In England, Chairmen used to wait until after the third round of the FA Cup in January to hand out pink slips to their managers. These days, the axe falls much earlier in the season. Last week, Plymouth Argyle showed the exit door to Paul Sturrock. The new man in the hot seat at Home Park is the man who had been head coach under Sturrock, former New England Revolution assistant coach Paul Mariner.
He takes on a massive challenge. Plymouth are next to bottom in the Championship table after Saturday's defeat at Preston North End in Mariner's first game in charge, and are the lowest scoring team in the league with just 16 goals in 20 games.
That situation flies in the face of the big ambitions of Pilgrims ownership, including the planned construction of a new stadium that has already been dubbed "The Wembley of the West," and is part of England's upcoming 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bid. In contrast to those plans, the Football League has placed a transfer embargo on Argyle, reportedly due to missing some of its debt obligations.
Mariner's task is to address the on-field issues. The former England striker has already made his mark on the offense, switching from Sturrock's 4-4-1-1 formation to a more attacking 4-3-1-2 system. Mariner made his name as a goal-scoring target man playing for such proponents of attractive attacking football as Sir Bobby Robson at Ipswich Town and for England with Ron Greenwood and Robson. He is clearly intent on practicing what he played.
And while Mariner made his reputation as a player in England, he made his reputation as a coach in Major League Soccer. In fact, Mariner has deep roots in U.S. soccer. He was a player-coach for the Albany Capitals (1989-92) and San Francisco Bay (1992-93) and joined Steve Nicol's New England Revolution staff after a coaching stint at Harvard. In five years in MLS, Mariner became an integral part of the Revs' success, helping the club to the 2007 U.S. Open Cup and 2008 SuperLiga titles, as well as three consecutive MLS Cup appearances (2005-2007).
But the call of home was finally too strong for Mariner this October. Mariner's playing career began at Plymouth back in 1973. In his three years in Devon he scored 56 goals in 135 games and won Player of the Year honors twice. Now, his managerial career kicks off at Home Park. The Pilgrims faithful will be hoping he disproves Thomas Wolfe's famous adage that you can't go home again.
Mark C. Young is an Emmy Award-winning freelance writer/TV producer who has covered several FIFA World Cups and Olympic Games. He is a contributor to Goal.com and also writes for the blog "No Mas."
