There was a time when managers had a job and not a rolling contract, a time when a team appointed a manager who took a year or two to build his team and pursue a long term vision of the club. The news of Frank DeBoer’s sack at Inter Milan came as a shock to me: he was supposedly brought in on a project to rebuild Inter Milan, but 85 days and eleven games? What is wrong with football? Didn’t the board know he was coming from the home of football to the home of catenaccio? Couldn’t they have given him time to adapt, adjust and change? No. They just handed him the P45. What a shame!
Alex Ferguson had a bad start to his Manchester United career, losing several games and winning only one away game the entire season but he went on to create a dynasty at United and still regarded as one of the game’s greatest managers today, but what if United had pole axed him several years ago?
Once upon a time in football, a manager could take a team to relegation and the club would still remain objective, pulling ranks together to understand the situation he was surrounded with at the end of the season, but today, that’s all changed and it’s totally different.
When you turn on the TV and read the dailies today, the headlines are similar; ‘Six games without a win’ or ‘four games without scoring’ or ‘Just one win in last four’ and the Betting companies have also latched on to the craze putting odds up by the hour.
There was a time when Alex Ferguson could be at a club for 27 years, Arsene Wenger for 20 years, Valeriy Lobanovskiy at Dynamo Kiev for 19 years and Guy Roux at Auxerre for 44 years!
Players were bought, developed and made into finished products, while young players were given enough time to blossom.
At the time you could buy a player and give him a season to birth into the first team, teams used to give players time to get used to new teammates, learn different food, adjust to new surroundings. The pressure is so much today; you have youngsters who have been in youth academies for ten, twelve and fourteen years been released in droves each season.
Result oriented thinking means that young players are not given time and expensive players – they don’t determine their price tags, demand and supply does – are put under so much pressure, even they can’t perform and give us what we paid to watch.
Today the average life span of a manager is a year, or without results, three months.
As I write, there is immense pressure on David Moyes at Sunderland, Bradley at Swansea is on a hot seat even though he hasn’t completed a dozen games, down the road at Hull there is no comfort blanket for Mr Phelan and Mark Hughes just overcame a difficult period with a bad run of games.
It’s so bad that Paul Ince was actually sacked as Blackpool boss with a text message, Gus poyet found out on TV that his club had sacked him and such is the world of football these days as managers are barely given any notice or chance to prove themselves.
Frank DeBoer is gone after eleven games and there is no guarantee that the next manager would be immune to the sack mob.
Would the management boards ever make themselves liable for poor results? ; Bad recruitment policies, money before personnel, panic buys, hasty decision making among others are right up there.
What about the players? Can they be sacked as often as they sack managers as well?
It’s eleven games this season and we already have casualties across the league in England, Leverkusen’s coach has probably just saved his job for a while with the victory over Tottenham at Wembley yesterday.
Okay we would never return to the Guy Roux and Alex Ferguson era, but at least let some decency prevail and let the club directors understand that these people are employees who also deserve a right to be treated fairly as well.
2016/17 PREMIER LEAGUE THE BEST SO FAR
It’s exciting and unpredictable and we are enjoying it. Neck to neck with few points to spare is what the neutrals love and as long as your team is not the laughing stock of rival fans, then it’s game on!
Chelsea proving very difficult to play against and with so much battery to spare – no midweek games – they are going for it with everything at moment.
City showing everybody ‘write us off at your own peril’ after another classy display at the weekend.
Arsenal FC seems to be winning all the games that matter. Liverpool just keep firing on all cylinders and Tottenham are chalking up all the draws but refusing to lose.
Everton and United three games behind, while Watford FC seems to be finding goals and points at the moment.
The North London derby is one to watch out for this weekend, while Chelsea Everton is a true test for Chelsea as Koeman – who understands the 3-4-3 well – would try to ruffle Chelsea in a way no one has done for a few games.
Love the EPL.