Tuesday 10 February 2009

You're Fired!

In these crazy days where employees of failed banks are taking tax-payers money as hyper-inflated bonuses, I find it amazing to see how regularly football managers get sacked for "failure".

Tony Adams and Phil Scolari are the latest victims of the short-term narrow minded clubs, for whom everything is about results over the last couple of games. Its worth having a quick look at both of their situations.

Phil Scolari inherited a strong Chelsea side from Avram Grant, who was himself sacked in bizarre circumstances following Chelsea's last-ditch 'failures' to land the League and Champions League titles last season. In the meantime, Big Phil Scolari has lost a whole host of players who (quite rightly) are seeking some mud on their boots during games to go with their fat pay cheques. I don't see how Scolari can be blamed for losing SWP to Man City, missing out on Robinho, or Joe Cole getting injured. Equally, he is not responsible for signing dross players like Malouda (Mourinho). However, the net result is that Chelsea have had no width whatsoever all season and the cheque book has been closed on him. Scolari had one week using Queresma in the squad (on loan from Inter) before getting sacked.

Now, I am not going to say that Scolari is a great manager, but I think Chelsea have completed got what they deserved after sacking Avram Grant, who was a respectable man who got Chelsea playing some attractive football after several years of Mourinho's brand of expensive, boring shite. Its a tough gig for anyone to go into Chelsea now and I hope that they are now in the decline.

Similarly, Tony Adams is the latest victim of a bizarre merry go round at Pompey. To get the sack after 17 games is a joke. Especially when Diarra and Defoe were sold and no money was released for new players. Pompey were 5 minutes away from beating Liverpool on Saturday and I really don't understand what more he could have done.

Of the top six teams in the league, its no surprise that it is comprised of 5 of the 6 longest serving managers - Ferguson, Wenger, Moyes, Benitez and O'Neill. Perhaps amazingly, Gareth Southgate completes that list - having been appointed by Boro in June 2006. All of them, even Fergie, has had his rough patches. But it is yet another reminder that long term success is built on long term stability at football clubs.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did Chelsea sack Luiz Felipe Scolari because they wanted to beat Portsmouth to Avram Grant? hahahha.....Its really shocking...U cant really blame Scolari ...Look at Chelsea Players....Except Lampard noone plays for the team .

Roman Abramovich should have showed some patience and let scolari complete his full term atleast .

Jose won 2 EPL he gets sacked
Grant took Chelsea to both the finals he gets sacked...

So wats the criteria for a Chelsea Manager hahha

Neways y should v gooners be worried.....we have rock solid AW.

AW can never be sacked !!
AW can only resign himself !!

Obsinho said...

It is a symptom of the foundationless expectations of the majority of Chairmen and fans.

In any competition there can only be one winner. But what classes as success, and what is the price of failure? Should there be 19 sacked managers every season?

Tony has not had a good spell at Pompey. But he was hamstrung slightly (Diarra, Defoe)but still had the core of the FA cup winning side.

Scolari's team played brilliantly at the start of the season. He has had injuries and not been able to strengthen (a most bizarre situation for a Chelsea manager) and it is his fault.

How about sacking Drogba? Or Malouda? Or Sol Campbell? Or Peter Crouch? Or from closer to home, when can we sack Eboue? If a manager is sacked for being in the top 4 and in 2 major cup competitions, should a player not be sacked for being a burden on his colleagues and empployees?

1979gooner said...

Good point Obs,

Scolari started off very well and has been given no funds at all.

As you say several Chelsea players do not give a shit, Drogbe being the most notable, what a cock the man is.

I feel sorry for Scolari.

Anonymous said...

No one has patience....except for AW

-rahul-

Obsinho said...

HOw much longer will Wenger get though. Our fans are as impatient as the morons at Chelsea who have been booing Scolari (what gives Chelsea fans the right ti expect to be top of the table all season - remember how far you have come), so I would expectthe pressure to increase at the end of the season.

The media certainly play a part as well, which even Fergie acknowledged recently. And there have been crises at the Emirates in Daily-Mail land all season, so if we do finish 5th, the tabs are going to go into overdrive.

This just struck me - has the reaction to Big Phil's sacking been positively spun in the press? I haven't looked at a red-top but there doesn't seem to be the "Crisis" headlines I would expect if we had done the same to Wenger......

Anonymous said...

Yes if v cant make it to TOP 4 , alarm bells will start ringing....

and Guys like RVP , Fabregas etc will surely leave arsenal ..

and Financial Repercussion will also be there !!

1979gooner said...

Obs,

it looks like a bit of a positive spin to me,

the events surrounding the sacking sound awful and reveal a real crisis amongst the players,

listening to wankers like ballack and drogba who simply don't care or put the effort in when making a big manager sacking decision is just plain dumb

the players there have too much power as abhramovich has undermined the manager's position in this way

Anonymous said...

there would never be a point in sacking AW.

the media will create a situation, the fans, some of them will buy it and there will a lot of talk.

if AW goes, things aren't going to get better, the Emirates will end up being a monkey house. like stamford bridge.

if he did get sacked, he'd end up at Real Madrid and win titles galore. he knows he can win titles the easy way. unfortunately, the fans want the easy titles, we are all tempted by it.

i think he wants to really create something akin to what SAF has. A core of young, loyal, extremely talented guys that grow old together, win titles every year. thats harder than buying a couple of galicticos and winning.

yes the special one did a great job, but if you look at what SAF has done, that is really amazing. not to say what AW isn't amazing either, it is.

-rahul-

Anonymous said...

Yes inspite of being hardcore gunner fan........i respect SAF of what he has done with MU . I mean to be a manager for 22 years is no joke !!...and keep on winning titles again and again...

I dont think u have a manager like him anywhere in the world .

AW and SAF cant be compared...both have diff styles of doing work...but both should be credited for what they do . Just that one gets titles very fast and one takes time !!