…If they stay there will be trouble and if they leave there will be double. Look to the bottom of The Premier League and you’ll see a mixture of character, Latino flair, grit and the North’s most serial arse licker. You can cast your own conclusions over who’s who but in the spirit of the namesake one has a large nose, one is bald, one has black hair, one has brown hair.
The names in question are Mick “you don’t know what you’re doing” McCarthy, but he does know, doesn’t he?; Roberto “we’ll find the solution” Martinez, who has racked up a less than impressive 1 point per game since taking over at Wigan; Owen “we could be 12th” Coyle, but they aren’t, they’re 18th and finally Steve “I’ve spoken with the board, they’re onside” Kean, who looks like he should be a butcher, but instead he’s butchering Blackburn.
The bookies’ favourite to win the sack race is Steve Kean in fact with odds at even. It’s undoubtedly influenced by the numerous protests held at Ewood Park this season, but talks of sacking the 44 year-old Glaswegian dates back to March 2011 doing the round of the fan’s internet forums. The figures were pretty condemning then with 83% of fans wanting the manager gone as soon as possible.
Yet, there was to be no sacking of the manager, he had just signed a contract extension with Blackburn Rovers, two months previously, that sees him contracted as manager until June 2013. He was originally given the post in December as caretaker manager when Sam Allardyce was fired just 4 games into Venky’s ownership of the Lancashire club. Big Sam had won two and lost two and Venky’s obviously thought that wins against Villa and Wolves and losses at Manchester United and Bolton were signs of a manager not good enough for them and he was given the sack.
Kean was originally given the post until the end of the season to “prove his abilities” as a manager but the contract was offered 9 weeks later on January 20th after one draw, two losses and three of Kean’s total seven wins. In total Steve Kean has accumulated a measly 1 point per game and a win ratio of 19% the worst win ratio of any Premier League manager at current and the worst of any Blackburn boss ever.
Mick McCarthy is the next favourite mentioned manager for the chop with odds at 4/1. Chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” rang round The Molineux with Swansea 2-0 up but a double substitution of Guedioura and O’Hara inspired a 2 goal come back and the game finished 2-2 with O’Hara grabbing the equaliser. “Let me clear something up, it doesn’t help. Let’s not give any of the dissenting voices, the mindless idiots that do it, any credit,” said McCarthy, “I did it, I made the substitutions, and I’ll take the credit.”
Mick McCarthy is enjoying his sixth season with Wolves following his appointment in the wake of Glenn Hoddle in 2006. Within three seasons he took a team originally assembled by him, from cheap signings and youth players to The Premier League and he has twice guided the club to Premier League survival now, finishing 17th last season, staying up by a single point that was no doubt down to the excellent run of form they closed the season with taking seven points from twelve.