Let’s go back to March of this year; the 14th to be precise.
Southampton announced the appointment of Mark Hughes as first team manager, a little over seven weeks after his sacking at Stoke.
The Saints, in desperate need of someone to galvanise a talented squad of underperforming and relegation-threatened players, turned to someone who had just been fired for failing to galvanise a talented squad of underperforming and relegation-threatened players.
As we know, Stoke were relegated to the Championship, whereas Hughes guided Southampton to 17th and another season in the top flight.
With the decision seemingly vindicated and having been initially appointed on a short-term contract, the achievement earned Hughes a three-year extension.
On December 3rd, following one win from fifteen, he was sacked – for the second time in 2018.
Hughes is one of the usual suspects; a select group of managers who can rightly lay claim to a wealth of experience and who as a result, have become serial jockeys on the managerial merry-go-round.
With a picture being worth a thousand words, the following shows a selection of managers alongside a few of the clubs (not all) that they’ve collectively worked for.
Of course, it shouldn’t be a surprise that many Premier League Managers have a string of clubs on their CVs. With the average tenure of a football manager being 1.66 years, it stands to reason that most have ‘been around a bit’.
The sack has become an occupational hazard for any football manager, with the demands and expectations of owners and fans alike, dictating that periods of poor results are seldom tolerated.
However, the likes of Hughes, Pardew, Pulis et al (lardyce) are amongst those who are seemingly offered the chance of redemption faster than you can say “clean slate”.
With the exception of Everton, all of the clubs shown above have played in both of the top two divisions over the last ten years. Clubs whose ‘natural habitat’ is perhaps the bottom half of the Premier or the top half of the Championship, which invariably means a battle to either get up or stay up.
With the stakes so high, perhaps it’s understandable that so many clubs go looking for what they consider to be a safe bet; a tried and tested manager who has been there and done it.
Like Mark Hughes, Sam Allardyce and Roy Hodgson answered the distress calls from Premier League strugglers, last season, and steered both Everton and Palace to safety. Steve Bruce and Tony Pulis meanwhile, brought their experience to bear in the Championship, guiding Villa and Boro to the play-offs.
Of those, only Hodgson and Pulis remain in post.
Big Sam’s record of never being relegated is hugely impressive; his style of football less so.
The man himself, claims to be a progressive coach and a student of the game who has travelled far and wide in search of different footballing philosophies.
If he really has scoured the globe only to bring back his particular brand of ‘football’, it’s the equivalent of going on holiday to Spain and coming back with a straw donkey.
But it works.
Or rather, it works up until the point that with the job done and the threat of relegation a distant memory, fans and owners start to demand something better and more pleasing on the eye.
I’d almost feel sorry that Big Sam was sacked by Everton, if it wasn’t for the reported £9 million, he received when they dispensed with his services.
Norwich City though have ploughed a different furrow.
The club’s restructuring and introduction of the Sporting Director / Head Coach model is aimed at providing continuity and a more sustainable approach. It’s a model that tries to smooth the impacts of the almost inevitable changes in management (in whatever circumstances), which often brings wholesale upheaval; compensation paid to replace coaching staff and an overhaul of the playing squad as the new man brings in his ‘own people’.
It’s a model that means that the club has already identified a shortlist of four individuals to replace Farke (if – or rather when – he goes), in exactly the same way that there will be a list of replacements identified for every member of the first-team squad.
It’s a model that requires time and patience, and I’ll freely admit, it has tested mine.
But with City flying high in the league, playing fantastic football and a genuine sense of harmony across the club, we can (perhaps) avoid worrying about Farke moving on for now, and yet our success has still attracted criticism.
EXHIBIT A:
“It will be bad for English football if Norwich and Leeds get promoted to the Premier League”#NCFC and #LUFC fans will want to hear this from @BroadcastMoose… ?
Would you be happy to see Farke and Bielsa in the top flight? ? pic.twitter.com/uqotfeRS2j
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) December 10, 2018
Coming from the same radio station that saw fit to ‘fire shots’ at Farke’s initial appointment for denying opportunities to British coaches, it shouldn’t come as a surprise and is typical of the station’s lazy, so-called journalism, which is little more than click-bait aimed at provoking a reaction.
