DO FOOTBALL CLUBS MAKE TOO MANY QUICK FIRE DECISIONS?

With the amount of scrutiny projected onto football these days, it is hardly surprising that managers seem to be sacked more frequently that Jordan appears on the front page of the Daily Star.

But do clubs really think things through?

Are they really so influenced by the numerous online fanzines, radio phone in’s and blogs that are so freely available both to the football fan and the board room members.

Nobody can tell me that some club executives don’t read or tune into these media outlets ? I’m sure some of them do.

There are numerous examples of sets of fans probably regretfully thinking ‘we should be careful what we wish for next time’. And for me, two examples in particular, spring to mind.

Firstly, there is Alan Curbishley at Charlton. He originally took the London club up to the Premiership in 1998, but they went straight back down again in 1999 after a season which saw them lose twelve successive league matches.

However, the former West Ham and Birmingham midfielder had learned his lesson and was up to the challenge.
Curbishley took the Addicks back up as champions in 2000 and there they stayed until 2006.

The club not only escaped relegation with ease throughout those six years, they were more often that not in ‘nose bleed’ territory for a club with such a small fan base.

In 2001 and 2004, Charlton finished in the top ten. In 2003-2004 they only finished three points off a European place, completing a league double over Liverpool in the process. It was their highest top flight finish since the 1950s.

In the other four seasons the club were positioned comfortably in mid-table come the season’s end, and were rarely under any serious threat of going down. But fans’ expectation had been lifted. The near miss of glory in 2004 meant that various fans dialled into various radio shows calling for Curbishley to go after the club had finished a mere 11th in 2005.

The boss, rightly so, felt hugely hurt by this and he quit the following year.

A short lived Iain Dowie stint followed, but his reign was a disaster and the club were relegated to the Championship in 2007.

This year Charlton were relegated again and now languish in League One.

From being a mid-table Premiership team as recent as May 2006, the Addicks are now lumbering in the same league as Yeovil Town and Hartlepool United. Sometimes fans really should be careful what they wish for.


The other club that springs to mind are Newcastle United. A club, who in my view, perceive themselves to be a little bit higher than their natural station suggests.

After two seasons of Champions League football in the early part of this decade, the Toon reached the UEFA Cup semi finals in 2004, as well as finishing fifth in the Premiership. It proved to be Sir Bobby Robson's last year at the helm, as the boardroom's thirst for success and an unrealistic expectation that the club could topple all of the big four, took fruition.

Following a poor opening three games of the 2004-2005 season, the former England manager was shipped out. Despite being 71 years young at the time, there was no obvious candidate who could be talked about in the same breath as the football legend.

In the five years he was there, Robson had led Newcastle from the bottom of the table to a third place finish in 2003.

Graeme Souness took over. Hardly a man with a terrific track record at big clubs, he was a disaster from the moment he began, finishing well down the table in his first season and being ousted half way through his second.

Glen Roeder then took over and started off brightly, steadying the ship. But in 2007 ‘big’ Sam Allardyce, who’s outstanding record at Bolton almost got him the England job, landed the Newcastle hot seat.

The club started off with some excellent results, but by December, they had slipped into mid table and once again the impatient Toon faithful grew restless.

While, still being a big improvement on Sounesss, the football he played was deemed un-attractive by the supporters. The board once again bowed to fan power and 'Big Sam' was sacked at the end of 2007.

The return of 'King Kevin' Keegan steered the club away from relegation by the end of the season, and being the fans choice, the former boss was a popular appointment.

Again though, the boardroom squabbles proved to be too much for Keegan and he walked out at the beginning of the 2008-2009 season.

Despite having a squad worthy of a mid-table position in the Premiership, the club now find themselves in the Championship.

Alan Shearer, the expected ‘saviour’ didn’t deliver at the end of the last campaign, despite having eight games to get just four points. He was once again paraded as the club legend and local boy who would turn around the fortunes through his passion for the club. It backfired terribly.

The power of the supporters at St James’ Park has left the club in ruins. They wanted Keegan, they wanted Shearer, but they didn't want Allardyce and were given what they wanted. Has it paid dividends? No.

When the fans called for Alladyce to be sacked two years ago, they probably never envisaged being in the Championship eighteen months later. If the former Bolton boss had stayed, and I doubt many fans disagree with me, Newcastle would certainly still be in the Premiership, and probably in the top half. This is not unrealistic, when you consider Big Sam’s track record.

There are other examples of fans over-reacting to a few bad results and then later, looking like fools. It is, thankfully, because the boardrooms involved, sensibly didn’t react to their supporters' over-exaggeration.

Steve McClaren is another manager who deserved far more respect than what he got from a minority of supporters when he was manager at the Riverside.

The Yorkshire man won the League Cup in 2004, Middlesbrough's first major silverware. He then took the club to seventh place in the league and European spot in 2005. To cap it all of, he took the team (and the fans) on a roller coaster ride to the UEFA Cup final in 2006.

What do supporters really desire? Following a heavy home defeat to Aston Villa in February 2006, McClaren had a Boro shirt thrown at him in the dug out by a ‘fan’. Two weeks later the club beat Chelsea 3-0 and all was forgotten as he took them on that unforgettable run. I'm sure McClaren, himself, didn't forget though.

Every club has periods of poor results. Sir Alex Ferguson is the most famous example of a manager who was under-achieving and probably even deserved the sack, but didn’t get it. The rest as they say, is history.

The Scot was on the verge of being given the boot in January 1990. The club had been First Division runners-up in 1988, but had finished a lowly 12th in 1989 after an appalling run of results. They were again languishing in mid table in the middle of the 1989-90 season and had crashed out of the League Cup at home to Tottenham at the third round stage.

