Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has called on the FA to institute a new rule that protects managers from being sacked halfway through a league season.
With less that five months of the season gone, over a quarter of managers in the Premier League have lost their jobs, and Carra insists that big changes are needed to stop club chairmen making knee-jerk managerial decisions.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Carra bemoaned the 'lack of patience' shown to managers, and slammed the 'destabilising' effect mid-season sackings has on football clubs. He explained:
"A rule needs to be brought in that prevents clubs sacking a manager in the middle of the season because of the wide-ranging ramifications of one decision.
"If managers were guaranteed at least a season, they would have the confidence to put things right rather than fretting over the consequences of a sequence of bad results. Until that happens it will remain the most perilous job in football".
I personally think this is a great idea, but despite the obvious benefits, I can't see it ever happening. The ability to sack a manager at any time often creates poisonous situation at a football club, especially when things go badly, and players sense that a change is imminent. In that situation, some players just stop performing and/or putting in 100% effort as they know the manager will soon be dumped.
The pressure on managers at the highest level is ridiculously intense, and the stress that's piled on by a series of bad results must be tough to bear. Of course, like players, most Premier League managers are paid obscenely well for their trouble, and to be honest, if they can't handle it, they can always jump ship and let someone else do the job.
I'm not really a fan of Andre Villas-Boas, but his sacking is arguably the harshest of the season so far, and is indicative of the growing culture of corporate knee-jerkism that currently pervades the beautiful game.
* Prior to AVB's ruthless extirpation, Spurs were on 27 points in the league, a mere six points off fourth place, with a game in hand.
* Hardly an insurmountable barrier, and given the many quality players at the club, an easy gap to make up over a five-month period.
* Prior to the Liverpool hammering, Spurs had won four out of five of their preceding games (4 wins/1 draw), including two Premier League away wins in a row.
If the tables were turned, and it was Liverpool with a similar run of results, and Brendan Rodgers got dumped on the scrapheap, I'm pretty sure a lot of LFC fans would be up in arms about it.
The AVB situation is precisely the kind of needless sacking to which Carra refers, and with the growing pressure and desperation for Champions League football (and the huge wad of cash that comes with it) I wouldn't be at all surprised if Rodgers suffers a similar fate if Liverpool fail this season to qualify for Europe's elite competition.
After all, Liverpool will lose Luis Suarez if the club fails to finish in the top four, and FSG will almost certainly place the blame for that failure on Rodgers' shoulders.
Author: Jaimie K
With less that five months of the season gone, over a quarter of managers in the Premier League have lost their jobs, and Carra insists that big changes are needed to stop club chairmen making knee-jerk managerial decisions.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Carra bemoaned the 'lack of patience' shown to managers, and slammed the 'destabilising' effect mid-season sackings has on football clubs. He explained:
"A rule needs to be brought in that prevents clubs sacking a manager in the middle of the season because of the wide-ranging ramifications of one decision.
"If managers were guaranteed at least a season, they would have the confidence to put things right rather than fretting over the consequences of a sequence of bad results. Until that happens it will remain the most perilous job in football".
I personally think this is a great idea, but despite the obvious benefits, I can't see it ever happening. The ability to sack a manager at any time often creates poisonous situation at a football club, especially when things go badly, and players sense that a change is imminent. In that situation, some players just stop performing and/or putting in 100% effort as they know the manager will soon be dumped.
The pressure on managers at the highest level is ridiculously intense, and the stress that's piled on by a series of bad results must be tough to bear. Of course, like players, most Premier League managers are paid obscenely well for their trouble, and to be honest, if they can't handle it, they can always jump ship and let someone else do the job.
I'm not really a fan of Andre Villas-Boas, but his sacking is arguably the harshest of the season so far, and is indicative of the growing culture of corporate knee-jerkism that currently pervades the beautiful game.
* Prior to AVB's ruthless extirpation, Spurs were on 27 points in the league, a mere six points off fourth place, with a game in hand.
* Hardly an insurmountable barrier, and given the many quality players at the club, an easy gap to make up over a five-month period.
* Prior to the Liverpool hammering, Spurs had won four out of five of their preceding games (4 wins/1 draw), including two Premier League away wins in a row.
If the tables were turned, and it was Liverpool with a similar run of results, and Brendan Rodgers got dumped on the scrapheap, I'm pretty sure a lot of LFC fans would be up in arms about it.
