In as many Mondays, a second Barclays Premier League manager has learned their fate by being forced out of their post, which should be a real worrying concern for everyone involved in English football.
Sam Allardyce, who has been, without question, a very admirable ally for Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United over the last couple of seasons, has either left, or has been fired from Blackburn Rovers, weeks after the Lancashire club was purchased by The Venky’s Group, another foreign ownership group.
His departure has just come just seven days after Chris Hughton was unceremoniously sacked by Newcastle United, because Toon’s owner, Mike Ashley, declared him to be too inexperienced to lead the club forward, so could this just signify the end of the sport we all know and love?
There is no question that Premier League has become one of the most dominating businesses in the entire world, not just in sports, with all of the rich wanting to own a piece of it, but the success of league is coming at a real cost, and Sir Alex is probably sitting in his office shaking his head with complete disbelief.
There is a very good saying that everyone, especially these football investors, must abide by to be successful on the pitch: “Have a heart of a socialist, but the mind of capitalist,” however, the former is not even considered in today’s society, and owners, like Ashley and Venky, are basing their reasoning off reaction rather than logic.
This is not the first, nor the second, but the third time in just five short months that the authority, or intrusion, of a foolhardy owner has led to a well-respected manager being terminated a mid-of-the-table Premier League club.
A lot of people have quickly forgotten that Martin O’Neill’s exit from Aston Villa in August had everything to do with the owner, Randy Lerner, and his board of directors intervening with the on the field decisions at Villa Park.
That firing should come as no surprise, though, because Lerner’s American football team, the Cleveland Browns, has passed through no fewer than five head coaches since coming back into the National Football League in 1999.
Influenced
This may seem like a new thing to English football fans, but this kind of bad-natured business has been happening for years in Americans sports.
Sports fans here in the States have witnessed first-hand what the effects of owner involvement does to a sports franchise with Jerry Jones and his Dallas Cowboys, and the late George Steinbrenner had with the New York Yankees.
Yes, their money leads to short-term success, but once the manager, who they hand-picked, starts becoming a victim of their own success, they pull out their ax and publicly slaughtered them.
It’s a real shame, as well, because some of these managers/coaches, like Bill Parcells (Cowboys) and Joe Torre (Yankees) to name a couple, are some of the most respected in their respective sports, and they were treated as though they were the scum of the earth by the owners.
Something that English football fans have not been force to deal with, is the owners being seen mingling, or “encouraging,” the players, or employees, on the sidelines or in the dugout while the game is actually going on.
The success that these men, if you can call them that, have had in the corporate world seems to have given them some sort of unfounded, ridiculous idea that football is one in the same, and they can be have a complete “hands on” approach, and act juvenile when, and how they want.
The major difference, which they do not take into effect, is that their customer, or fans in this case, see their affection for a club, like Manchester United, as an escape from their hardships in reality, but now they are losing that relationship because of the interference of the owners.
Most of these owners would not know how to lace up their football boots let alone instruct a player to kick a ball, so does the money give them the power to dictate someone’s life passion?
Yes, football has always been a results-driven industry, but it has never been subjected to the greed off of it the pitch.
It is completely disheartening to see managers seen as replaceable commodities, or pawns, if you will, to these senseless, inexperienced football executives.
It is almost a guarantee that at some point in during their business life, these owners were given a little bit of patience to gain the experience to get the results, however, that success, which has derived from their non-football business, has led them to forget how it feels like to have the shoe on the other foot.
Next
Now everyone is, and will be, wondering who is going to be the next manager who will be sacked, because there are certainly going to be quite a few openings.
The odds-on favorite has to be one of United’s closest title rivals, as Carlo Ancelotti has already seen his trusty assistant, Ray Wilkins, be blusteringly let go from Chelsea in November.
Ancelotti could have his name added to the number of people who are unemployed at Christmas if he does not start encouraging his players to perform like Roman Abramovich expects them too – which starts next weekend at Stamford Bridge against United.
Another manager that could very well be on the chopping block is Roy Hodgson, who is the manager of United’s bitter rival, Liverpool.
A lot of criticism has been shelled at the Red Football Joint Venture Ltd, which is the official name of the Glazer ownership group, but, on numerous occasions, they have promised the United supporters that they have faith in Sir Alex.
If any job is to be regarded as safe, then one would assume that it would be Sir Alex Ferguson’s at Manchester United, but with the certainty for uncertainty, there is nothing that is sure anymore today’s failing society.
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