103 managers and coaches have been sacked this season, the latest to go being Gary Smith at Stevenage. The League Managers’ Association have declared that the scale of dimissals is an embarassment to the game. Recent events at Blackburn Rovers represent an extreme case, but they reflect a broader trend.
103 managers and coaches have been sacked this season, the latest to go being Gary Smith at Stevenage. The League Managers’ Association have declared that the scale of dimissals is an embarassment to the game. Recent events at Blackburn Rovers represent an extreme case, but they reflect a broader trend.
You might say ‘they would, wouldn’t they?’ but no other sector of the economy sacks managers so frequently or on such a scale. Admittedly, being a football manager is a particularly high profile job, but that does not explain the acceleration of dismissals or the sharp reduction in average tenure.
As the game costs more to run and watch, both owners and fans are becoming more impatient. The cliché ‘It’s a results business’ is often dragged out, but rebuilding a squad and improving its style of play can take some time to bring results.
Fans are notorious for being hyper critical of their own teams, whilst only grudgingly recognising any strengths in the opposition, but my impression is that booing one’s own team has become more frequent. If fans don’t like the choice of manager, he can have a hard time from his own supporters, as recent events at Chelsea show.
One idea that has been put forward is that there should be a transfer market for managers, just as there is for players. It’s probably too radical to be adopted and what would happen if the manager resigned because he was fed up with lack of backing from the board or dissatisfied with his own performance? Perhaps a loan market could develop in managers or ‘interim managers’ could become more common.
Without more restraint and patience being shown by owners and fans, nothing much will change, and the more there is at stake financially, the greater the imperative to act.