Well no, of course it’s not. We all know that’s chess. Or golf. But football managers certainly seem to have the least secure jobs these days. 8 out of the 20 managers who started the season with Premiership clubs are no longer in their jobs. The latest casualty was “Big” Sam Allardyce, sacked from his job with Newcastle United, for not delivering results, and for failing to understand the ethos of the club (whatever that means). Interviewed on Radio 5, he was asked what he thought the next few months held for him.
Interviewer: “So, Sam, what do you think the next few months hold for you?”
Sam: “Well, I think I’m just going to take a bit of time out, have a holiday with my wife, recharge my batteries, and then think about getting back into football.”
Interviewer: “So you think you’re just going to take a bit of time out, have a holiday with your wife, recharge your batteries, and then think about getting back into football?”
Sam: “Yes, I think I’m just going to take a bit of time out, have a holiday with my wife, recharge my batteries, and then think about getting back into football.”
Cutting edge sports journalism, or what?
Anyway, I agree with the widely held view that some managers are not given long enough to prove their worth. Allardyce was given all of 8 months, which is quite a long time in comparison with some, notably Martin “Mad Dog” Allen, who was sacked from Leicester City after about 3 minutes. I blame television, and the broader media spotlight. In the good old days, managers were allowed much longer to prove their worth – Alex Ferguson, for example, would not have survived his first year at Manchester United by today’s ridiculous standards.
I’m just glad that my beloved Bristol City has a more realistic attitude. Shortly after he started as manager a couple of years ago, Gary Johnson steered the team to a run of 9 defeats, a club record, which, in most clubs (and certainly any Premiership club) would have been enough to ensure an early exit. I met Sir Gary shortly after the 8th defeat, and he seemed calmly confident that all would be well… and it was. City went on to survive that season comfortably, winning promotion to the Championship with some ease the following year, and are now second in the Championship. If the season ended today, we’d be in the Premiership.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Jon Eccles
They lose their jobs all the time, but then they just go and get the same job somewhere else. If you take football as a whole, they don’t get sacked, they get redeployed.
What worries me is the possible scenario where we get promoted, then Johnson gets poached by Bolton or someone at the beginning of the season. Whoever is fool enough to take the poisoned chalice then becomes the evil manager who got us relegated and undid all Johnson’s hard work, and we go into a Sheffield Wednesday style downward spiral until we’re back in League One again.
Or, two thirds of the way through the season we’re nineteenth in the Premiership, fans start baying for Johnson’s blood and the chairman gives in to them. Then the same scenario unfolds.
Cheering business, isn’t it?
Friday, January 25, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Elite Soccer Coach
It’s ridiculous how quickly they sack managers these days.
If you ask me, it’s symptomatic of this modern day where everything is about money and delivering results in the short term. No one is in it for the long term anymore which is exactly why there has been this overlending and credit crunch problems.
Look at the most successfull manager there is, Alex Ferguson. United gave him plenty of time to get it right although there was a moment where he nearly got sacked en route.
Chris
http://www.EliteSoccerCoach.com