Southampton and Reading bosses deserve immense credit for their superb work

Championship promotion hopefuls Southampton and Reading come head to head on Friday night.

The pair are currently separated only by goal difference at the top of the Championship.

However they are six points clear of third place West Ham.

Superb

Both teams have been superb this season and the managers of the respective clubs deserve immense credit for their fantastic seasons. Both Southampton’s Nigel Adkins and Reading’s Brian McDermott have proved themselves to be very astute Championship managers.

Physio

Southampton’s Nigel Adkins has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of the Championship from physio to boss in a very short time.

He actually started his managerial career off in Wales with League of Wales side Bangor City, were he won two league titles in 1994 and 1995. His career took a different turn after that when he became a physio.

While he was physio at Scunthorpe he was offered the managers job on a temporarily basis. He did a good job in that time and was appointed full-time Scunthorpe boss just a month and a half later in December 2006.

Adkins went on to lead Scunthorpe to promotion from League One, before the club was relegated the following season. The Iron returned to the second tier the following season though via the play-offs though. This time they narrowly avoided relegation from the Championship, despite one of the smallest budgets in the league.

In 2010 the former-Tranmere keeper was appointed Southampton boss. Adkins was at it again, as he lead his side from League One to the Championship, after being in charge less than a year. Now the club is looking to achieve a second consecutive promotion.

Scout

Reading’s Brian McDermott is another boss that took a rather unusual path to become top man at his club. McDermott had managerial roles at non-league teams Woking and Slough before becoming chief scout at Reading in 2000.

He then rose up to youth team coach and then reserve team manager, before becoming caretaker boss in December 2009. He was handed the role on a permanent basis on 27th January 2010, after a memorable FA Cup victory at Premier League Liverpool.

Last season McDermott helped Reading to the Championship play-off final, where they were defeated 4-2 by Brendan Rodgers Swansea City. Last summer the Royals lost leading striker Shane Long to Premier League West Brom and were expected to struggle this season.

However, this season Reading have  managed to be so consistent that they find themselves in a superb position heading into the back end of the season. The 51 year-old has done such a good job at Reading that Premier League Wolves showed an interest in the former-Arsenal midfielders services.

It would have be hard for him to leave Reading behind, especially with his team in such good form. I wouldn’t see why he would swap Reading for Wolves at moment with the two teams heading in different directions.

Comparison

I can’t help comparing Nigel Adkins and Southampton to Norwich and Paul Lambert. Both clubs were former Premier League stalwarts, Norwich achieved consecutive promotions and that’s what the Saints hope to achieve.

Another similarity would be that both sides have a journeyman striker banging in the goals. Southampton’s Rickie Lambert has had a very similar career to that of Norwich captain Grant Holt. The most important comparison is that both clubs have bright up and coming British managers.

Bosses

It’s great to see the likes of British bosses Brian McDermott and Nigel Adkins doing so well. They have done fantastic jobs with their respective clubs and in McDermott’s case on a small budget. I hope both teams get promoted and do as well as this seasons top flight new comers Swansea and Norwich.

Its good for the game in this country that we have people like McDermott and Adkins coming through the managerial ranks. It’s hard to fault either and Friday nights game is sure to be a cracker.

Will Southampton and Reading achieve promotion this season?