Gone are the days when a manager would join a football club and be there for years on end building a team with the clubs youth players and occasionally bringing in players, but only from across the border in most cases.
Nowadays managers come and go like their going out of fashion, players are more swayed by money than they are by the tradition of a club. But of course it’s not always the players or managers’ faults because a lot of the time it is because of a very rich owner who comes in from outside the UK or even sometimes inside the UK and can’t stand too stay with a manager if he isn’t living up to the standards he expects, there isn’t a problem with that of course, but more often than that the club they are in charge of will never reach the heights the owner thinks they should with his money.
Many examples come to mind over the years, especially this year with the sackings of ex West Ham manager Avram Grant and ex Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti. Grant was repeatedly told that he had one game to save his job, and to his credit he managed to stay manager until the end of the season when West Ham were relegated from the English Premier League and he was finally put out his misery and sacked. In one occasion the West Ham board even came public and said that Grant was being replaced by Martin O’Neill, a story which forced O’Neill to distance himself from West Ham.
In Ancelottis case, he won the league and cup double in his first season as boss but then when Chelsea had an indifferent season Ancelotti was shown the door, critics will continue to say that Abramovich is obsessed with winning the Champions League and every manager who fails to bring the trophy to London for the first time will be facing an early exit just like Avram Grant, Luiz Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti.
Last week Alex McLeish made an uncomfortable trip across the city of Birmingham when he resigned as Birmingham boss and became the Aston Villa manager. This has stoked controversy in the city with both sets of fans sending the former Rangers manager death threats. This has also raised the issue of where is the loyalty anymore in football? The simple answer to that question is the where the biggest cash packet is lying. A lot of people will say that when you pull on the jersey or you put the club tie round your neck, then you should be loyal to that badge.
There are still some men in this country that wouldn’t dare leave their club let alone leave and join the clubs biggest rivals. All you have to do is look at Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and David Moyes, possibly the only men in the English Premier League who can say whole heartedly that they are loyal managers to their current team. And let’s not kid ourselves on here, Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton weren’t the teams these guys supported growing up, so the loyalty shown is more remarkable for that reason.
Disloyalty is by no means exclusive to managers and owners. Players are in fact arguably the worst for it. People like Fernando Torres are the kind of guys who have fans jumping for joy one month and screaming with rage the next because once again, money signs in their eyes are clouding their judgment. Many players spring to mind when the subject of football disloyalty is broached. Carlos Tevez, Manchester United player now at Manchester City. Michael Owen, Liverpool player now at Manchester United. Kenny Miller, Rangers to Celtic and back to Rangers before shooting off again when the big money shouted at him from across the continent. The list goes on and on for players who couldn’t give a damn about the people in the stands who pay their wages.
One thing for sure is that if these overpaid prima donnas cared even a fraction what the fans do then maybe fans wouldn’t have to pay increasing prices every year.
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