Title winners don’t always become the best managers – but not many were sacked from their job without even taking charge of a game.
Peter Cormack, who was a key part of Liverpool‘s dominant 1970s side, found himself beefing with a third division team after being sacked at a burger van just ten days into his tenure.
Peter Cormack played against World Cup winner Bobby Moore in one of his nine caps for Scotland – a 3-1 defeat to England at WembleyGettyCormack, who also starred alongside George Best at Hibernian, helped the Reds win the league title twice, the UEFA Cup and the FA Cup during a four-year spell at Anfield between 1972 and 1976.
The late Scotland international, who passed away last year aged 78, was described by icon Bill Shankly as one of his all-time greats.
Like his Scot compatriot, the former Nottingham Forest player looked to be lovin’ it in the dugout as well after hanging up his boots.
Cormack gained ten years of managerial experience in his homeland, Greece, and Botswana, before working as a Liverpool scout.
He had been out of management for three years when he succeeded Craig Levein at Scottish third division side Cowdenbeath in 2000.
Cormack said: “We’re sitting at the top of the league thanks to hard work, good performances and good organisation, so the side will be left alone.
“I’m looking to get as much out of the players in the second half of the season, and I’ve made it clear to them they need to work hard and show the same commitment.”
”I am excited at getting back into football… There is a fortnight before our next game and we will be working hard during that time,” he added.
However, Cormack was given a stark reminder of the ruthless nature of the business after quickly being treated like a piece of meat.
Only 10 days into his reign, club chairman Gordon McDougall arranged to meet him at a roadside hamburger stall before swinging the axe.
Bill Shankly called Cormack ‘the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle’Getty Midfield maestro won the League, FA Cup and UEFA Cup before his unsuccessful stint as a managerRexCormack claimed that it was player power, led by the quickly-installed caretaker coach, Gary Kirk, that made him look such a Whopper.
”I’ve been made to look a fool,” said Cormack, as reported by the Herald.
”While I was away watching a game, a football equivalent of a coup d’etat took place, and I’m at a loss how they can justify getting rid of me.”
Cormack, who had only overseen a few training sessions and not a single game, hadn’t even got round to signing a contract yet.
The Cowdenbeath chairman, ‘Big Mac’ McDougall, confirmed: “For reasons which I cannot discuss, we have parted company with Peter.”
According to the BBC, the club’s board felt that he had already attempted to make too many changes to a team leading the division.
The former Scotland international lasted just 10 days at CowdenbeathGetty“A certain group of players put pressure on the chairman,” added Cormack, who claimed he refused a sum of money to quietly walk away from the club.
His successor, Kirk, was Levein’s assistant under the old regime, but had refused the offer to stay on in the same capacity under Cormack.
Following his instant return to the Fife club, he said it was ‘rubbish’ to suggest he had been behind a dressing-room revolt.
Kirk ultimately guided Cowdenbeath to promotion to the second division later that season.
But he missed out on the title on goal difference, having been level on 76 points with the champions, Hamilton Academical.
Cormack was infamously given the news at a burger bar near the Forth Road BridgePAKirk was sacked in March 2002, with Cowdenbeath, who now languish in the fifth tier, lying second bottom of Scotland’s Division Two.
Ironically, that same month, Cormack ended his managerial career after leaving Greenock Morton ahead of their impending relegation.
Seems neither were Cowdenbeath’s de facto Burger King…
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