Shrewd Stockport appoint Brighton U23 boss Simon Rusk as manager

Brighton & Hove Albion’s highly-rated Under 23 boss Simon Rusk has been appointed as the new manager of National League side Stockport County – with Mark McGhee of all people named as his assistant.

It is a shrewd appointment on behalf of the Hatters although it has been met by suspicion by some of the Edgeley Park faithful. Rusk has done an excellent job in a near-decade with the Albion in which he has managed the Under 18s and the Under 23s, playing a significant role in the development of a lot of Brighton’s talented young players.

The reason the Stockport locals are unhappy is not because they are getting Rusk as a manager but because of the man he is replacing and the manner in which his predecessor departed.

For Jim Gannon was very much Mr Stockport County. He played over 380 times for the Hatters in a decade of service before racking up 11 years as manager over three separate spells, the most recent of which has come to and end with Stockport fourth in the table, 12 points off leaders Torquay United but with three games in hand.

Sacking a bona fide club legend in favour of an Under 23s manager from a small Premier League club when you are well in the hunt for promotion seems like a pretty mad decision, so you can kind of understand Stockport fans’ ire with owner Mark Stott. It could though prove inspired if Rusk lives up to the potential he has shown during his time at Brighton.

Rusk was appointed as the Albion’s Under 18s manager in 2012 by Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named. He spent three years in charge with the biggest success story of his time in the youth setup being the emergence of Solly March.

In March 2015, Hughton promoted Simon Rusk to Brighton Under 23 manager following the departure of Simon Ireland to Queens Park Rangers.

A little over two years later and Rusk led the Albion to promotion to the top flight of Premier League 2 at the end of the 2016-17 season, meaning that Brighton were playing at the highest possible level of development football for the first time in the club’s history.

Brighton have more than held their own amongst the elite. More impressive than results though have been the steady stream of players which Rusk has helped to bring through to play first team football.

From March establishing himself in the senior setup under Oscar Garcia in the 2013-14 season, no homegrown player came through the Brighton academy for six years until Steve Alzate and Aaron Connolly made the breakthrough.

Thanks to Graham Potter’s faith in youth and the work of Rusk in developing the talent, Brighton now have some of the most promising young players in the country on their books.

Alzate and Connolly have been joined in the first team picture by Ben White and Robert Sanchez. Reda Khadra, Teddy Jenks and Max Sanders have been named on the bench in recent weeks.

Leo Ostigard and Jayson Molumby are making waves in the Championship; Hayden Roberts, Ryan Longman and Taylor Richards are impressing in League One; and Alex Cochrane is at Tony Bloom’s Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise.

All of the players who have progressed from Rusk’s Under 23s are technically excellent and play the game in the right way.

Former Brighton and Stockport midfielder Gary Dicker tweeted upon rumours of Rusk’s appointment at Edgeley Park: “Very good appointment. Done the hard yards coaching in the academy. I done a club visit before Covid last year and watched him take training. Fantastic coach/manager with the number of players who have come through at Brighton. They’ll enjoy his style of play at County!”

Dicker is not the only fan of Rusk. It says much that he has served under Poyet You Know Who, Oscar, Sami Hyypia, Chris Hughton and now Potter.

When Nathan Jones left his role as first team coach in January 2016 to become Luton Town boss, Hughton promoted Rusk to fill the position alongside his duties as Under 23 manager until the end of the 2015-16 season and the appointment of Paul Nevin.

Several high-profile players who have been tipped to become great managers have retired during Rusk’s reign as Under 23 manager. Other clubs might have been tempted to fast track the coaching careers of Liam Rosenior and Steve Sidwell by parachuting them in as joint-manager with Rusk or even replacing him.

Simon Rusk though is held in such high regard by Brighton that the Albion decided Rosenior and Sidwell would be better learning from him. Rosenior became Rusk’s assistant before leaving for Derby County and Sidwell has taken his first steps in coaching with the Under 16s.

Stockport are not the first club to be attracted by the talents of Rusk. He looked set to be appointed manager of League Two Cambridge United last January until a change of heart saw him stay at the Amex and he was on the shortlist for the Blackpool job in February last year before the League One club went for Liverpool Under 23 manager Neil Critchley.

Having been close to managing in League One and Two, it might come as a surprise that Rusk is now taking his first steps as a number one in senior football in the Conference.

Stockport though represent something of a sleeping giant and if Rusk is backed and is given the time needed to stamp his his style of play, then he could be the man to bring the good times back to a club who were League One rivals of the Albion as recently as 2010.

Brighton fans who recall those Withdean days will also appreciate the strange quirk of fate which sees Simon Rusk replace Gannon. In February 2009, Gannon infamously turned down the chance to become Brighton manager after Dick Knight sacked Micky Adams.

Cash-strapped Stockport had given Gannon permission to talk to the Albion but he declined the role with County safe in mid table in League One at the time and Brighton looking doomed to relegation. Knight instead turned to Russell Slade, who in turn managed to pull off the great escape and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now Rusk has the chance to make history of his own at Stockport, alongside everyone’s favourite whiskey pint drinker McGhee, who will offer an experienced sounding board for the rookie boss.

We will be watching with interest to see how one of the most highly rated young coaches in the country gets on following nine years of unparalleled success for the Brighton development squad.