“It’s a difficult industry”: Ian Evatt has sympathy for sacked Sheffield Wednesday head coach
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Blackpool head coach sympathises with former Sheffield Wednesday counterpart after his sacking.
Ian Evatt admits Sheffield Wednesday’s decision to change boss merely emphasises the cut-throat nature of modern-day football.
Blackpool visit the Owls tomorrow, a week on from the sacking of Henrik Pedersen after fewer than 15 months in charge at Hillsborough.
His first season brought relegation from the Championship amid a backdrop of financial problems and an 18-point penalty which saw them finish with zero points.
Wednesday now have new owners, Arise Capital Partners, who named Simon Wilson as the club’s sporting director in June as they sought an immediate return to the second tier.
Defeats to Notts County and Doncaster Rovers left the Owls eighth in the table and led to Pedersen’s departure.
Their midweek draw with Cambridge United dropped them to ninth, two points off the play-offs and four adrift of the automatic promotion places after a quarter of the season.
Blackpool’s head coach said: “In the modern world, everyone requires instant success.
“It’s a process, it’s a journey. Rightly or wrongly it’s the coaches and managers that get fired first.
“It’s hard but it’s the nature of the industry we’re in. I must be crazy to love it but I do.
“My focus is on ourselves, myself and how I can do the best I can for this club.
“I do have so much empathy with coaches and managers that lose their jobs. It’s a difficult industry.
“I’m always sceptical when new ownership and sporting directors take charge of a club and there’s a manager in place.
“People always forget the difficult circumstances he did his job in last season and I thought he handled himself, the club and that group of players superbly well in uncertain times.”
Pedersen’s departure meant Matt Hamshaw was appointed on a temporary basis, starting with Tuesday’s 1-1 home draw against Cambridge.
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It remains unclear whether Wednesday will have a new boss in time for Sunday’s game, though it’s believed the recruitment process is progressing all the time.
“We don’t know if there’s going to be an appointment before the game,” the Seasiders’ boss added.
“They have a really good squad of players, excellent players, across the pitch and it’s going to be as tough as it gets.
“Thirty thousand (fans), brilliant atmosphere; it’s as hard as you can get in League One.”