The Championship is many things, but forgiving it is not. The average tenure of a manager has dropped significantly over the last decade and Championship clubs are more ruthless than most. Every job carries an element of risk, but taking on a role midway through the season comes with added jeopardy.
That didn't deter Liam Manning though, when Bristol City came calling last November. The 38-year-old is regarded as one of the EFL's most progressive young coaches, and has played an expansive brand of football throughout his fledgling coaching career. Others in the Championship last year - such as Joe Edwards and Ian Foster - were stung by the reality of inheriting a squad, warts and all, months into the season.
For both, it proved terminal. Manning was more fortunate after guiding City to mid-table respectability - but he is under no illusions about what could have been. "I think some teams in the Championship ended up having three or four managers last year, so it's obviously a very difficult industry to come in and get your ideas across straight away.
It's not easy [coming in mid-season]," Manning tells Mirror Football . "I think when you analyse it, the word philosophy gets bandied around a bit these days but the average tenure of a football league manager these days is down to around 35-40 games. That's potentially just one transfer window.
" He continues: "Last season was the highest [league finish] for the club in quite a while and it's now about bettering that. "Last year, we created some really good moments for the fans as well, which is something that we want to build on. That's not just about improving the league position [though].
It's about improving everything. The position, the points, the goals scored, less goals conceded, all the key metrics." Manning is part of a younger generation of coaches, but he boasts extensive coaching experience.
He spent time in the academy's of both Norwich City and Ipswich Town but, by his own admission, failed to hit the levels he aspired to reach. "At the time, Ipswich was a club that had a rich history of producing players: the Kieran Dyers, Darren Bents, Titus Brambles. I was really fortunate with the education I had there and the people I was exposed to in my playing career.
"I actually stumbled into coaching. Then I was making ends meet by coaching five times a week and playing a bit of semi-pro on the weekends." It was at Ipswich he cut his teeth as an academy coach.
His schooling at Portman Road led to a role at West Ham , where he looked after the Londoners' Under-23s which included future England star Declan Rice . He then linked up with the prestigious City Football Group in 2019 and had spells at New York City and Lommel SK in Belgium, after being head-hunted. Different roles at both provided invaluable experience, and helped bridge the gap between academy coaching and first-team football.
"New York was interesting; it was the first role [Director of Coaching] where I didn't have a team. That was a really good period of reflection in terms of deciding what my principles were, my way of working, what my methodology, or whatever you want to call it, would be. "I had the freedom to build a programme and a way of working where I wasn't confined to set rules.
"In terms of a next step, Lommel was a really good platform. There was still a big emphasis on developing players, but you're also in a competitive league where results matter." Manning's experience in England has been just as varied.
After overseeing a remarkable maiden season at MK Dons, he was sacked five months after missing out on automatic promotion. His next role, at Oxford, saw him rescue them from the drop before overseeing a strong start to the 2023/24 campaign, which piqued Bristol City's attention. "I saw [being sacked] as part of my journey.
It's funny; when I got sacked I got loads of nice messages, but it was almost as like somebody had passed away. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want that to happen, but it gave me an opportunity to step away and analyse things. That's difficult to do that when you're in a job.
"When I went back in at Oxford, I felt like I was a better version of myself. They hadn't won in 10 games before we went in, and we stayed up. We then rebuilt in the summer, which was perfect off the back of MK, looking at what we'd got wrong and why etcetera, and that led to a really strong start and an opportunity that was too good to turn down.
" Depending on whether your glass is half full or half empty, the Bristol City job is either an opportunity too good to turn down or a poisoned chalice. The club has been starved of top-flight football for 45 years, and is arguably the biggest club, outside of the Premier League , still yearning for an opportunity to rub shoulders with England's elite for the first time since it's extensive rebrand in 1992. Potential is a word that has become almost synonymous with the club City.
It has all the foundations befitting of a top-flight club, including fantastic facilities and a substantial fanbase. After treading water in recent years, City are expected to be among a cluster of teams pushing for the top six under Manning. They have been astute in the transfer market - even if the No.
10 they've been trying to land all summer continues to evade them. Manning has beefed up his attacking options with the captures of Fally Mayulu, Sinclair Armstrong and Yu Hirakawa, in a bid to help Bristol City punch their way into the play-off picture - although last season's leading goalscorer Tommy Conway is poised to leave the club before the transfer deadline, after expressing a desire to move on. The Championship's unparalleled unpredictability complicates matters for this with such ambitions.
When asked for his thoughts on the division, Manning admits: "I think it's too hard to call. Even last year when people said, 'Oh it's definitely these who are going up' and then in the last ten games the top four were losing to the bottom four regularly. "That's why I think the Championship is the hardest division in the world .
"I want to be excited by what I see on the pitch. And then it has to be the same out of possession - we don't want to be a passive team that sits off. Ideally we want to be on the front foot, we want to be aggressive, we want to press, we want to get after the ball, but we also understand that sometimes you have to adapt.
"We played Southampton last year and their level of possession was fantastic, so we got forced back in the block. But we've got a group of players that understand what their jobs are, so they can deal with that and find a way of getting success. "There's beauty in being adaptable and unpredictable.
That's why, for me, it's not just about having a philosophy but being able to adapt game to game, depending on what things look like." Manning is known for his meticulous attention to detail and like others, his work consumes him. Instead of unwinding at the end of last season, recruitment meetings proceeded almost instantly.
Managing his time away from the pitch has proved to be as important as his time on it, and while he's made strides in that respect, the balance can still be difficult to strike, and the personal sacrifices are significant: his son is just six-years-old but is already on his sixth school. "I've tried to earn a bit of credit back with the family but at the same time they understand it's a 24/7 job. I've probably got better at time management.
I try and have no phones in the evening at dinner time, but I don't always abide by that! "The staff we have here, we're in at 7.30 in the morning and we'll leave at seven in the evening. Football clubs are about the people and there's some terrific people here.
"I'm privileged to do what I do. I've been round the world and worked all hours to make it happen. You end up obsessing over things.
While you're in it, it's everything." Manning's pursuit of perfection is now driven by a desire to transform Bristol City's potential into something more quantifiable; to make Premier League football a reality rather than a pipe-dream. "I know a lot of people have said it, but this is a club with huge potential, with a terrific fan base and top facilities.
"In such a difficult division, it becomes a case of, 'How do you turn that potential into consistent performances and results?'. That's the bit that we're working hard to try and achieve. "I know what the group are capable of, but there's so many factors that go into [a good season]: you need good processes, you need a good culture and you definitely need a bit of luck along the way.
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