With Sven-Göran Eriksson adding to the list of managerial casualties so far this season, the importance of ‘time’ within a managerial career must be taken into account, as new players or staff will take time to mould into an unknown club. With there being plenty of time left in the season for teams fortunes to turn around, is it worth considering a transfer market for the replacement of managers, which could have allowed the likes of Sven, alongside Steve McClaren to gain the support of the fans and club owners, as a run of form was surely bound to come some point in the near future? However is this just delaying the inevitable, and although it may work for some managers, others may just deepen the misery at their respective club, to the point that come January, it may be too late to turn things around.
Steve McClaren and Sven-Göran Eriksson, former managers of Nottingham Forest and Leicester respectively, and with a common feature of their history – being that of a relatively unsuccessful spell as England manager. Great promise and prospects fell onto the Nottingham and Leicester clubs, with McClaren taking charge at the start of the season, and Sven, with his pedigree as former England and Mexico manager, both clubs remained strong candidates for promotion. However both teams failed to live up to expectations and a lower than expected league position disappointed fans and club ownership alike, resulting in the termination of their contracts, whether mutual or otherwise.
However were they performing to expectations? With every club comes a settling in period. Steve McClaren was not able to strengthen his forces with any big name transfers, and therefore was fighting a losing battle from day one. Although a manager of proven quality, Forest would struggle to win the Championship if they were not going to match the teams around them financially. With Leicester, the issue perhaps was different, as the new players of better quality would have required a settling in period this season, to understand the playing style of each other and their new manager.
Sven was building ‘his’ team, and with him gone, someone else is going to have to merge the championship big spenders into winners. Therefore with these considerations, and the obvious distress at Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, a transfer window for managers could prove a worthy commitment. As human beings, these footballers, of whatever quality, will find it hard to settle under a new manager just 15 games through the season, as tactics and training will differ to what they are used to. A new settling in period will be needed, and performances, and in turn results, will be expected to drop temporarily. This therefore questions how worthwhile replacing a manager early on actually is.