Russell Slade: I don’t half get a buzz from a good free transfer

There are two things that Russell Slade has not done that every other manager in English professional football has. He has not lost a league match this season; and he has never bought a player at his current club despite being the sixth longest-serving manager in the country.

Those facts seem incompatible C how, when money seems to make the football world go round, can a manager thrive for so long without ever forking out a transfer fee? Where there is Slade, there is a way.”My best three spots were when I was at Sheffield United [in 1998],” recalls the 52-year-old as he discusses the talent-spotting acumen that has helped him buying a canada goose jacket online to lead Leyton Orient from the bottom to the top of League One, following similarly improbable feats at Scarborough, Yeovil and Grimsby. “At the time I was doing a lot of work on released players because we needed to strengthen best ideas about canada goose outlet on pinterest our youth squad and in one evening I took Phil Jagielka, Nick Montgomery and Michael Tonge C all for nothing.” Montgomery and Tonge went on to play some 300 senior games for United, including in the Premier League, while Jagielka remains one of the best defenders in the top flight and an England international. “That was my best night’s work ever! You don’t half get a buzz when you see those. When we played Everton in the [Capital One] Cup last season Phil gave me a signed shirt with ‘Thanks very much, Russ’ written on it.”

Many players and chairmen have had cause to express similar sentiments during Slade’s two decades as a manager, not least Barry Hearn, the Orient owner who turned to him in April 2010 after a 3-1 canada goose coat 1000 defeat at Hartlepool that left the club one point off relegation. They ultimately stayed up with six to spare and have been on an upward trajectory ever since. The goalkeeper Jamie Jones is the only current squad member who played in that Hartlepool defeat C all the others buy canada goose parka uk have been free acquisitions by Slade. “Your contacts in the game are absolutely massive because I’m dealing in a market of free transfers and very often they’re a free transfer for a reason,” says Slade. “It’s very important to get the right character and, if you do your homework, you can get lucky and get someone who can improve and you add a value to him. It’s really satisfying when a free transfer turns out to be worth more than that and attracts interest from other clubs.”

Kevin Lisbie is a prime example. The striker was surplus to requirements at Millwall two years ago when Slade signed him, initially on loan, but has gone on to average a goal every two games for Orient, with whom he agreed a new deal this summer despite overtures from elsewhere related site, including Sheffield United. Lisbie, whose striking partnership with David Mooney has helped make Orient top scorers in the division this term, has hailed Slade and the team spirit at Orient as the main reasons for staying. That highlights another of Slade’s qualities: people want to do well for him. He does not just can you buy canada goose jacket online spot players, he stimulates them. His team-talks have become legendary at Brisbane Road, where Hearn has lauded him as a champion of “Shanklyism”.

“I’m a people’s person,” says Slade. “Four-fifths of my job is about man-management. With virtually all the clubs best place to buy a canada goose jacket in toronto I’ve been at we’ve had small squads so it’s been important to have that relationship with your players. And I’m not just talking a football relationship, which is obviously vital, but you need to know what makes them tick, what makes them moody, what makes them happy. I’ve managed to get a fantastic group. I have no energy-sappers in my changing room, they’re all energisers. That’s what you strive to get in your football club. Sometimes you can get daggers in your back or verbal snipes from players who aren’t playing but that’s not the case here. You know you’ve got it right when your subs on the bench are willing the ones on the pitch to be successful.”

Sometimes, though, preserving the fraternal atmosphere requires forceful action: Slade has had to ban his squad from playing Fifa 14 on match days even though the game is the team’s shirt sponsor. “I believe in focus and, if they’re canada goose coat 1000 bulbs coupon playing on the coach and then just hopping off and putting on the kit while thinking, ‘Oh I was 3-1 down to our central defender,’ I don’t think that’s great,” he says.

His ability to inspire suggests Slade could have enjoyed a successful career as a teacher, which is what he is trained to be. Like Jos Mourinho, Andr Villas-Boas and Grard Houllier, Slade never played professionally, being an uncontracted reserve at Notts County as he qualified as a PE instructor in the early 1990s. Slade is not sure that honed his motivational skills but says it did foster good planning.

“When I was at college I was a swimming coach, badminton coach, tennis coach, cricket coach, assistant athletics coach and I took my best place buy canada goose jacket toronto football coaching awards, so in terms of coaching, organisation and can you wash a canada goose parka preparation, I think that probably has helped but nothing totally prepares you for management and everyday happenings in a football club. A lot of the job is very much about learning through experience, which is why it’s so hard for young managers.”

Slade’s first steps in management came at Notts County, where he began as a youth team coach and worked his way up to caretaker boss, leading the team to victory in the 1995 Anglo-Italian Cup but proving unable to save them from relegation. That was a harsh introduction to the job and he has never been so low since.

But one prize has so far eluded him: promotion. “That’s been the toughest part,” he says. “I’ve saved teams and I’ve been in two play-off finals [with Grimsby and Yeovil] but we didn’t black canada goose parka have big enough squads to get over the finishing line.”

Orient finished seventh last term, one place outside the play-offs, and, despite eight wins and two draws from their first 10 matches this season, Slade is not talking about the title. In a division in which Wolverhampton Wanderers still receive parachute payments from the Premier League and Peterborough, Preston, Bradford City and Saturday’s opponents, Milton Keynes Dons, all look strong, he knows that just keeping his bargains in the hunt will be a major achievement. “To a certain extent here, the size of the squad and injuries will be a determining factor in exactly where we finish,” he says.