As mobile phones started to ring on Sunday morning, there would’ve been more than one nervous manager up and down the country checking the caller ID before answering, hoping that it wasn’t the dreaded call from the Chairman informing them that they had now got plenty of spare time to do their Christmas shopping.
As it happened, over the weekend, there were to be 4 managers who would receive that dreaded call and who now find themselves jobless.
Firstly, David Flitcroft was relieved of his duties at Oakwell, following Barnsley’s 3-0 home defeat to Birmingham City, with the Chairman not even waiting until Goals on Sunday was on our screens before pulling the trigger. In fact, he didn’t even wait for Match Of The Day to start, such was the despair at another inept performance against a team who, it has to be said, are not one of the greatest teams in this season’s Championship.
With only 2 teams in the division having scored fewer goals than Barnsley this season to go along with the league’s worst defensive record, whoever takes over is going to have their work cut out. Barnsley are bottom of the league on 11 points from 17 matches and the current bookies favourite to take over is former manager Danny Wilson who first cut his managerial teeth at Oakwell during a four year spell which began in 1994.
Move one position up the league ladder to the Championship’s 23rd placed Sheffield Wednesday and we find our next empty managerial office following Milan Mandaric’s dismissal of Dave Jones yesterday. Also on just 11 points but from one game fewer than Barnsley, the fact that Wednesday have picked up just the one win so far this season obviously became too much to bear and the search for a new manager commences, with rumours of Michael Appleton, the youngest man ever deemed to be a journeyman manager at the age of just 37, supposedly a guest of Mandaric on Saturday during the 2-0 defeat at Blackpool.
Another team with a combination of a toothless attack and a porous defence, whoever takes the hot seat will have a big task on their hands, but one which would be greatly rewarding for whoever does finally get this ‘sleeping giant’ back into recovery mode. Also near the head of the betting market is former Sheffield United boss, not to mention lifelong Blades fan, Neil Warnock. We all know that Mandaric isn’t afraid to make his own decisions but the fans may not be too receptive to such an appointment.
The final one of the weekend’s three Championship dismissals came in the evening following last season’s relegated FA Cup winners Wigan’s 3-1 home defeat to Derby County, with Owen Coyle now also looking around for a new job. The sight of him sat in the dugout, kitted out as though he is a substitute, not the man paid to make the decisions, in his shorts and socks has often amused me in a puzzled kind of way. I didn’t like it at Bolton and I didn’t like it at Wigan. It may be insignificant to some, but I prefer an air of professionalism in both approach and wardrobe from a manager. Clearly, Dave Whelan had also reached the end of the road with the man who he appointed just 6 months ago to replace the departing Roberto Martinez and chose to act now in the hope that the season isn’t completely lost.
Whoever takes over will be tasked with a play off run between now and the end of the season, whilst qualification from the Europa League group is still a last day possibility should they win away in Maribor and the groups other result proves favourable. The two current front-runners in the market are the recently-fired ex-Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway and long time Manchester United coach Mike Phelan. If I am honest, the thought of a terrible-twosome of Whelan and Holloway just doesn’t bare thinking about, so for that reason alone, I hope that Wigan look elsewhere!
Now news of Sunday’s first managerial dismissal came like a bolt out of the blue to absolutely nobody at all. Martin Jol had been living on borrowed time for a while with each passing disappointing result pushing him closer to the exit, whilst also inching Fulham closer to the relegation trapdoor. There is still a long way to go in the season but judging by the performances by Fulham so far, a change just had to be made. The recent appointment of highly-regarded ex-Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen as Head Coach was also a sure-fire signal of what was to follow, with the new Dutchman stepping into the departing Dutchman’s shoes as the wonderfully-moustachioed Shahid Khan placed him in temporary charge of first team affairs. Surely his first task will now be to get some shape, organisation and fight instilled into his inherited troops, as to this point, performances on the pitch have been abject at best.
Former West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Mowbray often spoke of his teams needing a good blend of ‘artists and soldiers’ (something he never quite got right himself at Premier League level) and that is also something which Meulensteen will need to address as this season’s poor results have been as a direct consequence of an unbalanced mixture of grit and flair. This is a huge opportunity for Meulensteen to show people that he is ready to step into the limelight following his progression through the coaching ranks, whilst he will also be keen to put a short and unhappy time in Russia with Anzhi Makhachkala behind him. He has already made the first noises in the press that he is unimpressed with the squad and will be calling for reinforcements to join in January to aid them in the second half of the season.
With January and the transfer window approaching, I would expect there to be a few more nervous glances at the incoming caller ID on the phones of managers everywhere as owners start to get twitchy. A good portion of the season has now gone and giving a new manager a few weeks to look at the shape of the squad prior to the opening of the window may well be seen as a better use of that time than just drifting along under the current regime.
For some managers, it is going to be a cold, cold Christmas.
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Image Credit: Mirror.co.uk
