From average to excellence

[JohnHibs FM]

FM Base Story – “From average to excellence”

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At the end of the 2015-2016 season, English centre back, Sean O’Hanlon retired from professional footballer after a long and mediocre career. The centre back played for a total of six teams and played a staggering 401 games, scoring a respectable 31 goals. These six teams were:


- Everton
- Swindon Town
- Milton Keynes Dons
- Hibernian
- Carlisle United
- Stockport County


Throughout this time, Sean always had aspirations of coaching and so in 2012, as he grew older, he
took his first steps onto the coaching ladder. He slowly worked his way up the ladder before getting
to a stage in the coaching pathway where he had to sign the dotted line and enter the world of
management.





First Managers Job

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In 2015, Stockport County offered Sean the role of U20’s manager. Sean was quoted saying;

“I am excited to take up the role as manager here and I can’t wait to get started. There good quality amongst the players and they all have the right attitude towards the game. It is my first role as a manager and I am aiming to develop and improve my coaching philosophy. I aim to be playing exciting and expansive football with this group and I will hopefully carry that mentality throughout my career”

(Daily Stockport, 2015)​

Sadly, for Sean, his results whilst manager were average, and he was released at the end of the 2015-2016 season as manager of the U20’s. Although he did not have much of an impact on the team overall, he did have an impact on 19-year-old centre back, Jordan Downing. Jordan told County TV that,


“Sean probably had the biggest impact on me, even though he was only here a short time. I think it was due to the fact Sean was also a centre back himself, he gave me a lot of tips about the game and I really felt I improved a lot under him. His contribution to my development is just one of the many reasons why I am in the first team today.”

(County TV, 2018)​

After this set back, O’Hanlon decided to take time out of football due to personal reasons. Sean came back reinvigorated in 2018 and started the job hunt. With a national A coaching license, he started to fill out applications.


The Job Hunt Begins...

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[JohnHibs FM]

The Wee Rovers

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After such a long time out of management, O’Hanlon decided to jump at the first job he was offered. This job was The Albion Rovers first team manager.

When news broke out of the appointment, many critics questioned why the wee rovers would take a risk on a manager who had not yet coached a first team. A journalist from the newspaper “The S*n” stated that Albion rovers were “mad” for taking on O’Hanlon, they went on to say that someone who had such a “average” playing career will surely have the same career in management.


Wee Rovers fans took to social media to proclaim their disgust at the appointment, here are some tweets taken from the social media platform:

“He is nothing, He is a fool and he is waste of time. Goodnight” @RoversDaft

“Who appointed him? Well it was f*ckin wan eh you’s! DISGUSTINNN” @Schemeboy97

“A was Albion rovers daft by 11 but I was made in the royal navy” @RoyalNavy

Despite the criticism and disbelief amongst fans, Sean has stated he is excited and raring to go ahead of the challenge of keeping the Rovers up in league 2.
O’Hanlon told the board he can avoid the drop however bookmakers don’t agree tipping the team to finish bottom of the table.

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It will be interesting to see how The Englishman approaches this preseason. Questions arise to who he will sign? Will he be able to play his attacking, expansive football that he said he would play back at Stockport county in 2015?