Tranmere Rovers have confirmed via their official website that interim manager Ian Dawes will take the manager’s role on a permanent basis.
Dawes, who has been in interim charge of the club since the sacking of Micky Mellon in March, takes the manager’s hot seat at Prenton Park alongside first-team head coach Andy Parkinson, having overseen eight games in charge of Rovers, winning two of those games against Swindon Town and Grimsby Town respectively.
Who is Ian Dawes?
Ian Dawes knows Tranmere Rovers like the back of his hand, with the 39-year-old joining the club originally as assistant manager in 2020 when the Birkenhead-based side appointed Keith Hill as their manager.
During that time, Dawes has been in and out of being an assistant manager and taking interim charge of the first team, with Dawes stepping up to the plate when Keith Hill and more recently, Micky Mellon, were dismissed from the club.
Following the aforementioned dismissal of Micky Mellon, Dawes has been given an opportunity to steady the ship at Prenton Park for the remaining couple of months of the season in a search for better results on the pitch and to potentially put his name in the hat to take the manager’s job on a permanent basis, something he has successfully done.
Tranmere Rovers Football Club are delighted to announce the appointment of Ian Dawes as the new manager of the Club.
Read in full here ⤵️#TRFC #SWA
— Tranmere Rovers FC (@TranmereRovers) May 4, 2023
How has the season gone for Rovers?
Tranmere Rovers have had a somewhat disappointing 22/23 campaign for their standards, with the Birkenhead-based side currently finding themselves 11th in the League Two table with only one game left of the regular season to play.
During the course of 45 league games, Tranmere have picked up a total of 58 points this season, winning a total of 15 matches and can still finish the league campaign as high as 10th place if they was to win their final game and Swindon Town fail to beat Crawley Town at the County Ground.
Tranmere’s final game of the season however is at home to promotion-chasing Northampton Town, with a victory for the Cobblers enough to seal Jon Brady’s side promotion to League One after only two seasons away from the third division.
What’s been said?
Speaking about his appointment as manager on Tranmere Rovers’ official website, 39-year-old Dawes said: “It’s an honour to be appointed manager of Tranmere Rovers. Having already had three interim spells, I’m now ready to take control of the team and implement my own style and ideas.
“It’s an opportunity I’m relishing and I want to reassure the fans that I personally hate failure and would not have taken the job unless I was confident of bringing success to the Club.
“I know it is equally important to win games as it is to develop players. Every player that steps foot onto that pitch has to play for the badge and make the fans and the Club proud and this is one of the key messages I will be implementing.
“With the players we have under contract, the re-signing of a few and adding the right players and balance to improve the squad, I believe we can see an improvement and get back to having something to play for come the end of the season, at the positive end of the table!”
Following on from the comments made by new manager Dawes, Tranmere Rovers chairman Mark Palios added: “We have moved away from appointing experienced managers who have spent years on the managerial merry-go-round and who come (and go) with their own supporting staff because, each time one departs, the club they leave effectively has to start rebuilding its support staff and systems from scratch.
“A successful team needs a good manager, but it is equally important to get the recruitment and development right, so it is our intention to bring in an experienced Technical Director who will work alongside Ian Dawes and ensure that our recruitment and development systems are the best they can be, and that we get the balance right between the medium term aim of developing players, and the short term imperative of winning games, which is what we all want.”
Writers View
Looking at the face of this appointment, I can’t really say I 100% agree that this is the right move for Tranmere Rovers going forward if I’m going to be honest.
As much as Dawes has once again stepped up to take the interim role in a search for much-needed performances and results, there is that question mark hanging over him if he has done enough to earn the job on a permanent basis. Clearly, on the basis of the decision, chairman Mark Palios believes that Dawes has done enough for him to take the club into next season.
As much as it can be stated as someone of a disappointing and underwhelming appointment amongst supporters at Prenton Park, the club and the fanbase now have to get behind Dawes and the team as they look to build on and improve from this season and hopefully, Dawes can prove a lot of people wrong in the process that he is the man to bring success back to Tranmere Rovers Football Club.
Tranmere fans, what do you think about the appointment of Ian Dawes as the club’s new manager?
