Written by Nicholas Edwards
The last few weeks have seen two of the most unexpected management casualties in English football. Chris Hughton was given his marching orders by Newcastle before Sam Allardyce was told where to go by Blackburn’s new owners.
The nonchalant sacking of Premier League football managers has become an accepted tradition in the modern game; each season even starts with bookmakers taking bets on who will be the first casualty. This season’s sackings, however, highlight a problem that is growing ever more worrisome for the stability of our football teams: the problem being that both managers were doing a good job before they were fired.
Both Allardyce and Hughton were steering their respective clubs in the right direction. When Allardyce took over at Blackburn they were tangled up in the relegation zone while Hughton’s task at Newcastle was to return to the Premier League. Allardyce manoeuvred his team to safety and surpassed expectations by guiding Blackburn to a very respectable 10th place finish and, although this season has been up and down, kept them in mid table which is where they belong. Hughton won the Championship and secured promotion in a hard working and emphatic fashion and had provided stability to a team in dire need of it. And the rewards for the stellar work of these two great managers? Unemployment.
The blame must lie squarely with the owners of the clubs; both of which have made a decision unpopular with fans and threatening to the stability of the teams. Maybe the problem lies with owners of clubs who don’t have any experience running a football business. The expectations of both the Newcastle and Blackburn boards seem delusional to say the least.
Let’s start with Newcastle. Mike Ashley is nothing more than a businessman who happened to support Newcastle. With wealth on his side, he took the opportunity to buy his club. It is this fact that has lead to Newcastle’s problems. All football fans expect their club to be pushing to the next level and want more than the club is maybe equipped to deliver. The owners should look past this daydreaming and look at the realities of what can be reasonably expected. Ashley runs the club like a fan; expecting more from the team than they are in a position to deliver. Any team returning from the Championship must have one goal and one goal only: to avoid relegation. Anything above that is just icing on the cake. Hughton had Newcastle on track to achieve this goal and, indeed, he seemed on course for the icing as well. This however was not good enough for Ashley. As a fan he expected Newcastle to be looking for a top half finish (maybe even a Europa League place) and so Hughton was discarded.
The same sort of philosophy also applies to Blackburn however the reasons are different. Instead of a fan owning the club; Blackburn have foreign owners with no prior experience in sport management. Blackburn are a team that should be more than satisfied with a mid table finish. Again, Allardyce was on track to deliver this. The Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group had different plans. They see the club as a business and want to exploit its potential. For them the dollar signs that have replaced their pupils have blinded them to the fact that they have bought an average English team. They don’t have the commercial appeal of the big teams nor do they have the history or clout that comes with success. They are ambitious businessmen who have taken a chance on a business venture and want to emulate the models set by Chelsea and Manchester City. It’s a nice idea but it won’t happen. They don’t have the same kind of money as the above clubs Russian and Middle Eastern owners. In the case of Blackburn Rovers, over ambition could prove very costly indeed.
When all the dust has settled though, the fact still remains that two very talented English football managers are out of a job because of the unrealistic expectations put on some Premier League teams outside of the top six. The simple facts remain; only one team can win the league, four will qualify for the Champions League, and three for the Europa League. Some clubs will have to accept that they probably won’t get there and will have to focus on stabilizing and building to one day reach these levels. The clubs owners see things a little differently though, and Allardyce and Hughton are certainly not the only Managerial casualties that will occur this season as a result of it.
Just one moment, Firstly, Mike Ashley is not a newcastle fan or supporter.Fact. Seccondly, it is not his club. the club belongs to Newcastle United,s supporters and always will. Fat mike just pays the bills. He has no right whatsoever to ride roughshod over the feelings of the Toon Army. He is no more than a rather large shop owner with little or no experience or interest in the football club as a whole. The only reason he wants Newcastle to do well is to rake off the benefits that come with a succesfull side. In short, just another money grabbing git who is neither needed nor wanted. Pack your bags you slimeball and get out of toon. HOWAY THE LADS.