Sack the Manager.....

[GG Riva]

There are some exceptionally good managers in football and some very poor ones, too, but there are probably many more in-between. Whenever a club is looking for a new, experienced manager, applicants CVs will be taken into consideration, before deciding who to interview. This is when it must get a bit tricky.

Many experienced managers have quite a mixed CV - they`ve done quite well at some clubs but poorly at others. Why is that? Presumably, their ability remains constant, irrespective of which club they`re working for. Of course, the squad they have may be more or less talented, but sometimes a manager coming in can produce a significant improvement with the same squad, but more often than not, he can`t. The " new manager bounce" is quite a rare occurrence, as we found out last season.

When things don`t work out, the manager invariably gets sacked, but is it always his fault? The %age of managers who go through their entire career without ever being sacked must be quite small. That suggests they usually have a shelf life, even at clubs where they`ve been reasonably successful. Perhaps when a reasonably successful manager fails at a club, the major blame lies elsewhere?

There was a time when players were virtually slaves of clubs and the manager could act as a total tyrant. Jim McLean at Dundee United was probably the last one in Scottish football. Today with agents and freedom of contract, the boot is very much on the other foot. Players with poor attitudes who don`t get a regular game, can quickly become troublemakers and undermine the manager`s authority. Precious few managers have the attributes to deal with rebel players, without prejudicing their club`s results and performances. Sir Alex was a notable exception.

[Deutsch Par]

I remember reading a story about Brian Clough who was negotiating a contract with Peter Shilton and Shilton was notorious for being difficult about bonuses. 

Clough left Shilton's agent in the car while he struck a deal with Shilton. 

Clough is probably the closest thing that the English had to Jim McLean and I believe that England probably would have won the World Cup again had he not rubbed the FA up the wrong way and got blackballed. 

You don't win back to back European Cups with a club like Nottingham Forest if you're not at least a half decent manager. 

[GG Riva]

19 hours ago, Deutsch Par said:

I remember reading a story about Brian Clough who was negotiating a contract with Peter Shilton and Shilton was notorious for being difficult about bonuses. 

Clough left Shilton's agent in the car while he struck a deal with Shilton. 

Clough is probably the closest thing that the English had to Jim McLean and I believe that England probably would have won the World Cup again had he not rubbed the FA up the wrong way and got blackballed. 

You don't win back to back European Cups with a club like Nottingham Forest if you're not at least a half decent manager. 

No doubt Clough could have been a contender for the greatest English manager of all time, but his arrogance when he was appointed Leeds manager immediately alienated most of the squad, resulting in his notorious 44 day reign and sacking.

[Teuchter]

When I read that Dundee United almost got relegated in the late 70s, it made me think how fine the margins can be. Would he have survived had they been relegated? Not many managers survive taking a club into a relegation battle these days after starting the season.