IF THE ridiculous escalation in the sacking of managers continues at its current pace I reckon only Arsene and Fergie will still be in the same jobs come the end of the season!
And I’ve got a bit of advice for the likes of Mick McCarthy at Wolves, Tony Mowbray at West Brom, and possibly even Aidy Boothroyd at Watford. Whatever you do don’t get promotion to the Premiership because you’re just putting your neck in a noose.
From the day Billy Davies took Derby up last May there’s been an inevitability about his demise, the trend has been there down the years, and yet his massive consolation, just like Steve McClaren’s is a severance cheque that sets him up for life.
When will football ever learn? Patience is a virtue and success only comes with continuity.
Even Rafa Benitez is quaking in his boots, despite the fact Liverpool are unbeaten this season in the Premiership, but have you spotted the common denominator between all those managers either just out of work or apparently close to the edge?
Benitez, not content with splashing out huge sums of money on strikers like Crouch, Torres, Kuyt, Voronin and the now departed Bellamy, wants more millions in January just to try to keep pace with his rivals.
Sam Allardyce, a matter of weeks into the job at Newcastle, is insisting he needs funds to shore up a leaky defence. But, hang on a minute, didn’t he buy the Brazilian Cacapa, the Czech Rozehnal, the Frenchman Beye and the Spaniard Enrique during the summer? All defenders.
Surely there has to be some accountability and is it any wonder his bosses are bleating about stumping up more money when these acquisitions have performed with notable mediocrity.
The chirpy Davies declared all would be well at Derby if the board gave him fresh investment in January to bring in six or seven new faces.
Six or seven! And what sort of guarantee would there be that Derby would still not be relegated.
Steve Bruce quit Birmingham for Wigan, knowing that David Whelan’s millions will allow him to splash out the sort of cash that was never going to be available to him at St. Andrew’s, and so the story goes on.
Maybe these new foreign investors are wiser than we give them credit for, maybe they’re starting to rumble the whole iniquitous business of manager’s expecting bottomless pits, no matter how many duds they buy.
One thing’s for certain. They demand positive returns on their investments and they can be pretty ruthless when it comes to hiring and firing.
