IT’S A GOOD TIME FOR A BRAVE FACE, TIM
Role of managerial ‘saviour’ is one of the toughest jobs in football
IT’S that time of year when nervy chairman look at their manager and ask the toughest question. Should he stay or should he go? Aston Villa, West Brom, Crystal Palace and QPR already have new managers as we enter the last three months of the season while Leicester City, Hull City, Burnley and Sunderland have stayed loyal to theirs.
I have been in a dressing room at this stage of a campaign when a new boss walks through the door in a bid to keep the club away from relegation. Some have worked, some have nearly worked and some have been unmitigated disasters.
When Steve Bruce came to us at Wigan in 2007, we were as good as down. We’d been bottom three for most of the season and written off for weeks, if not months.
Sensing that pessimism and lack of confidence in the side, Steve immediately brought in renewed optimism and spirit, as well as some much-needed organisation.
Through hard work on the training ground, he made us more organised and united and we started to work really hard for each other. We stayed up comfortably in the end.
Howard Wilkinson came into Sunderland a bit earlier in the 2002/2003 season, and although he had more than enough time to turn things round after Peter Reid’s sacking, it just felt like it was never going to happen.
There was such a negative feeling around the place because he definitely was not the appointment the supporters wanted, and he never really won the squad round either.
That negativity grew week on week, forcing the Sunderland board to sack Wilkinson after less than five months and turn to Mick McCarthy. Unfortunately, it was too far gone to rescue in the end.
When Iain Dowie came into Hull City after Phil Brown’s departure at the beginning of 2010, it felt like a good appointment. He was a good coach, well organised and determined to turn us round, but like Wilkinson, it never clicked. d.
I can still remember his first game at Portsmouth. We played yed well, probably as well as we’d played all season, boosted by a new manager, which is often the reaction on a club expects and needs at that point.
Caleb Folan scored twice, putting us 2-1 up with 17 minutes to go. Portsmouth scored twice wice in the last two minutes to win 3-2 and we never really recovered. vered. We won one game in nine after that and went down with two games to go.
It proves there is no perfect fect formula for survival. With so much more money at stake ke this season in the wake of the new TV deal, there has as never been more pressuree on managers from their r employers to stay in the Premier League. Tim Sherwood breezed into Aston Villa this week proclaiming he needs six wins to keep his new team in the top flight. He’ll need some goals and decent performances too.
Having been heavily linked and interviewed for the Palace job in the summer, and then again for the QPR vacancy following Harry Redknapp’s exit – and allegedly for the West Brom post too – he has not been short of job offers.
Sherwood is certainly confident on the exterior and went to Villa with his vision and his plans for the future, which has obviously been well received by owner Randy Lerner. He just has to make it work and convince the players his selfbelief is justified.
Sometimes a bizarre board decision can work in a club’s favour as Sunderland discovered three years ago when they sacked Martin O’Neill and brought in Paolo Di Canio. That short-term lift probably kept Sunderland up, but Martin would have done the same, and been a saner prospect for the long term.
Managers like Steve Bruce, Nigel Pearson, Gus Poyet and Sean Dyche not only survive, they get support from their chairmen. The players’ performances and commitment have not slipped at those clubs since the turn of the year.
Clubs like Sunderland need to keep their managers for the long term and the difficulties between Poyet and the fans don’t start to have an impact on performances, although last weekend’s FA Cup defeat at Bradford was one of the easiest cup shocks I’ve ever seen.
When QPR owner Tony Fernandes tweeted that he had discovered his ‘dream manager’ very few of us expected Chris Ramsey to be unveiled. But, judging by the performance and result at Sunderland, and the subsequent interviews and tweets, the players are happy with his temporary appointment.
Fernandes will just be hoping his gamble works, having admitted he interviewed Sherwood but he ‘just didn’t fit’.
He could regret his decision if Villa stay up and QPR go down.