*FAN SUBMISSION by Leon Elliott of Dorset, England. Follow him on Twitter @leon_elliott.*
Courtesy: Sportinglife.com
When Bobby Zamora’s 90th minute shot lashed into the left side of the goal on last Saturday, half of Wembley erupted. Rushing across the pitch, over the advertisement boards, the striker darted over into the corner – absorbing the ecstatic embrace of the QPR fans. Harry Redknapp leapt up; threw a wild punch in the air; and almost ran off to join them. Almost. Overcome by an air of professionalism, instantaneously he was back to business. His waves for composure from his players – rather more interested in celebrating a second promotion to the Premier League in three years – were understandably then rather useless. Nevertheless, he slipped his hands back in his pockets and returned to his typical Redknapp equanimity. Whether this was sheer professionalism, or a case of been-there-done-that for the ‘expert’, you have to wonder if he had something else playing on his mind.
In the past decade a curious number of managers have been sacked following promotion to the Premier League and maybe, just maybe , this realisation made Redknapp slightly unnerved.
Ok. Probably not.
Joking aside, it is however time that we tackled a very real problem in the game, and one which is fast becoming a grave situation for newly promoted managers. In a world of disposability, football has not been excluded, and for one reason or another it has reached the stage where neither Redknapp, Dyke nor Pearson could honestly be certain of their future in 12 months. New leagues of course provide new challenges and new expectations, but what shouldn’t come with the promotion package is the now inevitable gift of the gallows; the omnipresent threat of the chop, looming just above the horizon. Prolonged poor performances of course warrant some eyebrow-raising, yet what we have seen of late seems to be pointing towards other, more immediate calls for heads. Brian McDermott, Neil Warnock, Roberto Di Matteo, Chris Houghton and Nigel Adkins have all seen their freshman seasons ended early in the past 4 seasons alone, so it would be no surprise if we saw a further change in hands next year.
But that begs the question: Why are so many of these managers facing the chop so early?
Chris Hughton’s 2010 sacking from Newcastle could perhaps shed some light into this. Three months into their return season at the top flight and sitting pretty in tenth place, Hughton was sacked. Having just led Newcastle to immediate promotion via a 102 point Championship campaign, before even the January transfer window he was gone – replaced by Alan Pardew. The finished twelfth. Not only this, but only once since have they finished higher than where Hughton left them. Newcastle’s performance was by no means shocking – they sat above both fellow returners West Brom and Blackpool – and in tenth place they were punching well above the weight of a newly promoted club. That’s what you would have thought, at least. The expectations of Mike Ashley and Joe Kinnear were clearly higher than what was being carried out at the time, and in hindsight clearly too high for the club. Even if tenth place wasn’t deemed satisfactory for a team that had just steamed through the Championship, you have to wonder why Houghton was allowed to fight through the rest of December and into January, where any supposedly necessary transfers could be made. Instead, they decided on an immediate and deeply unpopular sacking, which could arguably be perceived as the start of a rocky and controversial few years for the Tyneside club.
The gap from the Championship to Premier League is the largest in the game, and this is something that owners seem to forget at times. When it comes to wages, squad depth, and top flight experience a stable mid-table team will absolutely dwarf any newly promoted side, so it makes no sense that a manager should be sacked when battling for these positions. The commercialisation of the game has caused a drastic inflation in the prize package for promotion, yet still you cannot expect there not to be this gap. There is nothing wrong with ambition, but if results start to turn slightly sour owners should not lose grip of the realistic expectations of their side, which should be plain and simply: To survive. West Brom coach Di Matteo was sacked in January 2011 after a Winter table-slide, but even then West Brom sat outside the bottom three.
Fast forward one year, and now Neil Warnock – QPR still in safety – was gone. Left with a colossal wage bill for a team of its size, when a change in hands failed to alleviate their position and QPR were relegated at rock bottom, the results could have been catastrophic. Had Warnock been left to perhaps move them slightly further away from the drop, then maybe they never would have been relegated in the first place. In the past decade the fall of giants Leeds and Portsmouth have shown how dangerous balancing large bills can be, and you have to wonder how long these players would co-operate if a return was prolonged. This exhibits just how risky an early sacking could have been for the owners, the team, and the fans.
It took QPR until the 90th minute to seal a return to the league, but this shows just how close they were from failure. Had Zamora not had been in the right place, and had Derby got their rightful deserved winning goal in extra time, then the story could have been very different. But then I guess that this is another reason for Redknapp to celebrate. But then again, in today’s game you never know how long this may last.
The advent of figures like Abramovich and Vincent Tan has forged a notion where at any sign of distress, shots should be fired by the owners, and this isn’t a constructive thing. Prior to Mike Ashley, only three Premier League chairman had ordered the sackings of newly promoted managers, but thanks to his actions he has ensured that neither Redknapp, Dyke nor Pearson will ever be able to feel entirely safe. Just ask Brain McDermott, Nigel Adkins, Neil Warnock, and Roberto Di Matteo. I’d go on, but the list seems to be endless.
