16-11-2014, 14:24
A ridiculously high percentage of football managers who are sacked NEVER get the chance to try again elsewhere, yet football fans tend to discuss their potential demise with all the empathy you'd display when fetching the Raid to a bluebottle.
I'm not getting at Wednesday here, but the game is a disaster in terms of management. People are thrust into a position in which generally they have little or no experience, and if they fail, or become unpopular, or say the wrong thing, or fail to become the equivalent of the Chairman's favourite son, they are on their way. Hopefully during freefall they can grab hold of a coaching post to slow their plummet to earth ...... but some are never sighted again. And all too often their demise is heightened by panic-stricken fans for whom the grass is mostly greener.
How bad would it be if Wednesday went down again for a season? You'd recover. How likely does a play-off place look to any of you, even if you ditch your manager? Most people would look at your club and think it ought to be in the Premiership, but I haven't heard anyone say anything like that about individual players, or your current team.
You might dream of a Brian Clough coming in and transforming a powderpuff midfielder into an all-action tackling demon, but it's comic book stuff. In reality a new manager is going to need a bit of time to transform you. Change now, tempt your new manager to dive through the January window and you'll probably pull out a few misfits everyone else has been glad to see the back of ...... If you survive in the Championship you'll be starting a new season with lingering dissatisfaction, manager the equivalent of Judy Murray on Strictly.
Hang on, see what happens. If you've just somehow achieved safety towards the end of the season, or are already doomed that's the time to contemplate change. Get a new man or woman, white or black who has done the job before, and let them start when maybe they can see the wood for the trees. And maybe follow a plan rather than the random select button.
I'm not getting at Wednesday here, but the game is a disaster in terms of management. People are thrust into a position in which generally they have little or no experience, and if they fail, or become unpopular, or say the wrong thing, or fail to become the equivalent of the Chairman's favourite son, they are on their way. Hopefully during freefall they can grab hold of a coaching post to slow their plummet to earth ...... but some are never sighted again. And all too often their demise is heightened by panic-stricken fans for whom the grass is mostly greener.
How bad would it be if Wednesday went down again for a season? You'd recover. How likely does a play-off place look to any of you, even if you ditch your manager? Most people would look at your club and think it ought to be in the Premiership, but I haven't heard anyone say anything like that about individual players, or your current team.
You might dream of a Brian Clough coming in and transforming a powderpuff midfielder into an all-action tackling demon, but it's comic book stuff. In reality a new manager is going to need a bit of time to transform you. Change now, tempt your new manager to dive through the January window and you'll probably pull out a few misfits everyone else has been glad to see the back of ...... If you survive in the Championship you'll be starting a new season with lingering dissatisfaction, manager the equivalent of Judy Murray on Strictly.
Hang on, see what happens. If you've just somehow achieved safety towards the end of the season, or are already doomed that's the time to contemplate change. Get a new man or woman, white or black who has done the job before, and let them start when maybe they can see the wood for the trees. And maybe follow a plan rather than the random select button.