After stress of another last-day battle, Jewell quits while still ahead

It would be no surprise if, come August, Paul Jewell is to be found in the dug-out, either at the City of Manchester Stadium or some other slumbering club in need of a wake-up call. But it may just be that to find him you will have to brush aside some palm fronds, that he really is, as he said yesterday, calling time on Wigan to take "a break from football".

Jewell has been operating amid the hottest fires of the football management furnace for more than nine years with only three months' break. He has twice kept clubs up on the last day of the season, won two of his three promotions on the final day, and once missed out on the final day.

That he has been feeling the effect of such an intensive decade has been apparent this season as he has railed at refereeing decisions, notably those by Phil Dowd which potentially cost Wigan victory at Arsenal. Even on Sunday he had to be dragged away from the fourth official, the mild-mannered Peter Walton, after a sideline flare-up.

The stress is partially self-inflicted for Jewell brings to the job the knowledge that he let himself down as a player. He does not reproach himself for failing to make the breakthrough at his home-town club, Liverpool. He was, after all, Kenny Dalglish's understudy. But he knows he should have, and could have, done better than a subsequent career spent - with Wigan and Bradford - largely in the lower divisions. He once admitted as a player he knew all the tricks, all the ruses, like how to make it look as if you were training hard when you were actually taking it easy.

This knowledge was finally put to positive use when he became a manager. The judgement of a player's character has been one of his specialities. His second career began in 1998 when he succeeded Chris Kamara, initially as a caretaker, at Valley Parade. In his first full season he took Bradford into the Premiership, City's first appearance in the top flight since 1922. Even more improbably, Jewell kept them there, the Bantams staying up by beating a full-strength Liverpool, who were chasing a Champions League place, on the final day of the season.

As yesterday, Jewell quit while he was ahead, though in that case the decision may have been prompted by the rumoured meddling in team affairs of Geoffrey Richmond, the chairman. Jewell immediately took over at Hillsborough but Sheffield Wednesday was a basket case at the time. Several more experienced managers had turned them down and Jewell soon learnt why as crippling debts and disinterested players left him and the team flailing. He was sacked after eight months.

Three months later, in June 2001, Dave Whelan brought him back to Wigan. When Jewell played for the club their home was the dilapidated Springfield Park; now they were at the modern JJB. Backed by Whelan's millions, Jewell took the club from the third tier to the first in four seasons. However, Jewell feels the club can go no further, at least in the short term, due to the difficulty of attracting players.

Even Whelan's fortune cannot turn heads. Jewell will have reflected that if he could not keep Pascal Chimbonda or lure big names after coming 10th last season, what chance does he have after a relegation battle?

It was time for a breather. But if an offer comes, as he admitted on Sunday, he finds top-flight management "completely addictive".

Polished gem Jewell at helm

* MANAGERIAL CAREER

Bradford City 6 Jan 1998 to 18 Jun 2000.

Sheffield Wednesday 21 Jun 2000 to 12 Feb '01.

Wigan 12 June 2001 to 14 May '07.

* ACHIEVEMENTS

1998-99 Finishes second in First Division with Bradford.

2002-03 Wins the Second Division title with Wigan.

2004-05 Wigan finish second in the Championship.

2005-06 Reaches League Cup final but defeated 4-0 by Manchester United.

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