Firstly I would like to wish all Examiner readers a very happy Christmas.

It’s a vital time in the football season and I just hope Town can get back to winning ways, add the results to their performances and pick up plenty of points – because a good festive season can have a massive impact on your season as a whole.

If the festive season goes badly, you can soon end up looking over your shoulder – so hopefully Mark Robins and his staff can keep Town moving positively into the New Year.

This is also the time of year we call the ‘silly season’ in terms of managerial sackings – and this year is no exception.

The problem club owners have is that they look at the large number of points available over a short period of time and, if they are not having the best of times, they tend to look at it very much from the down side.

It prompts them to think that they need to make a change sooner rather than later in the belief that they will be better off in the long run.

Many clubs have a massive incentive to try and stay up because their whole financial structure revolves around staying in the Premier League, and that just adds to the pressure.

It’s just like companies in the FTSE 100, if their performances drop they are never shy of making a change at the top, because they think it’s the best thing to do.

The situation at Tottenham and the sacking of Andre Villas Boas seems bizarre in the extreme.

In the first 10 games, Spurs conceded only five goals. In the last six, they’ve conceded 16, the majority in just a couple of matches.

You got the feeling, though, when AVB started criticising the fans for not getting behind them that there was a lack of understanding and empathy from his point about what was going on around him.

The problem for foreign managers in particular is that if they don’t properly gauge the ‘mood of the mob’ then they can end up portraying themselves wrongly and things can turn sour very quickly.

What particularly fascinates me about managerial sackings is the apparent lack of planning which goes into them.

If you are going to make the change, surely you would have a good idea of who you wanted to put in place, who is out there and who the options are?

You could be accused of undermining the manager if you went about this while he was still in his job, but surely clubs have to have some idea of what they are going to do?

More often than not, however, the decision is made and then they start scouting around.

How Tim Sherwood can be the favourite to be Tottenham manager is beyond me, as you would have to believe that someone with Daniel Levy’s ego would want a big name in at White Hart Lane.

At West Brom, Martin Jol and Roberto Di Matteo are favourites to take over from Steve Clarke. If you are going to make that change, surely you would want to go for someone more exciting and innovative?

The new favourite on-line is Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, so clearly no-one has a clue who is going to take over there – perhaps a reflection on the lack of planning at The Hawthorns?

It doesn’t help, I suppose, that no-one has any patience any more (and that’s in society in general, too).

Clubs who have decided on the best candidate and stuck with them have been rewarded – reference Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger – and maybe more clubs should take heed of that fact.