The AVB situation is precisely the kind of needless sacking to which Carra refers, and with the growing pressure and desperation for Champions League football (and the huge wad of cash that comes with it) I wouldn't be at all surprised if Rodgers suffers a similar fate if Liverpool fail this season to qualify for Europe's elite competition.
After all, Liverpool will lose Luis Suarez if the club fails to finish in the top four, and FSG will almost certainly place the blame for that failure on Rodgers' shoulders.
survey service
Author: Jaimie K
Pros, this would keep Moyes in the job for the rest of the season, Keep up the good work!!
ReplyDeleteCons, teams couldn't get rid of the crazies like Di Canio.
Like it or not, the owners of a club have the right to do with their employees as they see fit. It would be unfair if the FA were to stop them running their business through arbitrary rules. Imagine, if like Sunderland, to name one example, you had a manager destabilising the club and sending it toward relegation and you had no power to stop that. Look at Bolton's level of debt now. Imagine Ellis Short watching Sunderland sinking and knowing that he has to just accept it and head towards the same fate. He has to accept the loss of millions upon millions of pounds on one of his assets. It wouldn't be right.
ReplyDeleteThe issue here is that the people who run football clubs are not exercising better judgement. If the FA were to impose rules, it should be more stringent checks on who can run a football club. Unfortunately, money talks.
The best way would be for fans to have indirect representation via a club president. You'd have to tweak it to avoid the pitfalls in Spanish football, but you need the owners to be custodians of a piece of local heritage, as well as business men and they need to have some accountability.
Also, if the club is run well, changing manager needn't be a massive destabilising move. If we had more of the continental system (read: German) then managers could come and go but there would be continuity in other parts of the club.
No , it should be kept the same
ReplyDeletelook at crystal palace
under holloway all looked lost but pulis came in and changed everything
As much as I would have loved to have seen what Hodgson had done with the 50 million we got for Torres and the 8 million we got for Babel, it is a stupid idea. Carra is really getting into his new job as a pundit. He comes up with ridiculous ideas and takes swipes at people for no apparent reason...Anyway, had Rodgers been given a top 4 side and 100 million to buy new players, I wouldn't have had any problems with him getting sacked if he managed to throw it all away in 18 months which is exactly what AVB did. Redknapp's Spurs were always in there or very close to it so "only" six points from fourth is not improvement whatever way you look at it. Especially considering the 100 million investment. Sure they sold Bale for that but if you cannot cover the sale of one player by buying eight new ones, EIGHT, you're doing something wrong. It's the cold hard truth that some players are great for the Championship and not good enough for the PL. The same goes for managers. Take Warnock and Holloway, great for bringing your team up to the big leagues but not good enough to keep it there. It's a different game entirely but it's only right that when they get you to the promised land, that they deserve at least a stab at it. People were up in arms over Adkins sacking last year but considering Pocchetino turned them from relegation fodder to EL hopefuls, and with no English what so ever, one can hardly call that a bad call now right? As a matter of fact, it was a brilliant one!
ReplyDeleteIts the board that employs the manager it should be a rule of the Prem that the Manager that you have at the start of the season is the one you have at the end of that season
ReplyDeleteAn Assistant Manager should be named at every club he/she should take over the running of the club should illness or something similar claim the manager for periods of that season
This would mean that Boards ensure they have the right man for the job in the first place
The players on the pitch don't get binned like the manager does yet its their fault when they cross the white line
Everyone has the right to employment protection laws managers are no different i am all for this a window of May to August should be put in place with it closing the day before a ball is kicked
By the point AVB got sacked he was potentially ie win the next game three points away from top four, Thats near enough as you put it. Plus, and these points are very important, they had lost their top scorer, their best player who was very often a game changer. They signed lots of players who had never played in the prem, most relatively young (Lemala especially) all at once. AVB's sacking at that point was very harsh despite really bad losses. In my opinion there were far too many changes and no like for like Bale replacement. Intergrate all those players after losing your top goal scorer, difficult job that sensibly should take longer than AVB was given. People criticise Liverpool for Suarez scoring most of our goals but that season Bale scored more as a percentage of Spurs' goals than Suarez scored of ours. I think that is very significant and when people were saying look how much Spurs are spending in the summer some of us pointed out these issues that Spurs may face and it could be said that they clearly did. AVB suffered from an offer that couldn't be refused and then throwing the cash around willy nilly.
ReplyDeleteAlso I have heard that Pocchetino speaks English in the dressing room but doesn't for interviews. Why I am unsure.
