Chairmen want results yesterday and have little view of the football club as a football club the way it was seen in earlier years and more of just another business asset in which the income is most important, and more success of course relate to more income. Hull City fans have a fight on their hands to keep the name of their club as Hull City rather than the change intimated. The argument has caught fire with fans chanting ‘City Til We Die’ being responded to with a ‘You can die as soon as you want’ from Chairman Assem Allam. The argument though is more of a fight of tradition and I would bet if the fans lose the fight they will still refer to their club as Hull City. The League table on most sites only mention them as Hull anyway and so although I understand the issue I don’t really understand the intensity of the fight, especially after the win yesterday was shelved in favor of more talk of this issue with Hull fans calling in to talk radio shows.
My issue is with these Chairmen who remove managers from their position at an alarming rate. This weekend I think has seen more managers removed from the top two tiers of English football than I can remember at this point in the weekend and as a result, has me concerned.
First up Martin Jol of course has been under pressure at Fulham since the opening day pretty much. At Hamburg and Ajax he had a win rate over 60% while previously at Tottenham it was only at 45%. So is his problem with management or just management in English football? It has been just over two years since Martin Jol took over Fulham after Mark Hughes walked out saying the club didn’t match his ambitions. His first game came in the UEFA Europa League qualification only two weeks after getting the job and got through three qualifying rounds before being put in Group K. That would be where the trip would end though as a last minute equalizer from Djiby Fall snatched second place from Martin Jol’s men.
That first season saw Fulham finish ninth, level on points with Liverpool and only four points behind Chelsea. Last season Fulham slipped away a little and finished in position twelve, nine points worse off than the previous season, but they had also sold Clint Dempsey to Tottenham. Interestingly last season after the same amount of games Fulham only had six more points, but only two behind that great first season when they ended up finishing ninth. Should he have been given more time to move things on again or not? Well when Rene Meulensteen was hired as head coach ‘under’ Martin Jol you had the feeling he was being put in place for a change. Can he do better at Fulham, though we will have to see. Can he get Berbatov back among the goals and look like he cares again? There is certainly something to fix at Fulham but I am not sure removing Jol will help them in the long run.
The second tier of English football also had its casualties this weekend. Saturday saw Barnsley remove David Flitcroft as head coach less than a year in charge. Yes in the 1996-97 season the team were in the Premier League but since then have been in the third tier of English football and administration.
When Flitcroft took over on 29th December 2012 Barnsley were second bottom with only 21 points from 24 games. He also got them to the 6th Round of the FA Cup only to be beaten 5-0 away to Manchester City. With all that excitement going on there was also the relegation battle going on and in the 22 League games he was in charge of a decent 34 points were collected and relegation avoided.
Currently they are joint bottom again with only 11 points from their first 17 games and six points from safety. I would still liked to have seen the young man given more time to turn the squad around and at least make his year celebration.
Barnsley are joint bottom with Sheffield Wednesday and it was the Sheffield side who also relieved their manager of his duties also this past weekend. Dave Jones was hired a few months before Flitcroft and at least he got his year at the club under his belt.
In his first month at the club his side won 4-1 and 3-0 in the opening games. The first six games in charge resulted in five wins and 1 tied game bringing him his first Manager of The Month award. With that last part of the season he got Sheffield Wednesday promoted from the third tier to the Championship. I am not sure what expectations the Chairman Milan Mandaric had but again, for me, I would have liked to have seen you give the guy who won you promotion a little more time to adapt to a new level of play.
Reports today, as of yet unconfirmed, would top even that if true. Owen Coyle, the manager who recently took over as Wigan manager after the side were relegated may be out of a job despite being mid table in the league right now, a game behind most and only two wins away from a play off place.
We all know Wigan won the FA Cup last season and were then relegated. Roberto Martinez left to take over as Everton boss and the Wigan chairman The priority is getting back to the Premier League," added Whelan. "Europe is not the priority and while we are proud to represent England in that European league, it is not our priority. Directly after the hiring of Owen Coyle the Wigan chairman said ‘The priority is getting back to the Premier League," added Whelan. "Europe is not the priority and while we are proud to represent England in that European league, it is not our priority. Getting back to the Premier League over two years is and it may take that time."
Certainly a departure of Coyle after 16 League games would call into question that statement even though some blame is being put on the fans for their protest after the 3-1 loss to Derby County.
Yes they have lost three games this week but sometimes that happens. On the 12th December you have your last game in the Europa League and you are currently still not out of the competition. I think personally that the Wigan fans have been spoilt with the past few seasons under Martinez. Wigan have always struggled in the Premier League and only won the FA Cup due to a poor Manchester City display which we now know was the end of Mancini. The numerous great escapes and FA Cup win I think have the Wigan fans a false sense of where they should be. The Chairmen said it may take two full years to get back, apparently the fans were only willing to wait a few months.
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