THERE'S a time in every football lover's life when they truly, honestly and, very often, accurately believe they are a jinx on whatever team they follow.

I've found myself watching a poor side all season and then, on the one night all season when I decide that pulling on my scarf, getting on the bus and paying the tenner isn't worth it, turned on the radio to discover my side celebrating a 5-1 victory. Sometimes I just wonder if they would be better of without me. Likewise, I'm sure many managers feel they would be better off without their chairmen. I don't think Ken Bates will be high on Gianluca Vialli's Christmas card list this year, and rightly so. But Vialli represents another worrying trend in British football management.

He was, like so many others, a YTS manager. Vialli came into management raw. He hadn't even hung up his boots when his name was inscribed (or, possibly, written in chalk) on the door of Ruud Gullit's old office.

Great player that he was, history shows that the truly magnificent manager requires one commodity before they can achieve success - experience. That can be as a coach, a scout, an assistant boss, in fact I even think leading a cubs team would be better than stepping straight off the pitch and into the dugout. But, as football becomes ever more celebrity oriented, those men with solid experience off the field are finding it harder and harder to beat off experienced internationals who aren't quite ready to take up golf yet. This cult has even stretched as far as the conference, where Southport selected Mark Wright ahead of gaffers (including Lancaster's Tony Hesketh) with a sound background in the semi-pro ranks. It must be something of a bitter pill to swallow for people like Tony and Jim Harvey who would bring instant experience to clubs in desperate need of it. That's why it's all the more pleasing when a hard working coach finally finds success in the top job. So hats off to Walsall's Ray Graydon,

dismissed as 'Ray who?' when he first took over at the Bescott Stadium, he lead them to a shock promotion first time out and, despite relegation from division one last season, now seems to have a much more secure future than big names like Wright, David Platt and Steve McMahon.