ANDY CARROLL made a winning start to football management – thanks to one of the craziest goals he would have ever witnessed.
The former Newcastle, Liverpool and England striker oversaw a 1–0 win over Torquay in his new role as interim boss of sixth-tier side Dagenham & Redbridge.
And the winning goal in this National League South encounter came DIRECT from a corner by George Marsh with 15 minutes left.
It is very rare for goals to be scored by such a method but Carroll, 37, was punching the air in delight as he enjoyed his first foray into the dugout.
Crocked Carroll – who had surgery on a fractured foot and ligaments in January – had kept everybody guessing, including his five kids, about his choice of attire for his big day but he ended up going for a casual suit with white trainers.
Not the full-blown suit-and-tie that his former Prem bosses – the likes of Alan Pardew, Sam Allardyce or Kenny Dalglish – would have worn when he was in his prime and banging in the Premier League goals.
In the pre-match warm-ups, the former centre-forward looked a bit lost, as if instinctively he should have been in the box searching for the end of the crosses.
As Carroll was putting players through their paces, minority owner KSI – the famous YouTuber, musician and boxer – was arriving at Victoria Road, 35 minutes before kick-off, in a black Mercedes and he was mobbed by fans.
Most of them were youngsters, the target audience who would watch YouTube on a daily basis, and old Dagenham supporters, those who had seen the highs and lows down the decades, must have wondered what on earth is going on with their club.
It has become a celebrity hotspot now but if the lofty ambitions are matched, the collective group of owners want to go through the leagues just like Wrexham did under the Hollywood influence of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
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They certainly have the wealth, but do they have the business acumen and patience for the long haul?
Carroll was installed as interim boss last week following the sacking of Lee Bradbury and his task is to oversee the final seven matches of an underwhelming season.
Striker Stan Leech is almost a carbon copy of Carroll – tall, broad shoulders, hair done up in a bun – and he almost scored with a Carroll-esque diving header on seven minutes that his new boss would have approved of.
But Torquay goalkeeper Seb Stacey made a decent save to deny Dagenham an early opener.
Yet when Leech missed another header on 21 minutes, one that looped over the crossbar, the Torquay fans delighted themselves by singing: “You’re just a s*** Andy Carroll.”
Leech clearly did not impress Carroll much because he was brought off on 61 minutes, the first managerial sub made by the former Three Lions forward.
It must have felt weird for the Daggers players given that Carroll was sharing a dressing room with these guys only a week ago – and now he is the guvnor.
In one sense, it is a shame that another guvnor, the 77-year-old Neil Warnock, was not in charge of Torquay, as the veteran campaigner stepped down after 18 days in the role, with Jimmy Ball taking over.
Just imagine that scenario – the most experienced manager in the game right now against the least experienced in opposing dugouts.
The goal by Marsh, which managed to deceive Stacey, came on 75 minutes and gave KSI the perfect pick-me-up following a week of difficult decisions.
‘I was all nerves’
For Carroll, he might rightly feel this football management lark is quite easy and he will have left East London looking forward to a decent Saturday night out.
The team celebrated wildly in the dressing room as they moved within five points from the playoffs with six matches left.
Their head coach admitted after his managerial bow that he was very stressed by being the boss.
Carroll said: “Honestly, before the game, I was all nerves and a little bit stressed. Throughout the game, it was just a great feeling, seeing the lads work hard.
“We’ve only had two days to work on a few things and they stuck to the game plan.
“It’s just an amazing feeling when you work hard in the office, in the rooms, and you come out and see what they do there. It’s fantastic.
“I don’t even know how I’ve ended up in this role, but I’ll do anything for this club at the end of the day.
“I’m part of it now. Whether I’m a player, whether I’m a manager, owner, picking up the litter, whatever it is, I’ll do it for this club. That’s something I’ll do forever now.”