The Scot's team went to Nottingham Forest (then a superior side under Brian Clough) with an injury-ravaged team. Media knives were sharpening, knowing that a defeat would almost certainly spell the end of Ferguson's three year reign. They won the tie courtesy of a Mark Robins header, went on to win the FA Cup (primarily down to Robins’s goals) and we all know what happened in the subsequent two decades that followed.

Eleven league titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, two European Cups and one Cup Winners’ Cup later, only us old enough to remember know just how close he was to leaving that cold January day in Nottingham.


The 'big' clubs tend to stay big clubs over a long period because they are loyal to their managers and don’t panic when things go a little awol. There have however, been occasions when loyalty has stretched too far.

Liverpool, for example, stuck with Graeme Souness far too long. The former midfield legend led the club to two sixth place finishes in his two full seasons in charge. He also managed to watch his team crash out of the FA Cup third round in successive seasons to lower league clubs at Anfield.

It was a far cry from the Daglish, Fagan and Paisley years that preceded him.

The Scottish boss managed to destroy the club, by trying to change the old guard too quickly and really should have been fired a year earlier when the club were in 17th position in March 1993.

The Merseysiders also stuck with Gerard Houllier too long. At the beginning of November 2002 the club were top of the league with 30 points from 12 matches, but were seventh by mid January and had only taken six points from a possible 33. He somehow kept his job for another 17 months.

However badly a manager is performing though, sticking by him for as long as possible keeps the club stable and the players settled. This is why Liverpool will always be somewhere near the top most of the time, and the same rule applies for clubs such as Aston Villa, Everton and Arsenal.

Chelsea are a very recent example of not being particularly objective with their managers and actually bowing to another modern day phenomonen, player power.

The West London club can attract the biggest names, but the only one of their recent managers not to be a big name was the one who was an inch away from being the greatest.

When Jose Mourinho left the post in September 2007, the club had 15 points from nine games and were already ten points off the pace in the league. Avram Grant, known little outside his native Israel, turned their fortunes round quite spectacularly. Whether this was by luck or judgment, his record as Chelsea boss is astonishing.

They reached the League Cup final (losing to Tottenham) and reached the FA Cup quarter finals. But most remarkably, they took the title race down to the last day after being six points behind at the end of March, and finally defeated Liverpool in the Champion’s League semi final, something the ‘great’ Mourinho never managed to do.

The Blues were one John Terry penalty kick away from European glory and also twice hit the woodwork during the 120 minutes played in Moscow.

The Israeli was therefore, a fraction away from immortality, but was sacked and replaced by a bigger name, Phil Scolari.

The Brazillian was nowhere near as successful in his time there, but once again was only given six months at the helm. Who knows what he might have achieved given time, however, he was once again, as with Grant, forced out of the exit door by player power.

Carlo Ancelotti has made a similar start to that of Scolari, but it wouldn’t surprise me if a bad sequence of results gets the spoilt Chelsea players and fans in a pickle once again


Martin Jol led Tottenham to two fifth place finishes in the middle part of this decade, but had a poor start to the 2007-2008 season and was fired.

His replacement Juande Ramos, won only four league games in charge, and despite winning the League Cup with Jol’s team, he was a complete flop.

After taking only two points from his first eight games as boss in 2008-09, the Spaniard was un-surprisingly given his marching orders.

People now talk up Harry Redknapp’s team as Champions League contenders and top six material, but they also were under Martin Jol. In fact in the 2005-2006 season, they were fourth until the last day.

It’s taken an expensive dismissal and appointment to take the club back to where they were two years ago. Was it really all worth it?


Back to the current day, and the speculation regarding Phil Brown’s departure is, in my opinion, disconcerting.

Hull City’s fans must remember where the club was three years ago and where it is now. Who would be his obvious replacement?

In his two seasons at the club he has achieved both of his aims – promotion and staving off relegation. However, he just happened to beat a few big teams along way to provide the Hull fans with some novel excitement. That’s all it should be.

Instead it has raised expectations to a much higher level than they should be.

Hull are not at breaking point, they have a few points in the bag this season. Granted, the manager's record in 2009 is woeful, but the club are still in dreamland and the fans should remember that. I have a feeling they may 'do a Charlton' if Brown is forced out.

The eccentric boss has earned the right to take the club through another full season in the top flight. He did, after-all, get them there in the first place.

Middlesbrough’s recent dismissal of Gareth Southgate is puzzling. They were only one point off the top of the Championship at the time, but Steve Gibson – who can never be criticised for being disloyal – has a lot to answer for on this occasion.

Make no bones about it, Boro were awful last year. But why wasn’t Southgate fired in the summer, and not when the team lies in fourth place in their league?

I personally think Southgate will go on to become an excellent manager, and it shouldn’t be forgotten that he led the club to mid-table finishes in 2007 and 2008, so he can manage competently at the highest level.

It also has to be remembered that his transfer budget was slashed and he was forced to sell key players. Any manager would struggle when placed in the same boat.


Rafael Benitez, Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi are a just a few big names who have been fired more than once in their managerial careers. Clubs and fans should be more patient with their managers' and ignore some of the ridiculous media tirades that occur in this day and age.

The examples of Charlton, Newcastle and other clubs like Norwich City (who sacked Nigel Worthington) and Southampton (Gordon Strachan) should be assessed and taken note of by other clubs looking to make what could be make or break decisions.

The decision makers involved only have to look at where those clubs are now, and look at where they were when the fore-mentioned managers were dismissed.

This is one of the more frustrating aspects of our wonderful modern game. Everyone just needs to step back and take a deep breath.

Things take time, just ask the Old Trafford faithful. What were you thinking back in September 1989 when you lost 5-1 at Maine Road to your biggest rivals? They probably don't even remember.