By Thomas Blane
They call it the managerial merry-go-round but it seems that the pace of sackings and resignations has gone far beyond the capable speed of the old fair ground attraction.
Just at the weekend, Kevin Blackwell was sacked from Sheffield Utd after two and a half years in charge. This decision was simply down to poor results on the park. The problem is, they’ve only played three games this season. I always thought Blackwell was doing a decent job at Sheffield Utd. He got them to the play off final in 2008 where they were beaten 1-0 by Burnley and finished just behind the play-off positions last season in 8th.
But it seems that success is essential and a mediocre season or poor results in your first few games can get you the chop.
Then there is Steve Coppell. Best known for his great ability as a winger for Manchester Utd, he resigned last week after two competitive games in charge of Bristol City. Those two games were a 3-0 home defeat to Millwall and a shock 3-2 loss to lower league Southend. These may be disappointing results for a decent side such as Bristol City but surely not enough for him to give up hope on the club.
The issue however is that it was not the club but the sport itself he has given up on. He declared that he had lost his “passion” for the game of football. That surely must be one of the worst excuses for leaving a football club. Well, I hope it is an excuse.
The fact that Coppell has history with early resignations means that this case is not as shocking as it seems. In 1996, Coppell was in charge of his former rivals Manchester City for just 33 days.
Let’s just hope a certain Mr Lennon doesn’t admire Coppell’s actions. However I wouldn’t worry, wee Danny looks like he’s in it for the long haul.
There will no doubt be many more sackings down south and up here in Scotland. Our man Danny is the favourite to be sacked first in the SPL but my money is on Mixu to go first. I think the sack race won’t start in Scotland for another month or two but usually when one chairman makes the rash decision, it seems to make other chairmen suddenly start to scan the P-45 with their manager’s name on it.
Impatient chairmen usually appear when fans show their fury and many managers will feel that this season.
Let’s just hope the managerial rollercoaster doesn’t go so fast that it goes off the rails.
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