Steve Cotterill hired as Portsmouth manager
The Portsmouth Blues hired Steve Cotterill as manager to try and turn around the fortunes of their team, signing him to a three year deal, it was announced Friday.
Cotterill comes to the team from Notts County, a League Two team. There he had great success, winning his first four games as manager and ultimately leading the team to the League Two championship. He was named Football League Two Manager of the Month in April 2010 for his efforts. After his success, he was widely sought by a range of clubs, including Coventry City.
The hiring will come as something of a promotion, as Portsmouth will be playing in the Football League Championship next year, the second best football league in Britain. Cotterill will have his work cut out for him though, as Portsmouth finished 20th in the English Premier League last year and was relegated as a result, meaning this year will be their first in the Football League Championship since 2002, when they won the championship.
Cotterill “a perfect fit”
The club announced the signing enthusiastically on Friday, saying that Cotterill was the right candidate to help the team’s players overcome the issues facing the club.
“Steve is the perfect fit for the rebuilding job we want to do here. He’s talented, ambitious, energetic and positive, with a very good footballing CV, coming here on the back of a great achievement at Notts County,” said the team’s chief executive, David Lampitt.
“We’ve got lots of challenges ahead and like the rest of us here at the club Steve is ready to tackle them head on to bring stability and long-term success to Pompey.”
It had been announced to the press in late May Cotterill was being sought after to take the helm of the club. David James, the team’s 39-year-old goalkeeper, had expressed interested in taking over as coach with his playing contract expiring, but he was considered to have too little experience to take over the team. The team’s administrator, Andrew Andronikou, told the BBC James would have input into the team’s final hiring decision. With the move, James may be brought on in a lesser role. For now though, it’s Cotterill who’s expressing his happiness with his hiring.
“I’m really looking forward to getting started. This is a fantastic club with supporters second to none.”
said Cotterill. “It was a hectic season at Notts County, and I know Portsmouth had their problems, too, but it’s going to be a good ride. I had other offers and interest from Hull, but Portsmouth was the place I wanted to come to.”
A troubled club
While acquiring a highly regarded manager like Cotterill will no doubt help the fortunes of the team, Portsmouth has had troubles on and off the soccer pitch. Portsmouth suffered huge financial troubles last year, frequently having difficulty paying their players and staff on time, with even the team’s website shutting down at one point from lack of funds. They were also forced to sell off some of their best players, including current Team England World Cup player Peter Crouch. The team was repeatedly sold in the 2009-2010 campaign, with four owners in one year.
After going into administration in order to attempt to handle the team’s debt load and creditors, the team was penalized nine points by the league. Hampered by their lack of star power, their 20th place finish was enough to have them relegated from the league. It was announced only on Thursday, a day before Cotterill’s signing that the teams would be coming out of administration.