The Sack Factor

Well well well, another Premier League manager gets the chop and it's none other than Newcastle United's Sam Allardyce. That makes him the eighth top-flight head coach to be shown the door in the space of five months. I know there's always been a hire-and-fire-'em culture in England when it comes to football management, but was it always as bad as this?

With eight men gone, it means there's now only twelve remaining who must surely be starting to feel the tightness of their shirt collars at this point. By the time I've typed up this article, we'll probably lose another one, so without further ado let's see if we can work out who's next for the guillotine.

Arsene Wenger
Practically part of the furniture at the Emirates and a man who can seemingly do no wrong. Unlikely to lose his job anytime soon, but surely the Chairman must have been hoping The Gunners would have won the Champions League by now? Cause for dismissal?
Sack Odds: 250/1

Martin O'Neill
Most people will say he needs a bit more time to weave his magic before Villa start achieving, but with the club now up to seventh in the table, perhaps change is already underway? That said, Villa sack their managers almost as often as they get a new kit deal, so don't bet against it…
Sack Odds: 50/1

Mark Hughes
Blackburn seem resolutely content to keep Sparky in the manner to which he's become accustomed, and that's perhaps because they're not too ambitious in what they hope to achieve. He's not won anything yet, but he has moved them forward by getting them into the UEFA Cup and the top half of the Premier League table. A bad run of form could see him out of a job, though…
Sack Odds: 33/1

David Moyes
Everything in the garden's rosy for Moyes at the moment. They're in the Carling Cup semi-finals, the last 32 of the UEFA Cup and are up to 6th in the Premier League. Again, no silverware in the cabinet so far for the Scot, but he's proved he can point the team in the right direction. No change, we feel.
Sack Odds: 80/1

Rafa Benitez
Those Scousers still expect the earth, and who can blame them when they've won so much in the past. Rafa's still trying to reproduce those glory days and you can never write him off, but having almost been eliminated from the Champions League a couple of months ago and with an illogical fondness for squad rotation, maybe that distant sound of grumbling will start getting louder…
Sack Odds: 50/1

Sven-Goran Eriksson
To recent an arrival to be seriously considered for the sack. Not only that, but he's guided Man City up to fourth in the table. Nosebleeds all round for fans of the club, then. Barely a hope in hell of being dismissed… unless he gets distracted by skirt once again.
Sack Odds: 200/1

Sir Alex Ferguson
Retire, maybe, but you can't sack Lord Alex of Ferguson, can you? Nah, come on - it'd be like selling your granny. No, don't even think about it. Impossible…
Sack Odds: 500/1

Gareth Southgate
…but then at the other end of the scale is the former England defender who always had a keen eye for a penalty shoot-out. He might be best mates with chairman Steve Gibson, but Southgate's giving much cause for concern through his underachievement. He's been constantly touted as the next manager to get the sack for the last three years, and he's only been managing for the last year and a half. Now that's bad.
Sack Odds: 12/1

Harry Redknapp
He has his ups and downs, does Harry, but right now his Portsmouth side's riding the crest of the wave. They’re eighth in the league and a UEFA Cup place looks well within reach this season so what could possibly go wrong (apart from half your team leaving this month to play in the African Nations Cup?) He's doing a good job at the moment, and we don't see that changing.
Sack Odds: 66/1

Steve Coppell
This time last year, we were all raving about the job Steve Coppell had done at Reading. Now, they're on the slide, albeit slowly. Consistency has been the keyword for Coppell and he's struggled to find it with his players this season. There's every chance he could turn it around and has the time to do it, but if the relegation trap door comes into view, who knows what might happen?
Sack Odds: 25/1

Roy Keane
Speaking of relegation, that's what Sunderland are currently staring in the face. Other newly-promoted clubs Derby and Birmingham have already shown no mercy in giving the boot to the men that got them promoted in the first place, but then again has it done them any good? Keano needs to start finding decent results and fast otherwise it'll be back to dog-walking again…
Sack Odds: 10/1

Alan Curbishley
Curbs managed to see out the end of last season by steering The Hammers away from the drop and now things are going altogether much better. They're into the top half of the table and have even proved that beating the likes of Man United isn't beyond their capabilities. A UEFA Cup place might be a bridge too far, but Curbishley's already won the board and the fans over with West Ham's improved form, so no need to panic, we feel.
Sack Odds: 66/1

Blatter - Man of the Fifties...

It's something no decent person should have to face first thing in the morning: a picture of Sepp Blatter staring out at you from your newspaper. Talk about a bad start to your day...

And why was he taking up valuable column inches on this particular occasion? Because the English FA (shock horror) have dared to appoint a head coach for its national team that isn't English. You've got to hand it to him - he's as sharp as a tack when it comes to this sort of thing.

