John Carver nominated for Manager of the Year – Strange but true | OneFootball

There were some strange times under the ownership of Mike Ashley at Newcastle United, though maybe none stranger than the second half of the 2014/15 season when Ashley gave the Manager/Head Coach job to John Carver.

Alan Pardew had walked away after Crystal Palace had made the astounding decision to offer millions of pounds to the Newcastle United owner for Pardew.

With 26 points from the opening 19 Premier League matches that season, no matter what happened under John Carver in the next 19, there would at least be no chance of getting involved in any kind of a relegation battle…

After 16 Premier League matches in charge at NUFC, John Carver had banked only nine points from a possible 48.

Newcastle United were now very much in a relegation battle, with only two PL wins in 16, (1-0 at home to Villa and 3-0 away at a Steve Bruce managed Hull City…) and on a run of eight defeats in a row.

With three Premier League matches remaining of that 2014/15 season, John Carver gave perhaps the most bizarre quotes Newcastle fans had ever heard in a pre-match press conference, ahead of a home game against West Brom:

“I still think I’m the best coach in the Premier League. If I have the right tools I can do the job. I’m doing the job to the best of my ability.”

United ended the eight game losing run with a draw against West Brom but then lost at QPR, with only a Jonas Gutierrez inspired win on the final day of the season against West Ham, finally guaranteeing safety.

Ten years later

Fast forward 10 years to the present day and John Carver has now been nominated for manager of the year.

Yes, it’s true.

On 30 November 2024 it was announced (see below) that John Carver had taken over at Lechia Gdansk in the Polish top tier.

They were in a hopeless position with relegation looking a certainty, having only won two of seventeen league games.

John Carver starting work in Poland immediately.

Lechia Gdansk are 17th of 18 in the Polish top tier and have 11 points from their opening 17 league matches.

John Carver though, performing minor miracles.

The next 15 games have seen Lechia Gdansk win a remarkable eight of them under John Carver and safe from relegation.

With it now announced that John Carver is one of the official nominations to be crowned manager of the year in Poland!

Interesting to look back at that crazy 2014/15 season when John Carver took charge for the second half of that campaign.

Having checked, that season a certain Eddie Howe was named LMA Manager of the Year.

He hadn’t even managed in the Premier League that 2014/15 season BUT he was voted as Manager of the Year overall, due to the fact that he had completed the unbelievable job of having taken Bournemouth all the way from looking certainties to drop into non-league football, right through the divisions and getting the eventual promotion to the Premier League that 2014/15 season.

Whilst John Carver has worked his magic in Poland this season, I wonder how Eddie Howe is getting on these days…?

Lechia Gdansk official announcement – 30 November 2024:

‘John Carver is the new coach of Lechia Gdansk

The 59-year-old coach from England has taken over as first-team coach. The contract runs until the end of the 2024/25 season with the option to extend it for another year.

John Carver was born in Newcastle. He began his coaching career as an assistant to legendary manager Bobby Robson at Newcastle United. During his 15-year coaching career, Carver also served as assistant or head coach at Leeds United, Toronto FC, Omonia Nicosia and West Bromwich Albion. He has experience working outside of Europe and in a number of leagues, including the English Premiership. Since August 2020, he has been an assistant coach for the Scotland national team, with whom he qualified for and played at Euro 2024, and was on the bench for Scotland’s recent Nations League matches against Poland.

Lechia has reached an agreement with the Scottish Federation for John Carver to start working for Lechia immediately. At the same time, the club and the Federation have agreed that during the international break in March 2025, coach Carver will be present in the Scotland team’s staff for the play-off double-header with Greece. The new coach met with the Lechia team and staff after the match with GKS Katowice. He will officially start working with the White and Green team on Monday, December 2.