"It followed on nicely from when I got the worst Manager of the Month award in December!"
Wednesday 20 February 2019 06:29, UK
Stuart McCall knows better than most how quickly your fortunes can change in football.
A 2-0 defeat on Boxing Day left Scunthorpe in the mire, 23rd in the table and on the end of a run of six straight defeats.
Then, after a 1-0 win against Wycombe a few days later, some respite. Five wins and a draw followed and suddenly the club were looking up again. McCall picked up the Sky Bet League One Manager of the Month award for January.
"It followed on nicely from when I got the worst Manager of the Month award in December!" he joked. "So it goes side by side with that.
"January was a good month for us. We were fortunate and managed to turn things around after a poor run and build a bit of confidence."
It has been a topsy-turvy season for McCall at Glanford Park. Their streaky form has seen them either climb rapidly up the rankings or drop alarmingly down the table.
His appointment at the end of August, following the sacking of Nick Daws, didn't really give him the opportunity to make any signings of his own, which left him with a largely threadbare squad. McCall believes that, and the amount of injuries they suffered, cost his side in the first half of the season.
"In the summer the club lost four top players to Championship clubs and three lads also returned after their loan spells," he said.
"New players came in but it took time to gel and there were also several long-term injuries that hit us hard. The likes of Josh Morris, Jordan Clarke and Ryan Colclough have all missed large parts of the season and we didn't have a big enough squad to cope with that. But now we are much stronger."
The reason they are in a better position now is due to the fact that McCall was heavily backed in January.
"We brought in a fair few new signings but only Tony McMahon really played regularly from the off," he continued. "But the other lads have bolstered the squad and pushed the competition levels up a little, which has helped."
A difficult spell at Bradford has left McCall in no doubt about how important it is to work under a chairman who gives him his full support, and he certainly has that from Peter Swann in his current role.
The 54-year-old was sacked by the Bantams just over 12 months ago after a run of six consecutive defeats, even despite the fact the club still occupied a play-off spot. There have been similar spells of form in charge of Scunthorpe this season, but McCall always felt confident that his job was safe.
"The plan was to be mid-table going into January and see if we could push towards the top six from there after some signings in January, but we ended up almost at the foot of the table," he said. "But the support from the chairman has been fantastic. You can't do anything about key injuries, he knew the team had potential and that is showing now.
"I don't hear from him when we win, but he is always supportive when we lose. I remember when I was at Bradford and we would win four on the bounce and I was still getting asked why I was making certain substitutions or playing a certain formation.
"The contrast to my previous job regarding support from the top has been terrific. Everyone will tell you the strongest relationship at the club has to be between the chairman and the manager, and we've certainly got that."
McCall is a legend at Bradford, having played more than 400 times for the club and managing them twice, and he admits it is difficult to see them labouring at the wrong end of the table.
Three separate managers have been appointed since his departure and just 12 league games have been won in 48 attempts. He hopes, however, that the departure of former chairman Edin Rahic in December will lead to a brighter future for the club as they battle for survival.
"It is hugely disappointing because of where they have been the last couple of seasons," said McCall. "I think the supporters had had enough and there was a lot of discontent.
"But the ex-chairman has departed now and the mood seems to be better around the club. The supporters are back and they've got a really good squad of players who you would imagine will be good enough to get them out from where they are.
"It has been sad to see the number of people who have left the club in such a short period of time, both in terms of playing staff and those behind the scenes.
"We had a good thing going there but a decision was made by one person to disband and disrupt everything and that's had consequences that have set the club back a long, long way."
Despite everything that happened, McCall is proud of the job he did at Valley Parade.
"It was disappointing the way things ended but in another way it was almost a relief, because the relationship I had wasn't a good working one," he said. "It wasn't benefiting the club for me to stay and there was no way the owner was going to leave at the time, so with all that in mind I'm a little bit surprised I stayed as long as I did!
"In spite of different things going on in the background we managed to get to the play-off final on a mid-table budget, and on another day we would have been promoted.
"We had a great 18 months and one really poor one, but I feel like I can look back on it with great pride. They played a big part in my career and there's a big place in my heart for the club."
