Managerial Job Centre (Football)
Who's Signing on, Who's signing off and Who is just 1 loss away from having to que up
We look at the Managers who are most likely to be next for the chop and speculate as to who will be the next appointment in the English Premier League, Manager roll and keep you up to date with the recent Hirings and Firings, in possibly the most unforgiving profession in the world, where thousands of people are ready to call for your head and march in their many, to appeal for your dismissal, at the first scent of under performance.
Jose Mourinho returns to Chelsea
The Special one has returned to Chelsea for his second stint in charge of the blues, he has unfinished business there and is no doubt looking to win the European Champions League with the London club. Last season saw the worst Unity the club has possibly ever seen, with fans unimpressed with the dismissal of club favorite Roberto Di Matteo and then the appointment of an old foe in Rafa Benitez, bringing home the Europa cup went someway to mending bridges but Roman has gone and appeased the fans in the only way possible, by bringing back their managerial hero in Jose Mourinho, much will now be expected of Chelsea next season and Jose will undoubtably be looking to make his mark with a big signing over the summer and will be happy to be reunited with veterans John Terry and Frank Lampard.
Stoke
Mark Hughes
Stoke Appoint Mark Hughes
Following the departure of Tony Pulis, Stoke have appointed Mark Hughes as their new manager and will hope that he can take the club to a different level and break free from their reputation of being a predictable unadventurous side, which plays direct and physical, however fans are wary of Hughes after he effectively sunk QPR to relegation and failed to achieve anything at Man City, despite having great financial backing at both clubs, Hughes will still have to prove himself as a Manager.
Martinez Resigns from Wigan
Roberto Martinez Resigns
After strong links to Liverpool only 1 year ago, he is once again linked with Merseyside but this time it is the blue side not the red, which may prove to be an easier transition from the Blue and White of Wigan in terms of colour.
Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has always been clear in saying that he would not prevent Martinez from moving to the bigger club that he deserves and Wigans relegation practially settled it there and then, despite an exciting European adventure Wigan have to look forward to, life in the Championship won't suit a manager who is seemingly on the up, Martinez drew great accolade for Wigan's shock cup win, which should ensure that he is remembered well by the Wigan fans despite ultimately getting relegated, the doors are now open for him to fill the void left by David Moyes at Everton.
Roberto Mancini - Manchester City
There was an inevitable feeling that this would happen, ever since Ben Watson's header sunk City in the FA Cup final, to ensure that the blues would have no Silverware for the 13/14 season, Mancini angrily rejected the idea that he would be sacked after the game in the post match interviews, which only further revealed the stress he was under. The clubs owners had become concerned that despite the amount of money that had been spent, with exception for the 11/12 season, they had little silverware to show for it, they felt that Mancini hadn't managed to maintain a good relationship with the dressing room, loosing support of big names in the squad such as Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli. Manchester City have no shown much sympathy for previous managers in the past such as Mark Hughes, who may still feel he was unfairly dismissed but afterall it is their decision as owners to do as they feel fit. The premier league will look very different next season without Ferguson and Mancini battling it out, this is the dawn of a new era, with Ferguson ultimately having the last laugh in this little battle..
Martin O'Neill (Sunderland)
The 61 year was given the sack just hours after he led them to a 1 - 0 defeat to current Premier league leaders Manchester United, potentially dragging them into a relegation battle, as Sunderland remain underacheivers this year, despite some big players.
The club released the following statement;
"The club would like to place on record its thanks to Martin and wishes him well for the future.
"An announcement will be made in the coming days regarding a successor."
It would appear they already have in mind who they would like to bring into the club.
Nigel Adkins
Was Southampton manager; Nigel Adkins, learnt of his dismissal from watching the TV, before being told by his Chairman, which i think most people will agree is a quite undignified way of dealing with things from the Chairman's perspective.
There is shades of Chris Hughtons dismissal at Newcastle and Roberto De Matteo, where fans have been left angry and bewildered at the sackings, given their relative success, it is strange times in Football, when 15th place for a newly promoted club, fresh from the championship, is deemed to be failure, Adkins oversaw back to back promotions to get them there and hence why it seems a strange sacking and ungrateful for the progress which he has brought to say the least.
Mauricio Pochettino
The ex-Espanyol coach is little known over in England, however he has the Spanish factor, which so many Club owners and Chairmen are looking for thesedays, its almost as though they believe that by instating a manager who learnt their trade in Spain, their team will become Barcelona and play lovely tikki-takka Football, despite actually being Argentinian but then his connections to Messi and Maradonna will hardly do him any harm.
Fans have reportedly decided to boycott him in his first game and the new manager responded as follows;
“Of course, the fans are free to express their feelings. I cannot tell them what to feel but I will respect how they feel.
“Supporters are one of the biggest parts of a club. Hopefully I can make them feel honoured and proud by how the team plays.
“The biggest challenge is to win all the games ahead of us. I like attractive and attacking football, dynamic, and pressure football. A type of football through which the fans can be proud of who the team is.”
Can he win over the fans? only time will tell!
Will Paul Lambert Stay?
Bradford beat Aston Villa 3 - 1, to pile the pressure on the under fire manager Paul Lambert..
