Manager Casualties in Football

Monday morning. Front page news. Carlo Ancelotti sacked by Chelsea for not producing the desired results. This has become a recent and uncomfortable trend in the Premier League.

Calro Ancelotti – Another Chelsea Casualty

The amount of manager casualties has increased ten folds in recent years. Managers are being fired left, right and center for not being up to the task and not getting the best out of the team.

Roberto Di Matteo was sacked by West Bromwich Albion when the team hit a rough patch in the middle of the 2010-11 season He had a fantastic start to the campaign (barring the opening game) but the West Brom board decided he wasn’t the right man for the job. They brought in Roy Hodgson, who was sacked by Liverpool around roughly the same time. Many argue the fact that Hodgson wasn’t a great fit at Liverpool but who knows what he could have done had he been given the proper time to turn the club’s fortunes around?

The best example of successful managers who the board have stuck with through thick and thin are none other than Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson. The latter found the going tough in his early days at Manchester United but the board backed him during the bad times and he’s now the most successful British manager of all time. David Moyes at Everton is a perfect example of what happens when the owners give the manager the time he deserves. Everton have gone from a mid-table scrapping team to a team challenging for European spots in the Premier League. They even managed to break into the top four but unfortunately couldn’t get past the Champions League qualification stage.

Sam Allardyce was sacked by Blackburn when Venky’s took over because the owners thought that he wasn’t the right man for the job. They appointed Steve Kean who arguably has struggled to live up to the billing and just about managed to keep Blackburn in the Premier League after a run of poor results. Blackburn have decided to stick with him but you begin to wonder how long before he gets the boot when Blackburn hit a rough patch next season.

It’s a results business these days and the owners want to see a return on their investment sooner rather than later. It’s not always possible for the incoming manager to turn things around in the blink of an eye, which is exactly what the board expects of them. It’s a roller coaster ride for the managers in today’s football climate.