Imagine if this rule came in when we had Hodgson
ReplyDeleteThere should be no rule that protects owners from their own stupidity. Carra is casting about for things to write about. Sacking managers mid-season is accepting lost points for sure and probably a lost season if the team never re-gels under the new guy.
ReplyDeleteoff topic but apparently Marcos Reus has a £30M release clause which can be triggered in the summer 2014. we wanted a "world-class" LW in the summer so whats changed? they said they would still sign this world class player, so i hope our form hasnt changed there minds. credit to the club, we tried with Willian and HM but were now in a much more stronger position to purchase world class players and if we should reach CL football next season i think we should make a bid for Reus. we must convince him that the Premier League is the best, and im sure he knows, and that playing alongside Suarez, plus CL football you can reach the heights you want to hit. a guarenteed starring role and we will double his wages to £7.5M a year. This would be a dream signing for the Reds, and i know every fan will warm a player of Marcos Reus quality so well into the club, just like Suarez.
ReplyDeletethat will be for the summer, as for this January, we need to buy Mohamed Salah and Fernando Reges from Porto. I really like them both and i think the team is just lacking that extra bit of quality and i think these 2 players will gel well into the team. especially at Anfield. the club are interested and should take immediate action. we must make that CL next season, and next season we will try to win it along with the Premier League title. FSG must make the needed investments so we can progress.
-------------------------Mingolet
Flanagan-------Skrtel--------Agger-------Enrique
--------------Fernando--------Gerrard
Salah------------------------------------------Reus
------------Suarez-------------Sturridge
Subs: Jones, Johnson, Sakho, Toure, Henderson, Coutinho, Sterling
point is, SUAREZ will take us to the CL next season and the club must put would world class players around 1 of the best. no offence, but i doubt Ronaldo would want to be surrounded by Allen, Lucas, Aspas, Moses. Suarez is now on that elite level, with Ronaldo and Messi so we must surround him with quality players. we must start this January with Salah, Bertrand and Fernando. in the summer, Marcos Reus.
I'm sorry but not matter which way you slice it 100m can and should fill the hole of 21 goals and 2 assists that Bale provided in his best and last season - if that doesn't happen, it's poor management, or poor players - either one of them worthy of the sack.
ReplyDeleteThey receive very nice severance packages, it's not like their on minimum wage.
ReplyDeleteI agree that BR will be sacked if LFC don't make top 4 this year. Whether that's right or wrong I don't know. What is really questionable is the rules governing who is allowed to own a club. These rules have been questioned many times and ownership issues have dogged English clubs for years. I would like to see an investigation by the FA and a tightening of ownership rules. In the case of LFC I don't see a problem with the owners. These guys are very experienced sport franchise owners and so far have behaved pretty sensibly and fairly.
ReplyDeleteI think all players should be fined if the manager is sacked in the middle of the season. Part of the severance package could be taken from their wages. I know that this is very unrealistic as it would be deemed unfair on the players, but I'm sick of players giving up with a manager knowing that they will be sacked, and then suddenly putting in far more effort to impress the new boss. I think you'd see less sackings as players maintain commitment. I appreciate the above isn't always the case, but im looking at the Fulhams, the Sunderlands and the QPRs.
ReplyDeleteThen they shouldn't have brought him in the first place? The problem is, is that it takes such a short time to bring in a manager and that's not really enough time to find out if the manager you are about to sign is the right manager. Look at managerial jobs outside of football. It takes months to find a new manager so they don't make the same mistake but why should football be any different. Plus if they want to sack the manager then this gives them the chance to find a replacement manager through proper "research."
ReplyDeleteBut near enough was where they were under Redknapp and he got sacked. AVB was supposed to bring them forward and he didn't. In spite of all that money. Sure they lost Bale and he did have a big influence on their position the year before but would you accept that if we sell Suarez, for 100 million, that our results would get worse? You'd expect Rodgers to do something good with that cash no? As for Pocchetino, with the way the English media behave around foreign managers and players, I can imagine that he feels secure enough to speak English with his players but not them.
ReplyDeleteThe Italian FA have a rule that if a club sacks a manager they can't hire a manager from the same league. This stop sackings as most clubs go for managers in the same league which if I am honest isn't exactly sporting on the team you robbed a decent manager from. That's basically sabotaging another club, more often than not it's two clubs who are battling it out for a similar position.
ReplyDeleteOh and another thing Lyon don't do is, they don't buy centre forwards as they are overpriced (let's be honest they are) so develop their own instead.
ReplyDelete