The Week That Is: All Out Of Gus - The Managerial Merry-go-round
Article by Tony Thorne (@TTonal)
Sunderland have, in their own minds, sealed their fate with the sacking of Gus Poyet. They believe that by ridding themselves of a manager with a 23% win record, a temporary or permanent solution will come in and save them from relegation, much like Poyet himself did last season or Paolo di Canio did the year before.
The football world is littered with examples where this is the case beyond the North East. Crystal Palace brought in Tony Pulis when their situation looked untenable in the Premier League. Three months later they finished a comfortable 11th place and 12 points off the drop. Alan Pardew looks to have had a similar impact at Selhurst Park this season, while Pulis is at it again, this time at West Brom.
So the case is there that by chopping and changing managers when the going gets rough brings you immediate success.
Except that it clearly does not. Pulis left Palace after disagreements about the role, while there are countless other names where removing the head honcho provides nothing other than catastrophe (Chris Hughton at Norwich, Brian McDermott at Reading, Martin Jol, Rene Meulensteen & Felix Magath at Fulham, plus many, many more). What the situation needs is a clear head and a longer term, forward thinking strategy.
For Liverpool, there were plenty (it certainly can't be argued 'many') of fans calling for Brendan Rodgers' head following the defeat at Crystal Palace in November, which left the Reds five points of the top four and closer to the relegation zone with only twelve games gone. But a calm approach and the ability to keep the fingers away from the trigger has resulted in a change of fortune, with Liverpool now firmly in the hunt for a top four place and in the hat for the semi-finals of the FA Cup. He found a system that worked with the players he had and managed to climb up the table to the point where they are now in the hunt for glory. Sometimes patience really is a virtue.
© e-Football 2015 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Sunderland have, in their own minds, sealed their fate with the sacking of Gus Poyet. They believe that by ridding themselves of a manager with a 23% win record, a temporary or permanent solution will come in and save them from relegation, much like Poyet himself did last season or Paolo di Canio did the year before.
The football world is littered with examples where this is the case beyond the North East. Crystal Palace brought in Tony Pulis when their situation looked untenable in the Premier League. Three months later they finished a comfortable 11th place and 12 points off the drop. Alan Pardew looks to have had a similar impact at Selhurst Park this season, while Pulis is at it again, this time at West Brom.
So the case is there that by chopping and changing managers when the going gets rough brings you immediate success.
Except that it clearly does not. Pulis left Palace after disagreements about the role, while there are countless other names where removing the head honcho provides nothing other than catastrophe (Chris Hughton at Norwich, Brian McDermott at Reading, Martin Jol, Rene Meulensteen & Felix Magath at Fulham, plus many, many more). What the situation needs is a clear head and a longer term, forward thinking strategy.
For Liverpool, there were plenty (it certainly can't be argued 'many') of fans calling for Brendan Rodgers' head following the defeat at Crystal Palace in November, which left the Reds five points of the top four and closer to the relegation zone with only twelve games gone. But a calm approach and the ability to keep the fingers away from the trigger has resulted in a change of fortune, with Liverpool now firmly in the hunt for a top four place and in the hat for the semi-finals of the FA Cup. He found a system that worked with the players he had and managed to climb up the table to the point where they are now in the hunt for glory. Sometimes patience really is a virtue.
© e-Football 2015 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
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