Did no-one tell him about Sven? Oh well, never mind. Anyway, Von Blatter of Switzerland has hauled out his trusty old soapbox once again and proclaimed to anyone that'll listen that it's "a little surprising that the motherland of football has ignored a sacrosanct law or belief that the national team manager should be from the same country as the players."

And fair enough to. Next time I see Owen Hargreaves, I'll ask him if there are any decent managers in Canada that might be interested in being a future head of the England team.

He went on to say: "In fact, most of the best teams have a coach from their own country." As I didn't believe him for a moment, I thought I'd check this out to see if he was right. To my amazement, he was. Out of FIFA's top 20 highest-ranked teams, only four have a foreign manager, one of which is Fabio Capello of England, the others being Portugal's Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil), Greece's Otto Rehhagel (Germany) and Nigeria's Berti Vogts (Germany).

But that's about all Sepp Blatter is right about. It may have been the case once upon a time that a national team should have a manager from the same country, but that's no longer the case. What remains the same is the desire by a great many international football associations (and their fans) to see their team do well, play better and perhaps even win something.

We're not living in the 1950's anymore. If there's a coach out there that can bring a change in fortunes to a team and bring a smile back to the faces of the supporters, who the hell cares? We're not so precious when it comes to buying our cars. If we were, we British would still be driving around in Austin Allegros and Morris Marinas.

So let's just run this past you one more time, Sepp old son. It's an open market out there. A country can choose who it likes to be its head coach, and that's been the case for a long time now, so can you please remember that you're supposed to be taking the game forward into a modern era and shut up now?

The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #35

The Director's Vote of Confidence
11 Managers and Coaches Who Have Parted Company With Their British Teams During October 2007

1. John Gregory (Queens Park Rangers)
2. Dick Campbell (Ross County)
3. John Coughlin (Berwick Rangers)
4. Willie Donachie (Millwall)
5. Peter Taylor (Crystal Palace)
6. Peter Grant (Norwich City)
7. John Schofield (Lincoln City)
8. Steve Thompson (Notts County)
9. Sammy Lee (Bolton Wanderers)
10. Neil Watt (Ayr United)
11. Martin Jol (Tottenham Hotspur)

12 months is a long time in Football...

Around this time last year, the FA confirmed that Sven Goran Erikson would be replaced as coach of the England National football team. Naturally, the question of who to replace him with was on every England fans mind, along with a second dilemma.

After most of the paying public decided that they were taken for a ride be Sven, the next question was "Should we have another foreign coach, or an Englishmen?" The overhelming concensus was to select an English manager - but who?

Alan Pardew, fairly new to management at newly promoted West Ham? Alan Curbishley, who had magnificently managed to win nothing at Charlton in his 50 year spell? Manchester City's Stuart Pearce, another newbie, who embodies the bulldog spirit that most fans like to see - hence his nickname 'Psycho'? It's either that or he looks like Norman Bates. How about 'Big' Sam Allardyce of Bolton? Big by name...

As we all know, Middlesborough's Steve McLaren got the job, not long after an embarassing defeat at Arsenal. His UEFA Cup run must have swung it.

So a year on, how have the other 'challengers' faired?

Well Alan Pardew may have the 'honour' of managing two of the clubs relegated in the same season. Things went the way of the pear after the FA Cup Final and he was sacked. Thanks to the Woolwich Ferry, he soon found himself at the 'Family Club' - aka Charlton - who's league position was worse than that the club he had just left. West Ham are currently 19th in the table, Charlton 18th - and both are in with a good chance of winning a trip to clubs such as Plymouth, Stoke and Ipswich next season.

Alan Curbishley, who left Charlton in the summer, was Pardew's replacement at West Ham. After a succesful first game against Manchester United, he then managed to carry on where Alan Pardew left off. To be fair, he did even better, managing to take West Ham to the foot of the Premiership at one point.

Stuart Pearce's time at Man City is up. Well, it will be at the end of the season. Flirting with relegation isnt winning the punters over in the blue part of Manchester. In fact, before the recent game against Chelsea, some fans were asking for Kevin Keegan back. Christ, you know things are bad when you want the tactically inept to replace your current manager.

That leaves Big Samuel of Bolton, and for once we have a CV that isnt littered with talk of relegation. Bolton currently sit in fifth place in the Premiership and you cant really say its a fluke either. They arent exactly new to the higher realms of the league table as in the past 3 seasons they have finished 8th, 6th and 8th. Not exactly jaw dropping statistics, but then again, they arent a one season wonder either.

So a year on, its still Sam Allardyce who has the best record, including that of the current England Managers. Even then, however, it still strikes me as being the best of a bad bunch.

With that in mind, would you begrudge another foreign coach of the England team?