ONE race in football has now moved from being under starters orders to a full-on sprint.
What am I referring to? The managerial sack race, of course!
Former England striker Trevor Francis was sacked as Crystal Palace boss on his birthday in 2003 by Simon JordanCredit: Reuters
Manchester United manager Simon Jordan is the ‘luckiest Norwegian alive’ – according to Simon JordanCredit: PA:Press Association
The bloodletting has begun in earnest in the last couple of weeks and there really must be something in the water in North London as Spurs, Arsenal and Watford have dispensed with the services of their entrusted ones.
On top of these big decisions in the Premier League there have been another 21 sackings this season.
This is before we have the likes of Manuel Pellegrini at West Ham and Southampton’s Ralph Hasenhuttl hanging on by their fingertips.
Then there’s the luckiest Norwegian alive — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer — dealing with daily scrutiny on his career prospects at Manchester United.
On the surface, it appears there is an element of ruthlessness on the sacking of these men and the removal of their livelihoods.
However, football seems to attach an inordinate amount of soul searching, pontification and time-wasting around the dispatching of these flailing and failing individuals.
SENTIMENT AND MYTHOLOGY
Not that you would believe that in a culture which sometimes has stadiums turning toxic almost overnight solely towards the man in the dugout — like colosseums with screaming spectators baying for the blood of a gladiator, while an emperor gives the thumbs up or down.
This is an industry which has long since had fans’ forums (which by the way are right and proper as they absolutely have the right to their views) but now spawns aberrations like AFTV (that’s Arsenal Fan TV although they’re not allowed to brand themselves that).
They seem to feed both financially and emotionally from the discourse of their football team or its manager.
In no other industry does such a load of sentiment and mythology keep a manager in situ.
Let’s be clear . . . in every other industry, if the business or product you are responsible for is getting worse after 18 months, then you would be getting your coat without any debate.
I myself never suffered such sentimentality.
I removed Trevor Francis on his birthday and offered to post his P45 in his birthday card.
Peter Taylor went during his annual review with the League Managers’ Association.
I won an injunction against Steve Bruce and successfully sued Iain Dowie.
Football is the only industry I know that builds in failure as part of its fibre.
A manager who is fired will normally have some or all of his contract paid up by the club for FAILING — and no it doesn’t cut both ways.
On the other side if they’re successful they often lose them to predatory bigger clubs.
What’s ironic about the clubs which have recently taken the big step of firing their manager — for jobs that are deemed so important, in the high-stakes poker of the Premier League — there does seem bugger all succession preparation.
Everton and Arsenal replaced their manager with former players from their coaching staff.
Perhaps it’s some code of ethics that means clubs won’t consider hiring until firing has taken place.
If you believe that, you will believe the moon is made of cheese and Spurs certainly did not suffer from that affliction when decapitating Mauricio Pochettino and installing the Humble One within hours.
Anyway it all makes for a spectacle and given the Premier League itself cannot even find its own new chief executive — with two resignations before they even walked through the gilded doors — it is hardly surprising its members sometimes have such a haphazard approach.
Arsenal approach QPR and Leicester flop Paulo Sousa with Bordeaux manager able to leave for just £2.5m
l SIMON JORDAN’S Final Word is on talkSPORT every Sunday from 5-8pm.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
