461: Gerry Francis, Tottenham Hotspur, Merlin’s Premier League 97 Official Sticker Collection

With nine games done in the Premier League it seems only right that all punditry should be focused on the managerial sack race. The fact we’ve made it to November is impressive in itself although that’s more down to the fact that Manchester United’s hierarchy are too busy forgetting they run a football club or trying to find a way to blame their insipid performances on immigrants rather that Michael Carrick. Elsewhere Crystal Palace’s new man in the dugout, Pierre Sage, has somehow managed to avoid the Frank de Boer treatment while his predecessor, Oliver Glasner, is just about clinging on at Nottingham Forest despite owner Evangelos Marinakis’ penchant for asking his employees to chuck their bits in a cardboard box.

Considering how often football managers find themselves down the job centre it’s impressive how many of them stick rigidly to their formations, touchline attire or press conference mannerisms. Ruben Amorim refused to move away from his 3-4-3 set up during his time at Manchester United regardless of how many times his charges explored new realms of slapstic during his stint at Old Trafford. Tony Pulis ensured that all ten of his clubs recorded impressive sales of official baseball caps and tracksuits and can perhaps take credit for the booming athleisure market. From his time as a translator at Barcelona to his second stint at Real Madrid the irrepressible Jose Mourinho has shithoused his way through multiple media engagements while the late Brian Clough continued to sparkle on the microphone even as his managerial prowess declined. The aforementioned Pulis called upon the experience of another manager with a signature look during his time at Stoke City, Palace and West Bromwich Albion despite a number of years out of the game. The mullet has gone in, out, and back into fashion and there are few greater devotees than Gerry Francis.

It would not be a huge surprise if Francis had emerged from the womb in 1951 already sporting the hairstyle shown above. From his first appearances for Queen’s Park Rangers at the tender age of seventeen he fitted in with the increasingly hirsute first generation of star footballers and maintained his flowing locks into the 1970s as QPR flirted with First Division glory. His performances in midfield earned him twelve England caps, eight of which saw him captain the Three Lions, before spells at Palace, Coventry City, Exeter City and Bristol Rovers, among others, during the 1980s. While his back injuries limited his playing time he demonstrated his coaching qualities and took the reins at Bristol Rovers in 1987 after a short spell as a player-coach with Wimbledon.

In 1990 Francis led his Rovers’ side to the Third Division championship ahead of their city rivals and they gave a decent account of themselves in the second tier. This led QPR to bring Francis back to Loftus Road where they secured a solid mid-table finish ahead of the inaugural Premier League season. While Francis maintained his tried and tested hairstyle his players proved themselves well up for the “whole new ball game” and the Rs finished fifth in the league. Les Ferdinand led the line with 24 goals in all competitions and netted a further eighteen in the following campaign as they finished ninth. By this stage Gerry Francis was regarded as one of the best managers in the game and, perhaps due to his side’s ability to “hit Les”, he was many bookies’ favourite to replace Graham Taylor as England manager in 1993. He was lured across London, however, in November 1994 when Tottenham Hotspur parted ways with Ossie Ardiles and Francis responded by leading Spurs to a seventh placed finish and the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Gerry Francis began his first full season at White Hart Lane on the wrong side of many fans having allowed Jurgen Klinsmann and Nick Barmby to leave while also shelling out £4.5m to bring Chris Armstrong in from relegated Palace. He was partially vindicated as his new signing struck up an effective partnership with Teddy Sheringham but Spurs again missed out on Europe and a mediocre 1996/97 campaign saw supporters turn on the mulleted maestro. Despite reuniting with Les Ferdinand, and bringing in David Ginola, Spurs made a poor start to 1997 and Francis was dismissed in November in favour of travelcard enthusiast Christian Gross. A return to QPR followed in 1998 but with the club languishing in the second tier his main focus was on survival. A final day 6-0 thrashing of Palace saved the Rs from the third tier via goal difference and, while a relatively stable 1999/2000 campaign papered over some cracks, an awful 2000/01 season ended with only seven wins, relegation to Division Two and Ian Holloway in the hot seat following Francis’ dismissal in February. The cyclical nature of his managerial career brought him back to Bristol Rovers for a brief spell in 2001 but he resigned after a few months at the helm as The Gas endured a torrid campaign where they just clung on to their league status.

Although Gerry Francis returned to coaching he has not managed since the turn of the century which comes as a surprise considering the reanimation of many of his contemporaries. Perhaps modern chairmen are concerned that his adherence to a haircut he perfected in the late 1970s suggests a level of tactical inflexibility or archaic methodology. Twenty years ago an article in The Observer suggested speculation around Francis working with the England team was perhaps a tonic to the depravity of Sven-Goran Eriksson’s ‘Golden Generation’ as “with a look like that there was no chance of the younger secretarial staff being attracted to him”. Ten years later, with the likes of Andy Carroll and Jeff Hendrick donning flowing locks, a Yahoo article suggested the mullet may be returning despite only “eking out a miserable existence atop the head and shoulders of Gerry Francis” since 2000. Harsh words, and pretty unfair ones, considering his undeniable coaching ability and the other styles and fashions that have come and gone since Francis first opted for the business front and party back.