WONDERS OF THE PYRAMID: Ben Garner hails the late Terry Venables as his ‘biggest inspiration’ and the coach who ‘opened my eyes’, as he sets his sights on a return to management after leaving Colchester in March

• Garner was frustrated with the way players were developed during his youth
• Meeting Terry Venables and learning from him changed his outlook on the game
• CHRIS SUTTON: I feel sorry for Rasmus Hojlund, Man U wingers are out for themselves – It’s All Kicking Off

Ben Garner was motivated by frustration. As a young player, the Football League boss was left irked by how little emphasis English coaches placed on tactics, technical play and a positive mentality. Then one man, the late Terry Venables, changed his entire outlook on football.

‘I was quite frustrated as a young player about how my generation was developed, there wasn’t the tactical emphasis there is now,’ says talented coach Garner, 43, who in just four years in management has already experienced his fair share of turbulence across four jobs.

‘So the motivation for me was to develop players in an intelligent and technically, tactically bright way, which we perhaps did not in the past. Give players what I didn’t get. There was no wealth of information or databases when I started coaching – but that was fantastic for me.

‘I’d started at Crystal Palace’s academy and I could learn from the other coaches, go to watch and study managers and find my own path rather than over-relying on data. I want players and teams to maximise their potential.’

Garner helped nurture talents such as Wilfried Zaha, Nathaniel Clyne, Victor Moses and Aaron Wan-Bissaka in Palace’s academy before taking the step to first-team coach, where he worked under a string of managers. He also worked as an assistant at West Brom and in India.

Ben Garner (pictured) was frustrated with the way young players were developed in his generation

His outlook on football changed when he met the late Terry Venables at Crystal Palace

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Just before Christmas 2019, he took the managers’ job at Bristol Rovers and that was one of four jobs in four years. He inherited a Swindon team with little-to-no resources and took them to the play-offs on a shoestring budget, before time at Charlton and Colchester. More on that later.

‘My biggest influence has been Terry Venables,’ adds Garner, talking at his home in Bristol. ‘He sadly passed away recently. Even back then, he was the first coach where I thought, “Right, this is detailed, this is intense”. His passion and desire for the game opened my eyes.

‘He inspired me so much on how coaching could be done, how players could be developed and improved, also how he made people feel aside from football. I’ve worked with many good players, a lot of really experienced guys, but Terry was huge for me.

‘I didn’t have too many sessions with Terry as a young player (at Palace) but it was always about being positive and detailed. He had an incredible level of knowledge but everything was so in depth. He was the complete opposite of anyone who ever coached me.

‘The passion and level of insight he delivered everything with was a real eye-opener for me. Many coaches were demanding in an aggressive way but Terry had compassion. When I went into management, I picked his brains and he still had so much enthusiasm and passion.’

Garner views former England boss Venables as his ‘biggest inspiration’, hailing his ‘enthusiasm and passion’

Garner took that enthusiasm and passion into his roles – and says that his greatest achievements came at Swindon. On paper, that should have been the most difficult job, given the state of play at the Wiltshire club when he took over.

‘The highlight for me was Swindon which should have been the toughest job,’ adds Garner. ‘We had seven first-team players when I went in there and a two-week pre-season. It was simple, though, because it was a fresh start – new owner, new chief executive, new director of football.

‘We could set the culture, sign the players we wanted, myself and the director of football (Ben Chorley) were given the reins to just get on with the job. To start from where we started and get to the play-offs was fantastic. We played some beautiful football.

‘My biggest regrets in jobs after that is that, especially at Colchester, I think the club was the wrong fit. You need time and money in football – and quite often you don’t get a lot of either. But it’s all about being true to yourself and the way you want to work.

‘There’s one or two clubs where that hasn’t aligned. At Colchester, it was an in-and-out culture, they wanted to get in as late as possible and leave as early as they could. That’s not how I work. I wanted to change that to a place where success can grow from.

‘Could I have lasted longer in some jobs if I had played a different way? Possibly, yes. Would I have taken any satisfaction from that or would it have lasted long-term? Absolutely not. There’s always an element of disappointment when you lose your job.

Garner has been out of management since leaving Colchester in March, and wants to make sure his next club is ‘the right fit’

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‘But we were probably on different pages if I’m honest – in terms of the culture, environment, work ethic and level of professionalism I wanted to breed. I had a realisation that it wasn’t going the way I wanted.’

So, what’s next for this young coach? Garner is undertaking a strategic leadership course at the League Managers’ Association and has picked up Spanish lessons again, with him open to working abroad and also not ruling out going back into the backroom staff.

‘It was a disappointment to lose the Colchester job but an opportunity to reflect and learn,’ he adds. ‘What was under my control? What could I have done better? But also you need to learn what is outside of your control and what you can’t influence.

‘My best learning is to get the right fit in the next job, to find a club that matches my drive and work ethic. I want to test myself. Short-term it’s about improving and getting better and making sure the next decision is the right one.’

Cifuentes gives QPR a fighting chance

It was about this time last year that the wheels started to fall off at Loftus Road. Queens Park Rangers were top of the table in November but, after Beale’s departure, won just four games – two of those in the final fortnight of the season.

His replacement Gareth Ainsworth, a good manager, felt like a square peg in a round hole at QPR. Going into the season, Wonders of the Pyramid predicted them for relegation and, after 15 or so games, that was looking like a good tip.

But since then, little-known Spaniard Marti Cifuentes has turned them around, with three wins in a row followed by a draw. They have won more points at Loftus Road in four league games under him (eight), as they did between November 2022 and October 2023 (seven in 21 games).

Formerly of Hammarby in Sweden, Cifuentes has rediscovered the best of flair players Chris Willock and Ilias Chair. At his unveiling he spoke of wanting to create a team ‘that fans can be proud of when they go home’. Survival will still be tough, but he has brought back pride at least.

Marti Cifuentes (left) has given QPR a chance of survival after a difficult 12 months for the club

Simpson deserves better

Carlisle manager Paul Simpson is calm and collected man but he lost his cool at his own fans on Saturday. ‘I do not deserve to be going over to our supporters and being given w***** signs and told to f*** off,’ he said after their loss at Blackpool. ‘I don’t need that in my life.

So let’s remind those fans what Simpson has given to the club. In his first stint, the former Manchester City winger led the Brunton Park club from the Conference to League One with back-to-back promotions.

After that, Simpson had multiple other jobs around the Football League, won the Under 20 World Cup with England. He returned to Carlisle and inherited a team sitting 23rd in League Two and staring down the barrel of a drop out of the Football League.

He kept them up against the odds, then guided them to promotion in his second season, via a play-off final victory against a talented Stockport side. Yes, they are in a relegation battle in League One now, but those naive fans must remember why they are there in the first place.

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