'PRESSURE BEING LOADED ON HEAD COACHES IS JUST CRAZY'

After 16 years, five clubs and 700-plus EFL games, the managerial journey may be over for Keith Hill.

- Chris Dunlavy

“I love football,” says the 55-year-old, who hasn’t worked since leaving Scunthorpe in 2022. “It’s been my life since the age of 14 and I’d love to come back in some capacity.

“But management? I’m not sure. I’d never say never but I just don’t believe I want to get involved in that kind of fulltime, 24-7, non-stop football again. It’s too much.

“The pressure loaded onto head coaches now is crazy. The internal pressure from a board of directors. The external pressure from supporters. The knee-jerk reactions on social media. It starts the moment you get up and it doesn’t stop until you go to bed – or get sacked.

“When I started out in management, an old friend called Chris Sulley rang me up. He said ‘Enjoy it, but remember - you’re only ever three games away from the sack’.

If I was making that call to a young manager now, I’d say 90 minutes. It’s so hard to be successful these days.”

As demonstrated recently by the dismissal of Steven Schumacher, whose ninemonth reign at Stoke was terminated by sporting director Jon Walters just five league games into the current season – two of which he won.

“Stoke are a great club but what are they doing?” says Hill. “They went and headhunted Steven from Plymouth and then gave him nine months. I don’t think that’s fair, but it’s typical of the way football clubs are run now.