The job of a football manager is one of the hardest one there is. Playing Football Manager might make you feel otherwise, managing a club takes a lot from the manager as even the best of the lot have had to face the embarrassment of getting the axe.
So far, among top managers, only Pep Guardiola remains the one who hasn’t yet tasted the bitter flavor of sacking. However, Carlo Ancelotti is of the opinion that he too would have to go through that helpless day when he is out of a job because of his employers.
Like every season, the football fraternity has witnessed axing in the 2015-16 season too. This year, however, there are some high-profiles names that were let go by their clubs for underwhelming performances.
And here are 5 such managers…
5) Rafa Benitez – Real Madrid
When Rafa Benitez was hired by Real Madrid, many expected him to not last for more than a season—and they were right. A majority of the Madridistas didn’t want him at the club in the first place. After an impressive start, things went awry as Florentino Perez decided that enough was enough.
There was more than one reason for his sacking. Firstly, the 4-0 drubbing in the Clasico put a huge dent in his career. It was the beginning of the end for him as the Blancos’ performances took a downslide after that.
His style of play wasn’t acceptable to many either as Madridistas are not known for celebrating scrappy 1-0 wins. Finally, his relationship with several players had deteriorated and it was apparent that he had lost the trust of the dressing room.
A 2-2 draw against Valencia in the first game of 2016 was the final nail in his coffin as Perez decided to give him the boot and appoint Zinedine Zidane as his successor.
4) Brendan Rodgers – Liverpool
In his second season with the Reds, Rodgers helped Liverpool to a second-placed finish. It was the closest they had come to winning the Premier League in two decades. However, destiny had something else in mind, as captain Steven Gerrard’s slip saw them blow away the lead in the Premier League and they couldn’t catch up after that.
Nonetheless, it brought hope. Finally, the fans could dream. They were going to play in the Champions League—the competition they won 5 times, a record number for an English club—and it could only get better from here.
But how wrong were they?
By the end of the second season, doubts crept in as the Merseyside club finished 6th. And three months into his 3rd season, the Liverpool board decided that it was best to part ways with the Northern Irish manager.
Anyone who saw Liverpool play knew that it was coming. Heading into the Merseyside Derby, they had only won one out of their 8 games. A win was the need of the hour, but all they could manage was a one-all draw—making it Rodgers’ last game as Liverpool’s manager.
3) Steve McClaren – Newcastle United
Newcastle United are one of the most erratic clubs in England. If one drew a graph plotting the points of Newcastle’s final position in the Premier League over the last few years, the outcome would be a scattered line.
Steve McClaren was hired to replace caretaker manager John Carver at the beginning of the season. This decision in itself came as a surprise to many, since keeping history as a witness, he is not someone you would generally sign for long-term stability—and that was what Newcastle United needed.
At the end of the day, the decision to bring him as manager proved fatal for the club as they now face the adversity of playing the 2016-2017 season in the Championship.
It was a sign of things to come when he failed to acquire a single win in his first 8 games managing the Magpies. After Newcastle lost 3-1 at home to Bournemouth in March, the board realized their mistake—but it was too late as McClaren’s successor, Rafa Benitez, couldn’t save the club from relegation.
2) Quique Sanchez Flores – Watford
This was the most unjust and absurd sacking of this season—and a look at the table would make one understand why. Newly promoted Watford hired former Atletico Madrid manager Quique Sanchez Flores to lead them in the Premiership.
It worked wonderfully well in the beginning as Watford were one of the toughest teams to beat in the first half of the season.
However, winning only 8 points in the last 10 games saw them slip to number 13 in the table. That is one way of looking at it—and that is perhaps how the board saw it. The other perspective would be: a newly promoted club that signed 16 new players and a new manager and yet finished at a formidable number 13 spot and never lingered around the relegation zone for even once this season.
Sadly, however, the Hornets’ board took a blind eye to the latter viewpoint and sacked him at the conclusion of the season—a decision that befuddled almost everyone.
1) Jose Mourinho – Chelsea
The biggest and most controversial sacking of the 2015-16 season was none other than that of Jose Mourinho’s. The Portuguese has always been vocal about his love for Chelsea, a feeling that is equally reciprocated by the fans, making his departure even harder for both parties.
It is a cruel world as it was only 7 months prior to his sacking that he had won the Premier League title with the Blues. But modern football isn’t known to be kind.
With 9 losses from their first 16 games, Chelsea were just about hovering over the relegation zone with a point’s lead over the 18th placed team. That was enough justification for Roman Abramovich to fire the man he had hired for the second time in 2013.
His final game was against the eventual champions, Leicester City—a game in which his team lost 2-1
