ZOLA’S BACK
ANDY DUNN’S VERDICT
IF you wanted to find a genuinely nice guy to stab you in the back, you could not make a better choice than Gianfranco Zola.
Not that Zola knifed Gary Rowett. It just looked that way.
Zola just settled into his chair after Rowett had barely finished clearing his Birmingham City desk.
No back-stabbing, but the most indecent of haste.
If Rowett fell out with his employers and was going to get sacked, regardless of results, fine.
To Birmingham City supporters, to the wider football community, to most remotely sane observers, it is the most ridiculous of decisions.
But it can happen – the relationship between Rowett and the club’s hierarchy and ownership seemed fraught.
What really took the breath away on Wednesday was the speed at which Zola took the reins.
Would it not have shown just the slightest bit of decorum to allow the seat to cool a fraction?
Make it look as if Zola had not been a done deal before Birmingham’s 2-1 win over Ipswich Town on Tuesday night.
For a couple of days, they could have even gone through the farce of saying Rowett had gone and the search for a successor had started.
And then made the appointment they had already sorted.
In that case, at least the genial Italian would have certainly come out of this with not a query against his wonderful reputation.
There probably is not a query, still. Even the most amenable characters in the game have to be ruthless in the world of football management. That seems to be a given. And that is why Zola and every other manager can never complain about a lack of patience and loyalty.
They are after each other’s jobs on a daily basis.
There are two peerless examples – both seasoned multi-club operators in the Football League. One of them contacts directors, asking if he can give a powerpoint presentation of how he can improve their club’s fortunes … while another manager is in the job. The other’s speciality has been to privately tell the board of a club his team has just beaten where the current manager was going wrong and how he might be willing to replace him. This sort of stuff might not surprise you, but we are continually being asked to have sympathy for the plight of managers. Yet they are turning each other over, time after time. If you are fortunate to stay on the carousel, fine. Such is the overwhelming sympathy for Rowett, the disdain for the decision of the Birmingham City owners and his decent stewardship at St Andrew’s, he will have no problem getting another post.
But not all can get another job in the full-time game.
Theirs is clearly a tough world and no one has Zola’s sort of successful playing career without being tough.
His management record is, at best, patchy, so his name must have been key to him getting the gig. He was not afraid to use it. Back in May of 2011, Zola and the League Managers’ Association were upset at the manner of his demise and eventual sacking at West Ham.
But deep down, they probably knew then what the manner of Zola’s appointment at St Andrew’s screams.
They can talk about loyalty all they want, but, in football, it is every manager for himself.