It overlooks the fact that the model we have adopted, which is so common in European domestic leagues, doesn’t align with the typical structure of many English clubs. One that is not tailor-made for the traditional domestic candidate, in which the role of first-team manager oversees every aspect of club management and reports through to a Chief Executive.
It overlooks the fact that Farke and Webber are committed to, and reliant upon, the club’s academy to produce young players who can both deliver on the pitch right now but also generate an income stream in the future from out-going transfers. Something that is surely far more positive for the domestic game than offering a member of the ‘old guard’, another crack of the management whip.
But crucially, it overlooks the fact that the real barrier facing aspiring coaches and managers, is not one of nationality, but the short-term, knee-jerk, decision-making, driven by a hunger for instant results, that leads so many clubs to select the easy option and keep the merry-go-round spinning.
Hi Steve
A good read and I full agree with your analysis that most premiership and a few championship clubs will always go for a known name and that the supporters will jump on the bandwagon praising there achievements till the fear of relegation has gone then want a more attractive stlye of play.
It is the owners that are responsible for the amount of managers that get the sack as they are so nervous of failure they have an itchy trigger finger and that will never change we now have American owners that are advocating we take the view of no relegation from the Premiership and with more foreign ownership that might just become a reality to safe guard the money stream they get.
Brilliant analysis, Steve.
Interesting that some of the most sceptical comments on our new structure, when it was announced, came from Ipswich. Enough said.
Why spoil your article by claiming that Norwich already have a shortlist of four to replace Farke as/when he goes. What complete nonsense, so are we supposed to believe that you’re in Stuart Webbers inner circle and that he discusses his plans with you. Dream on, you’ll be claiming you know all the details of players contracts next.
My mistake for not citing the basis of the comment. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-league/norwich-city-championship-table-leeds-united-derby-county-daniel-farke-stuart-webber-a8625396.html
Why spoil your reply by basing it on ignorance?
See below:
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-league/norwich-city-championship-table-leeds-united-derby-county-daniel-farke-stuart-webber-a8625396.html
The pertinent part being:
“Farke understands why Norwich already have a shortlist of four managers that they’d consider as his replacement when he departs in whatever circumstance that might be. ”
Goodness, I wonder what you are like when it’s NOT the season of goodwill?
A good article.
Whilst Moose’s comments were largely ignorant of the work been done at both Norwich and Leeds, he fails to acknowledge the wider problems that are actually hampering English football – the number of qualified British coaches at grassroots level compared to Spain/Germany; the percentage of English players playing in the PL (25% last weekend); the lack of opportunities for English managers in the top flight – and, if they are actually good enough, for those managers to get a chance to manage a top 6 club.
Norwich aren’t top of the Championship because they spent loads of money and plonked a foreign manager at the top of the tree. No, they are there because they are executing a long term plan, which has involved intelligence, patience and trust.
That is why what we are doing is good for English football – assuming people (like Ipswich’s managing director) sit up and take note of our methods and what we’ve had to go through to get to this point.
Keith B if you care to look up the definition of ignorance, it’s a lack of knowledge therefore citing an article by Simon Hughes is hardly proving a point.
Mr Hughes is a journalist, he may well be a good one but surely you don’t swallow every word he writes as being absolute fact. Rather than suggest I’m ignorant you might like to check the definition of gullible.
It’s got nothing to do with the season of good will, it’s just that I don’t care for what I consider to be lazy journalism. I very much agreed with the gist of the article and I’m delighted by what I’m seeing at Carrow Road and by Daniel Farkes’ contribution.
I certainly wasn’t intending to come across as the grinch, I just prefer the real world rather than one based on the views of people who would have you believe that they know more than they actually do.
Bob – it’s never been my intention to make out I’m ‘in the know’ or privy to anything beyond what we see and read for ourselves. I’m personally inclined to believe the quotes from the Independent article, as in my opinion, Stuart Webber has come across as a man who would meticulously plan for all eventualities. That’s not to insinuate that Farke will leave any time soon, with things being so rosy at the club it would seem to suit all parties. But as we know, in football, circumstances can change very quickly. Ask Mark Hughes!
As for ‘lazy journalism’, Simon Hughes is a journalist. I am just a fan. A fan without sources and only opinions, which Gary is kind enough to let me share on this great website.
Happy Christmas!