Silva lining in golden era of boss bashing
MARCO SILVA’S sacking as Everton boss has added to the incredible managerial carnage of the last 12 months or so.
It now means that 55 of the 91 clubs who comprise the Football League have changed their manager since December 1 last year.
It’s a chilling statistic for managers, but there is a heavy price to pay in trigger-happy boardrooms too in terms of compensation packages – sometimes just months after the rubber-stamping of a new lucrative contract.
Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has shelled out £33.4million since February 2016 as the axe fell on Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce.
Another big chunk will be heading Silva’s way.
The Championship has become football’s biggest killing field – 17 of the 24 clubs have had a change of direction in the dressing room during 2019, with the average lifespan of a second-tier gaffer having plummeted to around 13 months
Bristol City’s Lee Johnson (above) could soon be in line for a long service medal, having been installed at Ashton Gate in February 2016.
This Premier League season, four have now gone before Christmas – Silva, Mauricio Pochettino (Tottenham), Unai Emery (Arsenal), and Watford’s Quique Flores.
Flores, who only lasted 85 days at Vicarage Road, could claim to be a victim of the modern age, with a VAR decision going against him in a defining 2-1 defeat against fellow strugglers Southampton.
But cruel fate need not be hi-tech.
In 1993 it was the pools panel that did for Malcolm Crosby’s job at Sunderland – just nine months after he had led the Wearsiders to an FA Cup final against Liverpool.
A poor run of results had left Crosby in trouble but it was when the pools panel declared a ‘home win’ for Sunderland’s postponed trip to Tranmere Rovers that the then Roker Park board had finally seen enough, and binned him.
These days nothing would surprise the League Managers Association chief executive Richard Bevan. He said: “In terms of the people we represent they understand it is a very fragile, very volatile industry – brutal at times. “It is the right of fans to dream of where their club might go but it’s the duty of the owner to manage those expectations.
“What happens when you fail to do this is that the pressure builds and builds and the only way some chairmen see as the release valve is the sacking of the manager.
“You find many owners have money but sometimes they haven’t got the football knowledge.”
You couldn’t accuse Salford City co-owner Gary Neville of lacking experience in the game.
The former Manchester United star said: “Any sacking of a manager is a reflection on you as an owner. And it means that you got the appointment wrong.”