Managers Discussion

When a manager gets sacked, the next question is an obvious one : who will they get in next? An experienced manager, an “up and coming” young boss, a first timer – an internal appointment perhaps. After just a couple of days even the most controversial of sackings are forgotten, as supporters of that team look on in anticipation as to who will next walk through the doors.
Chairmen are now more ready to pounce than ever, with the lure of rising a division or the dread of dropping one meaning more and more managers are being sacked now than ever before. As of 10th November, 16 football league managers had faced the chop, and that number is rising all the time. I’m not here to slag off the chairmen – in fact let’s praise them, if they have the balls to admit they appointed the wrong man, then good on them.
At Palace, we’re lucky to have such an experienced man in Warnock – our youthful team benefiting enormously from his knowledge of the game, and our mid-table finish last season coupled with the strong start this time around makes Warnock Simon Jordan’s best appointment as chairman. But it hasn’t all been great – and our general downfall has been when we’ve gone for a “name”. Trevor Francis, Peter Taylor, Steve Kember. All great players. All shit managers. Steve will always be remembered for keeping us up in the 00/01 season, and will always be a legend, but his time as permanent manager was just disastrous. No discipline, no commitment just nothing.
After Kember, Jordan opted for a different approach – getting the young, ex-player Iain Dowie in from Oldham. What a great start he had, promotion in his first season, starting from a dreadful position, and everyone thought Jordan had pulled off a masterstroke. Alas, it wasn’t to be. In the end, his tactical naivety came to fruition and his weaknesses were badly exposed in the Premiership. Had we had a more experienced head in charge, I’m convinced we would of stayed up that season – our side certainly didn’t lack quality.
But that’s enough of Palace – if Warnock stayed for the next five seasons I would be absolutely delighted!
Of course, with every type of manager there are always going to be exceptions. The idea of great players making awful managers ala Adams or dare I say it Shearer is one I recognize – but then look at Steve Bruce. As much as I hate the man, he had Palace playing some very very nice stuff in his short spell in charge at SE25. He did learn under Fergie, but his record in the Premiership is still very impressive. Worth a bet to take over from Sir Alex when he finally retires?
Talking about Fergie, and that has to be the strangest sacking of the year, surely? Taking a team from the third tear of English football up to the Championship with successive promotions, Fergie Junior is gone with barely a third of the campaign gone. And what’s more bemusing is that they’ve replaced him with an even less experienced manager in Kettering’s Mark Cooper. Surely with a struggling team, you want an experienced campaigner to drag your team out of the mire? Peterborough do have some good players, with Boyd one of the stand out players in the Championship this season, and money available for new signings. It’s certainly a bold move, but at the same time a very risky one which could cost the posh dear.
Chairmen are not psychic, they try their best to hire managers that will do well for their team, but at the end of the day, a lot of them are business men first and foremost. The idea of appointing a huge name is ultimately too tempting for a lot of them, especially in the lower leagues – something that can and has lead to the downfall of many clubs.
There is no doubt about it, this is the “age of the sack”, with more and more managers being relived of their duties. Some of the sackings may be unfair, but chairmen pump a lot of money into clubs, and demand an instant return. That aside, the key issue is who to appoint next – if only there were 92 Neil Warnocks – it would be so easy!