I’ve long seen obvious comparisons between Manchester United and the Brisbane Broncos.
Both clubs are located north of their respective games’ traditional home base, yet these cities are still rightly regarded as strongholds.
Both began building something special in the late 1980s and by the mid-1990s were the two best teams in their respective competitions.
And both became powerhouses under the tutelage of once-in-a-generation leaders – Sir Alex Ferguson at United and Wayne Bennett at the Broncos.
These giants of their respective games led their clubs to unparalleled glory, establishing themselves in the process as arguably the finest coaches (or managers, whatever you want to call it) in either codes’ histories.
So closely did I see the comparison that when Bennett came to Newcastle, I was living in Liverpool and found the best way to explain it to my mates – who followed the Premier League religiously but indulged me the odd bit of rugby league chat at the pub – was to say it was the equivalent of Stoke City recruiting Fergie as their manager.
The little club that pretty-much-couldn’t had just signed the greatest coach in history, and with the financial backing of Nathan Tinkler, the Knights were set to become the Manchester City of the NRL.
Wayne Bennett and Darius Boyd. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Renee McKay)
Yeah, well, we all know how that panned out.
And it’s perhaps the biggest issue I see with the Benny-Fergie comparison: Bennett has a tendency to leave clubs a smoking ruin.
Since Benny left St George Illawarra at the end of season 2011, the club have made a solitary finals appearance, having more or less been forced to undergo a total rebuild, which wasn’t aided by the fact representative players Darius Boyd, Beau Scott, Jeremy Smith and Neville Costigan all soon followed Bennett to the Hunter.
His immediate successor as coach, Steve Price, did not last three full seasons in the job.
As for what happened while he was in charge of the red and blue, there’s an argument to be made that Bennett’s failure to manage the roster was the result of his contract featuring a large payout should he win a comp – so he stacked it with guys who effectively gave the club a premiership window of one season.
By the time he left the Knights, the side resembled a geriatric facility, with Bennett having made such inspired signings as Timana Tahu, Clint Newton and David Fa’alogo – all who were hitting their mid-30s.
Then, upon announcing he would not continue as coach in 2015, Bennett said, “I believe it will take a number of years to reach an acceptable position and that is what I am unable to commit to. A longer term coach is crucial for future success.”
Basically, he dug the club a great big hole, before getting the Broncos to pass him down a ladder – oh, and then he had the temerity this year to say, upon being asked whether Nathan Brown was doing a good job rebuilding the club, “I suppose if you unbuild it, the next thing you’ve got to do is rebuild it.”
Of course, Brown wasn’t the “longer term coach” Bennett was referring to when he announced he was bailing on the mess he’d made in 2014 – no, that ended up being his assistant, Rick Stone, who was sacked before seeing out one full season.
With a couple of decimated clubs in his rearview, Benny returned to Brisbane, the club having sacked Anthony Griffin to accommodate their inaugural coach’s return.
But after making the 2015 grand final, things have gone awry at the Broncos – although, there’s awry and there’s awry.
The Broncs have made the eight every season since Bennett’s return but, apart from that skin-of-their-teeth loss in the 2015 decider, they haven’t looked the goods to go all the way.
And that’s a problem, because Benny was brought home to earn the club the seventh premiership they’ve been craving since he won them their last big dance, back in 2006.
Coach Wayne Bennett looks on during the Brisbane Broncos training session (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
They look dead-certs to feature in September again this year, but Thursday night’s loss to the Bulldogs highlighted their inconsistency.
As Mark Gottlieb put it, “There is no way this Broncos team can string together the four wins necessary to win the premiership. They’re way too inconsistent.”
There is no way this Broncos team can string together the 4 wins necessary to win the premiership. They’re way too inconsistent #NRLBulldogsBroncos
— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottliebFOX) August 2, 2018
Thus it’s no great surprise that the club’s board are reportedly keen to see the back of Benny.
As the old saying goes, ‘There are two kinds of coaches: those who have been sacked and those who are going to be sacked’ and, for the first time in his career, it appears Bennett is set to be the latter.
Which is likely why he’s wrangling for a way to go out on his terms, reportedly by staying on as coach until 2020, then becoming the club’s head of football.
Now, there’s merit in this idea, if only because it ensures there won’t be another smoking ruin left in Bennett’s wake. While I’m sure he didn’t do it out of spite, his previous departures from clubs suggest a bit of myopia.
So if he’s in charge of the Broncos football department, you can bet he won’t sign a group of old pros who only have one year left in their hamstrings to try grab a final premiership – because they’d still be his problem in the ensuing years.
But – and this is where we (finally) come back to Manchester United – having the club and the game’s greatest-ever boss hovering over the new coach’s shoulder is a recipe for disaster.
After hanging up the ‘hairdryer’, Sir Alex moved into a role as a director of Manchester United’s football board, saying he had built “a football club, rather than just a football team”.
Similarly, when discussing the now-failed plan to get Craig Bellamy to move to the Broncos, Bennett said, “I don’t want it unfolding without having some control over it, without me being able to be part of it. I’ve spent 25 years of my life here.”
Now, there’s a school of thought that suggests Wayne Bennett built the Broncos and he deserves to go out on his terms – and if that means trading in the clipboard for an office role, so be it.
But in the years since Sir Alex gave it away, United have been through three different managers and failed to win the league once (only winning the FA Cup, Football League Cup and UEFA Europa League – again, things can go awry or awry).
And there’s an argument to be made that, with Fergie always there in the background, it’s been simply too hard for any of his successors to make the team and club their own.
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Which, it seems, would be exactly what would happen if Bennett were to stick around at the Broncos after handing over his clipboard.
As Mal Meninga said this week, “Wayne’s been such an instrumental part of that club right from the beginning that you probably need to have a clean break and give an experienced coach an opportunity to do his own thing with the club.”
As for who that ‘experienced coach’ should be, that remains to be seen. But, given Wayne endorsed Ivan Henjak and Steve Price as his successors when he left the Broncos and Dragons – much like Fergie gave David Moyes the big ol’ thumbs up – if I were the Broncos, I’d steer well clear of Jason Demetriou as their next coach, Benny having given him the kiss of death by saying his current assistant should be next in line to get the job.
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