Dave Penney stuff from Waghorn site..........

Penney's from heaven thought the Rovers faithful. Is he capable of springing a real surprise in Norfolk?
Fri 6 Oct 06

With Canary sources still strongly suggesting that the field was pretty much wide open in terms of Nigel Worthington's likely successor, here's one to ponder - ex-Donacster Rovers boss Dave Penney.

The 42-year-old ex-brickie did nothing to dampen down such idle speculation this morning when, in an exclusive interview with www.rickwaghorn.co.uk, he readily admitted that the Carrow Road job would interest him.

"Definitely - although to be fair, any job back in football would interest me because I'm in-between jobs at the moment and most jobs would interest me."

Some more than most, you suspect. Run through Penney's cv and you can't help wondering if he's not exactly the kind of left-of-field candidate that might be capable of springing a real surprise over the next fortnight - if he ever crossed the City board's thoughts.

And the more you look; the more you listen; the more you wonder whether Penney's from heaven in the number of boxes he ticks.

At 42, he's at that same, young and hungry age as the likes of Mark Bowen and Ian Crook; he's currently out of work and readily available; he's got all his coaching badges - badges he earnt under the tutelage of Canary caretaker boss Martin Hunter - and, above all, has a pretty decent list of medals and scalps to his name.

After succeeding Steve Wignall in December, 2001, Penney has taken Rovers to their highest league finish in 47 years - all the way from the Conference mid-table to eighth in League One last season, two tantalising points short of the play-offs.

In that spell came back-to-back promotions and, more famously still, an epic Carling Cup run that disposed of first Manchester City and then Aston Villa en route to a quarter-final meeting with Arsenal.

Even then it took a 120th minute leveller from Gilberto Silva to take the game to penalties; having come so close to such a famous victory, Rovers went out 3-1 on penalties.

"Did that Carling Cup run cost us last season? I think so," said Penney, who made his name as a no-nonsense midfield enforcer with the likes of Oxford Unted, Swansea and Cardiff before finishing his playing career at Belle Vue.

"It helped us initially. When we were beating Manchester City we were doing very well in the league, but I think Arsenal getting that equaliser in the injury-time of extra-time left the players physically and mentally shattered.

"Both in the penalties afterwards and in the league - I think we lost six out of eight of our next games. But while the cup run did distract us, it put ?500,000 through the coffers and gave the club the kind of profile that they hadn't had for a long, long while."

For Penney you sense that that Carling Cup quarter-final might have been his own high water-mark at Rovers; just as Martin O'Neill took Wycombe Wanderers so far, there came a point where he needed a new challenge - at a higher level.

"I'd probabbly gone stale at the club and the club had probably gone stale with me - plus there was one or two things that had gone on behind the scenes the I didn't like," said Penney, as looked back on August's parting of the ways.

Unlike Alan Curbishley who ended his 13-year association with Charlton with a six-month sabbatical, Penney - who only turned pro at 21 after five years as a brickie - gave himself a week off.

"I had a week's holiday with the wife, recharged the batteries and she'll probaly say I'm getting under her feet now - I've got to stop doing the hoovering!

"I've had a day with England - I know Steve McClaren very well - and I'm now just going round a few clubs, looking at how they do things, picking up bits and bobs."

For such a relatively unknown quantity in Norfolk, one of the key questions will be how he sets his teams out to play.

The answer ticks another box. "I like my teams to be very passionate; very committed; to play at a high tempo; high up the park. And I like to play football.

"As a player I was a bit of a midfield destroyer, but I like to see us pass; when I put a session on, we work on passing the ball; I like to see people get the ball down on the floor and play."

It is a coaching style that he honed on the playing fields of Lilleshall; under the guidance of the FA; under Martin Hunter.

"I know him well - Martin has put me through all my coaching badges - right from 1994 at Lilleshall when I was still a player at Swansea and got my 'A' licence through to getting my Pro licence last summer.

"Martin's been with the FA a long time and, to be honest, it was a bit of a shock when it came out that he was leaving." So what about teaming up with him at club level? "Not a problem."

He is, if nothing else, an interesting canadidate - particularly if this morning's reports were correct that West Bromwich Albion were closing in on Southend boss Steve Tilson and Norwich's fabled short list was about to become one person short.

He certainly left Belle Vue at the end of August with a glowing reference from the club's chief executive, Dave Morris.

"I'm sure he'll want to bounce back into management at some time, but whether he's got something lined up, I don't know," said Morris.

"What he has done here is outstanding. He took Doncaster from the Conference to League One - you cannot deny his record. The works he's done here over the years, not just on the field, but behind the scenes to establish Doncaster at this level is second to none."

It even prompted reports in Yorkshire that Penney's name was in the frame for the Leeds vacancy. Interesting.

Posted By: woody, Oct 7, 01:06:21