A terrible string of results from Aston Villa lately have left people asking... 'Is Paul Lambert gonna be the next Managerial casualty', owners and fans have entered an age of sheer ruthlessness with their managers and the extremely embarrassing 8 - 0 loss to Chelsea, the clubs biggest defeat in English Premier League history, stands to put the patience of support of the fans and owners alike for Paul Lambert to the test.
In his defense Lambert is fielding an extremely young team, the youngest in the premier league and so can only be expected to do so much, there will need to be a learning curve with the youngsters and they can't be expected to thrive instantly, despite brief signs that they would before christmas, it has drawn criticism that Lambert has made the error of judgement in believing that he could do so without ANY leaders or experienced players whatsoever, the point has been raised that other clubs that have followed such a philosophy as bringing youth through, have had experienced players interspersed to other guidance and tutorship to the young players and so Lambert should know better and surely needs to heed the masses of advice in signing an experienced player, one which can lead the youngsters.
lets take a look at Villa's recent results
Score
| Opponent
| |
---|---|---|
Aston Villa
| 1 - 3
| Bradford
|
Aston Villa
| 2 - 1
| Ipswich
|
Aston Villa
| 2 -2
| Swansea
|
Aston Villa
| 0 - 3
| Wigan
|
Aston Villa
| 0 - 4
| Spurs
|
Aston Villa
| 0 - 8
| Chelsea
|
Should Arsene Wenger be Fired?
Arsene Wenger Under Fire
Pressure is increasingly mounting upon Arsenal FC manager; Arsene Wenger, after their woeful exit from the cup to minnows Bradford City midweek. Failure to win a single trophy in seven years is leaving even the most avid and loyal Arsene Wenger fan to wonder if he still has what it takes to win trophies and rebuild squads in the same manor that rival manager Sir Alex Ferguson has done with Manchester United.
Arsene Wenger was pivotal in creating the Arsenal squad which was blossomed in the late 90's and went on to dominate the early 00's. The squad went on to earn the nickname of 'invincibles' after going a whole calendar season unbeaten and wrote themselves in the EPL folklore. Arsene Wenger had created a squad which held an identifiable style, a unique attractive brand of Football and in their glory days were arguably the nicest team to watch in the EPL and should be credited of playing the pass and move, possession based game which everybody has only just cottoned on to in the wake of Barcelona and Spain's global domination of world Football in recent years but in truth Arsenal we already doing this ages ago and when they met Barcelona in the European Champions League final, everybody was well aware that this was the battle of the passers, two teams which shared the same philosophies, however Barcelona and Arsenals fates couldn't be more different in recent years, as Barcelona drove onto to win the ECL multiple times and dominated their domestic competition and drew accolades worldwide, Arsenal on the other hand failed to deal with the pressure in later stages of cup and title runs and ultimately failed to win any trophy at all, this then led to the departure of key players, who were never adequately replaced, consequentially Arsenal no longer resemble the same side which they once did and that unique brand of Football is less evident.
Arsene Wenger was fortunate to inherit a fearless, disciplined, intelligent and well drilled back line when he took over at the club, one which has earnt a reputation for keeping things tight at the back, hence the chant "1-0 to the Arsenal" but he failed to adequately replace them. For a while the Arsenal offense was so potent that it masked the issues and inadequacies of Arsene Wengers defensive strategies and talent identification. His recent purchases have been debatable, the players are questionable and arguably not up to a good enough standard.
The Arsenal chairman continues to place his faith in Arsene Wenger, repaying his gratitude for what Arsene Wenger has done for the club but this can only last so long, results have to start improving and Arsenal have to start challenging for trophies once again.
Arsene Wenger is clearly a gifted manager and has proven he can build and nurture offensive players and instill a attractive playstyle and shared mentality amongst them but he will really need to prove he can develop a all round squad, otherwise his past glories may not save him in the long run.
23.11.12
Mark Hughes - Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers have confirmed that Mark Hughes has been dismissed only 10 months into his reign as Manager, how it can come as little surprise at Queen Park Rangers are rooted to the bottom of the table without a single win so far this season from 12 games.
Last weekends fixture against Southampton was comically billed as 'El Sackico' and true to the word, as loosing team, it is little surprise that Mark Hughes finds himself the one packing his belongings.
Hughes was just getting ready to take Queens Park Rangers to take on Manchester United at the weekend, where despite having managed for bitter Rivals in recent years, remains a legend of the club, but instead a caretaker manager will be employed for the Manchester United fixture.
Hughes may claim that he hasn't had enough time to bed in so many new players but really, a team with such finances and quality of talent brought in, should be doing much much better and QPR got very lucky to stay in the Premier League, as they threw away their 2 - 1 lead to Manchester City in the last day of the 11-12 season, in what was supposed to be a must need win for survival but managed to stay up despite ultimately loosing 3-2.
Harry Redknapp - Queens Park Rangers
It was a shock when Harry Redknapp left Tottenham Hotspurs before the start of the 12-13 campaign began but you can't keep the old dog out of the game for too long and what a field day he is going to have with the January transfer window fast approaching, with a rich owner to fund his every needs.
Harry appeared as a Pundit on Match of the day just days before and reacted to Banners held by the QPR fans requesting that Harry Redknapp be allowed to take over the club and 'Save' them. Harry did the gracious thing and refused to comment or publically force Mark Hughes out of a job but it was big indication of things to come and the QPR owner quickly obliged to the calls of the fans.