Who Are The League Two Managers? No.14: Jim Bentley (Morecambe)

Is there any manager anywhere in the professional game with a more understanding chairman than Jim Bentley? A brief glance at his record below raises the question of how he has kept his job for seven seasons with an average return of just 53 points and a win percentage of just 29%. Perhaps he should be grateful that neither Massimo Cellino nor Francesco Becchetti has ever fancied a stay on the Lancashire coast. But success at one of the Football League’s smallest clubs is probably measured using a very different yardstick to the majority.

Central defender Bentley has been associated with Morecambe for more than fifteen years of course, and that is one very significant reason why such a degree of loyalty has been reciprocated by the club. Those years have produced a period of unprecedented success for Morecambe, and Bentley has been an integral part of that. Released by Manchester City at the age of twenty without making an appearance, Bentley dropped into the Conference and signed for now-defunct Telford United in October 1997. The connection with the club came from his father Jack Bentley, who scored 431 goals for Telford in 14 years and has a stand named after him at AFC Telford United’s New Bucks Head ground. Ron Atkinson called Bentley senior the best header of a ball he ever saw, and he also had the experience of playing up front alongside World Cup hero Geoff Hurst when Hurst was player-manager at Telford.

Unfortunately Bentley junior could not replicate such feats, making 181 appearances in five nondescript seasons at Bucks Head, although some reward for his time at Telford came in October 2011 when he was named a Telford United club legend alongside his father. Jim moved north to sign for Conference rivals Morecambe in May 2002, and the start of a special relationship was underway. With the addition of Bentley, Morecambe set off on a journey that would culminate in a place in the Football League. In his first season at Christie Park, they finished second behind runaway champions Yeovil and lost their play-off semi-final on penalties to Dagenham & Redbridge. They also enjoyed an excellent run to the third round of the FA Cup, knocking out Second Division Chesterfield along the way; the run ended in a 4-0 defeat to Ipswich at Portman Road with Bentley receiving a straight red card, one of the very few dismissals in his career.

Morecambe finished seventh in each of the next two seasons, just falling short of the Conference playoffs, and long-serving manager Jim Harvey was relieved of his duties after suffering a heart attack in November 2005. The semi-finals were reached again in 2005-06 under new manager Sammy McIlroy, but ended in defeat to eventual winners Hereford. A third-place finish in 2006-07 saw them reach the playoffs once more, and this time it was a successful campaign with a 2-1 win over Exeter seeing Morecambe into the Football League for the first time in their history. With their place in the League confirmed, Morecambe announced plans to build a new stadium to cater for their enhanced support.

Morecambe finished their first two seasons in League Two in eleventh place, a creditable result for a small club. Their first season also saw a run to the third round of the League Cup, beating Preston and Wolves before losing 5-0 to Sheffield United. Bentley’s first coaching role came in 2009-10 with Morecambe’s reserve team, and that season also saw them finish fourth in League Two, their highest ever league placing; unfortunately it ended in defeat once more, Bentley’s third play-off semi-final defeat as a Morecambe player. In June 2010 he was promoted to first team player-coach, but Morecambe’s first season in their new Globe Arena stadium was a huge disappointment, finishing just four points clear of the relegation zone. Sammy McIlroy parted company with the club, and on 13 May 2011, Bentley was appointed player-manager on a two-year contract. Although remaining registered as a player, Bentley chose to focus on management and has not played a game since. At the age of 42, he is very unlikely to do so now. In total, he made 329 appearances for the club, scoring 34 goals.

His career as a manager got off to a great start, sitting top of League Two after nine games of the 2011-12 season. That good start could not be maintained, and Morecambe slipped to finish fifteenth. That set the tone for what has happened since, with eleventh being their highest placing in Bentley’s seven seasons at the helm. The League Cup has offered a few good moments in his time as manager, with high-profile wins over Championship sides Barnsley, Blackpool and Rotherham, but such moments have been few and far between. An outside observer would question how Bentley has survived after so many poor seasons, but the struggle on the pitch has been matched by the one-off it. Financial problems have never been far away, and the club has operated under severe constraints at times. The 2016-17 season saw a transfer embargo placed on the club. Players were paid late on three occasions, and Bentley questioned his own future at the Globe Arena on more than one occasion.

The club barely maintained its Football League status once again in 2017-18, an unlikely 0-0 draw at promotion-bound Coventry on the final day ensuring survival on goal difference. Their average attendance was just 1,492 – the lowest in the Football League – although in practice attendances occasionally dipped below a thousand. It must not be forgotten that Morecambe is a town of 35,000 people that will always struggle to support League football regardless of how the team performs.

Against that background, perhaps Bentley should be admired for keeping the club in the Football League at all. Morecambe certainly think so, offering him a further two-year contract in October 2013, another in August 2015 and a three-year deal in October 2017. An illustration of the unusual relationship between Bentley and his supporters came in December 2016. Bentley was sent to the stands during a game against Cheltenham and received a £1,000 fine from the FA. Supporters held a collection at the home game against Notts County in January and handed the money raised to Bentley. His emotional reaction, when presented with the money on camera, was genuine. With the help of EFL sponsors SkyBet, he then repaid the gesture by providing a free pie and pint to every supporter at the home game with Cambridge the following month.

With the takeover of the club by Bond Group Investments completed in May 2018 and all debts cleared, Bentley at least has a level playing field on which to build his challenge. With that three-year deal sticking out of his back pocket, he has time on his side as he tries to move his club away from its accustomed position at the foot of League Two.

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 playoffs 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