Is it More Successful To Hire and Fire?

By grvadmin

There have been 10 Premier League managerial casualties this season which has once again opened the debate whether it is best to hire and fire similar to Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea or to stick by your man a stance that has seen West Ham all but safe under the management of Sam Allardyce.

Managerial Dismissals:

Sunderland: Paolo Di Canio 22nd September 2013

Crystal Palace: Ian Holloway 22nd October 2013

Fulham: Martin Jol 1st December 2013

West Brom: Steve Clarke 14th December 2013

Tottenham Hotspur: Andre Villas Boas 16th December 2013

Cardiff City:  Malky Mackay 27th December 2013

Swansea: Michael Laudrup 4th February 2014

Fulham: Rene Meulensteen 14th February 2014

Norwich City: Chris Hughton 6th April 2014

Man Utd: David Moyes: 22nd April 2014

Tony Pulis who was appointed as Crystal Palace Manager on the 23rd November 2013 has transformed their fortunes and has once again shown what can be done with the right approach. Notable results since the end of March have seen Palace go on an impressive run picking up 15 points from their last 6 Premier league games. Steve parish one of the Palace Co-chairmen took his time in replacing Ian Holloway who clearly has been found wanting as a manager in the Premier league firstly with Blackpool and at the start of this season Crystal Palace.  Along with Liverpool and Everton, Crystal Palace are among the big surprises of the season. Pulis has been ridiculed by fans and some managers alike for the “anti-football” that he had played at Stoke City but his Palace team have a good blend of solidity in their defence but are dangerous going forward. Jason Puncheon looks transformed since the turn of the new year. Puncheon has scored 4 goals this month 2 against Cardiff City, 1 against Aston Villa and 1 in what many saw as a hiding to nothing away at Everton. Pulis’s squad seem like a completely different group of individuals from the one that looked favourites for the drop at the start of the season

It is a completely different story over at Cardiff City, many see Malky Mackay’s sacking the most unfortunate and unnecessary of this season, he was a fan favourite for finally getting Cardiff into the Premier League. Ironically Mackay’s Premier League managerial record is almost identical to the man that replaced him Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. It was somewhat a strange appointment replacing a well travelled and experienced manager in Mackay who has experienced management at all levels of the game. Tan clearly saw Solskjaer as a marquee appointment continually eluding to his successful playing days at Manchester United.

Mackay

18 games ( Wins= 4, Draws =4, Lost =10)

Solskjaer

16 games (Wins= 3, Draws =3, Lost =10)

This is one managerial change that has not really heralded much change, Tan is power hungry and this is plain to see with his letter emailed to Mackay on the 20th December telling the Scot to resign or be sacked, there is not a great amount of professionalism in how tan had handled the situation and has caused the club more damage than good.

The Situation at Norwich City is almost calamitous, many expected the dismissal of Chris Hughton a lot sooner than 6th April 2014. They have looked doomed for months there have not been many positives at all for the Carrow Road club who have an almost impossible run in and remain just one point above the bottom three. Norwich City lost on Saturday in another poor performance away at Manchester united.  Norwich’s remaining two fixtures are away at Chelsea next Sunday and then entertain Arsenal on the final day, not many people if any give interim manager Neil Adams any chance of being able to manufacture anything out of the final two games and he has been put in an impossible position by the club.   No-one wants to see a managerial dismissal but Hughton had looked out of his depth and has done in previous Premier league campaigns Norwich’s indecision to react could be the main catalyst for their Premier League exit.

One man who seems to get the job done at the business end is West Ham’s Sam Allardyce who after being under pressure all season long still remains in the job, baring complete self destruction he has kept them up for another season with not much financial backing, However with a lot of fan unrest it would not be surprising to see Allardyce and West Ham part ways in the Summer. Similar to the Stoke City sacking of Tony Pulis 21st may 2013 for wanting a better style of play the same has been aimed at Allardyce by the fans. West Ham owners David Gold, David Sullivan and Karen Brady need to be commended with being steadfast when calls for Allardyce’s head were coming from fans and sections of the media in their droves. Many have said including myself that in the situation they found themselves in earlier in the season one man you would appoint to get you out of a relegation battle would be Sam Allardyce and it appears once more he has delivered, whether that is seen as good enough by the club remains to be seen.

The situation of whether it is better to hire and fire or just to show loyalty to your manager is a huge Grey area, there is good evidence that both methods yield good results in the right situation. One thing is for sure if a club develops a clear plan in what they want to achieve then this improves their chances of success. looking at the teams battling to stave off relegation have all made bizarre knee-jerk reactionary decisions, there Premier League position is an indication of naive decision making from owners that should no better Vincent Tan especially.