His coaching career began in 2003 with former club Watford, taking a job with the club’s academy. In the summer of 2004 he was appointed director of football at Conference side Farnborough Town, but was appointed manager before the season began. Unfortunately his time there was marked by infighting and power struggles regarding ownership of the club, and performances on the pitch suffered. After fourteen games without a win had left Farnborough third from bottom, Austin was sacked on 25 February 2005 after a 2-0 defeat at Northwich. Farnborough then lost their next fourteen games and were relegated before entering administration that summer.
Austin was not out of the game for long, appointed coach at former club Southend where his old team mate Steve Tilson was manager. Southend had just won promotion to League One with a 2-0 play-off final win over Lincoln, and went straight through League One to win promotion as champions – exactly what the pair had achieved at Southend as players in 1991. Southend were relegated straight back to League One in 2007, but made the playoffs in 2008, losing 5-1 on aggregate to Doncaster in the semi-finals. Having returned to Watford as assistant manager to Brendan Rodgers in late 2008, the pair made a controversial move to Championship rivals Reading in June 2009. It proved a bad move, as Rodgers and his team departed by mutual consent after just six months with Reading in the bottom four of the Championship.
Austin resurfaced as a coach at another former club Crystal Palace in summer 2010, but his stay lasted just a year before he left by mutual consent. After a year as a scout for Bolton Wanderers, he was appointed assistant manager to Chris Kiwomya at Notts County in February 2013. He left the position three months later. He was back at Watford for the fourth time in January 2015 as assistant coach after Serbian head coach Slaviša Jokanović stated his desire to have an English coach on his team. Promotion to the Premier League was secured with a 2-0 win at Brighton on 25 April, but Watford missed out on the title after conceding a stoppage-time equaliser at home to Sheffield Wednesday in the final game. Jokanovic departed at the end of the season, and Austin kept his job under new manager Quique Sánchez Flores. Watford finished a very creditable thirteenth in their first season and were as high as seventh in December. Despite also reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup, Flores was relieved of his duties. With new manager Walter Mazzarri bringing in his own backroom team, Austin was on his way in June 2016 and remained out of the game for a year.
Austin next appeared at League One strugglers Northampton in September 2017, appointed assistant to new Cobblers manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. After nine games without a win, and with Northampton two points adrift in the bottom four, Hasselbaink was sacked on 2 April. Austin was asked to take over as caretaker, and despite being unable to keep Northampton in League One, support from his players led to his permanent appointment on a two-year deal on 12 May 2018.
Despite having very little experience as a manager, Dean Austin presents an interesting proposition. He had a good career as a player, featuring regularly in the Premier League, and has worked under an impressive number of top managers. He has held the Pro Licence since 2009, but many coaches fail to make the step up to the wider role of manager. That is one of many challenges facing him this season. Northampton have been promoted and relegated between the third and fourth tiers four times in the last twenty-one years, so supporters will be expecting a swift return this time around. Can Dean Austin pull that off?
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
Who Are The League Two Managers? No.16: Dean Austin (@NTFC):https://t.co/1oOduagFpv#Northampton #NTFC #EFL
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) July 26, 2018
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