. He was destined to make only four more appearances for Derby in the whole of the 2015-16 season as the side lost out in the play-offs again.

The writing was on the wall for Buxton at Derby, and on 26 July 2016 he signed a three-year deal with League One champions Wigan Athletic. He made 159 appearances for Derby, scoring 13 goals. Things at Wigan got off to a bad start as he was sent off in his second game against Oldham in the League Cup, and it was to prove a season of struggle. Momentum from the title win was quickly lost, and despite the occasional win, Wigan never looked likely to stay up. Buxton scored the winner in a 1-0 win at Wolves in February, but the Latics were relegated after a 1-0 defeat at Reading in the penultimate game. As mentioned earlier, this was the only year Buxton has ever spent outside of his East Midlands home, and after making 42 appearances for Wigan, he moved back to Championship rivals Burton Albion in June 2017.

Besides the appeal of a move back home, the presence of Nigel Clough must have been a significant draw. Clough had returned to Burton in December 2015 and had led them to promotion to the Championship for the first time in the club’s history. He had kept the side up against all the odds in 2016-17, and looked to Buxton to make his defence more secure. It was to prove a very challenging season, with Burton conceding four or more goals in a match on no fewer than seven occasions. A 5-0 home defeat by Hull in April left Burton bottom of the table, seven points adrift of safety with four games to play. However, three successive wins gave Burton a chance of survival. They went into their final game of the season at Preston needing at least a point to stand a chance of staying up, but a 93rd-minute winner by Preston’s Louis Moult sent Burton down. As it transpired, Bolton’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest meant that a win would have been required anyway.

A series of defeats in pre-season friendlies did not bode well for the 2018-19 season, and Burton got away to a poor start back in League One. Four defeats from the opening five games left them in the bottom four, although a steady upturn in form saw them pull away from danger. A 3-0 win at Scunthorpe in April actually raised the outside possibility of a play-off spot before three more defeats consigned Burton to ninth place. However, the season will be remembered for a run to the semi-finals of the League Cup. Notable wins over Aston Villa, Burnley, Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough carried the League One side to a meeting with European giants Manchester City. The record books show a 9-0 defeat in the first leg; what the record books do not show is the financial benefits of that cup run, with chairman Ben Robinson estimating the windfall at around £500,000. It was the heaviest defeat of Buxton’s career in his seventeenth season as a player.

The 2019-20 season was far less dramatic off the pitch, with Burton occupying a mid-table spot for the majority of the season. An excellent win over Bournemouth in the League Cup brought a fourth-round defeat to neighbours Leicester, but the main drama was to come with the curtailment of the season due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nigel Clough and his management team were released in May as an economy measure, and senior player Jake Buxton was invited to succeed him. Far from being inexperienced, Buxton has been coaching from his days at Mansfield. Formal qualifications in the shape of the UEFA B and A Licences were obtained during his playing days at Derby, and he declined official coaching roles at Derby and Wigan in favour of continuing his playing career. He may feel the opportunity has come at the right time, although not through the right circumstances.

Jake Buxton has made a total of 522 appearances in his career to date, and it is unlikely the new manager will make too many more at the age of 35. Quite how he will fare as a manager is anyone’s guess at this point, but the fact remains: he is following in the immediate footsteps of a club legend. The circumstances differ slightly because Nigel Clough did not retire or move to another club: he and his management team were released for financial reasons. That presents Jake Buxton with extra complications, and no one would envy him taking his first steps in management against the restrictive economic environment at Burton. The club also has a relatively small support base, which presents yet another restriction from the list at the beginning of this article. He does have a very good chairman in Ben Robinson, which may buy him some time if things do not go to plan. Supporters may also be more forgiving because of that promotion to the Football League in 2009, but football is driven by results. Nigel Clough enabled the club to punch above its weight for a long time: can Jake Buxton do the same?

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

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Prior to Joe Morrell, who was the last loanee to win the Player of the Season award?

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.9Quiz No.10, Quiz No.11Quiz 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?No.5: Jake Buxton (Burton Albion):https://lincoln.vitalfootball.co.uk/who-are-the-league-one-managers-no-5-jake-buxton-burton-albion/#BAFC #Brewers

Zveřejnil(a) Vital Lincoln City dne Středa 26. srpna 2020

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