Football is in a period now where clubs are beginning to understand appointing the same old managers has run it’s course. Most in the game understand that if you stand still it passes you by, the club stagnates and it can take nothing short of a miracle to get things going again.
Take nothing away from some of these guys, there are some very decorated managers and coaches out there, but methods keep evolving every year, the player pool for some gets smaller if they’re not backed by good recruiters and can weed out the bad agents touting poor players.
I know it’s not easy getting the right fit but so many get it wrong year after year and then wonder why they’re paying a severance package only months into a new campaign. There are plenty of owners out there who don’t have a clue how football can work, they’re great at running the club as a business but little acumen of what they need to be successful on the pitch.
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It’s not naïve to think every appointment will work out, of course not. A majority will never win promotion, more will get relegated than lift a trophy, that is the cut throat nature of the game.
Other factors can dictate, major long term injuries for players who are rarely missing, mistakes that won’t seem to go away, a manager can actually only do so much sometimes once the players cross the white line.
We all know you need a very thick skin when owning a football club. 90% of the time expect to be wrong but line up the 10% correctly gives you the breathing space to delve into the remainder and convert.
Being brave and bold can go one of two ways. Football fans nowadays have a distinct lack of patience which I believe comes from the top level and those who have the ability to spend more than others.
The two do intertwine at the top levels of the game, plenty of money to spend and if results aren’t instant, it’s the P45 in your hand before you know it. Despite the wealth of some clubs versus others, fans still expect their club to compete with them. When they don’t they demand change and sometimes expect it to just magically repair itself.
Sorry to disappoint there, it doesn’t work 90% of the time. The lack of patience means the average lifespan in one job is now less than 18 months from appointment to parting ways.
I’m not suggesting that failure should be rewarded, although it is when managers are appointed elsewhere after a bad job previous. Time though is never on their side and some even get the boot despite the results.
Most need to ship out the previous incumbent’s players, bring in those they trust or want to work with and turn the ship around. It’s not something that happens overnight nor in a few weeks.
Actually giving someone time to steer it in the right direction is a luxury in this world now. You can tell during that process whether progress is being made and likely to be ongoing.
Has the world we live in now made some of this unobtainable? Maybe yes. Accountability is still the same, answerable to the board of directors or owners but in reality answerable to those supporters and to social media in much greater depth than ever before.
I like to see clubs promoting from below or giving a chance to management team coaches or assistants, seeing the same old names sometimes trotted out but failures littered on their CV’s and others you know just aren’t going to be a good fit for a particular club.
How else will these up and coming, fresh idea guys and girls gain any experience if they’re constantly behind people who at times because of their ‘name’ dazzle the eyes of those appointing.
Of course it’s a risk, it’s a risk every time a business takes on a new employee, a risk every time a player signs on for your club, life doesn’t always work out the way it’s expected to be, very simple otherwise.
I’m pleased to see clubs giving opportunities to rise up the pyramid, there are dozens of managers and coaches that have done it all to prove they can hack at that level and need the chance to move up otherwise there is the very likelihood some talented people will get frustrated at the lack of openings for them to fill and be lost from the game, something that really shouldn’t happen.
