The Tragedy Of Sam Allardyce

Disclaimer: This post will probably not interest my principal audience, since it is about football. However, the principles I write about are broadly applicable.

Big Sam's been sacked. He joins six other English Premier League managers in the unemployment queue. The season's barely halfway through and already, nearly half of all Premiership clubs have a different manager than the one they started the season with.In addition to this was the sacking, late last season, of Chris Coleman of Fulham, who wasn't merely one of their most successful managers in recent years (relatively speaking, for Fulham are small-fry), but also a loyal servant as a player, joining the club when it played in the third tier of English football and guiding it to the top flight.

Managers have paid with their jobs for underperformance, but also, in at least two cases, for their style of play (for poor Lawrie Sanchez it was , unfortunately, both). Every manager who still has a job is crying out about the need for stability. People like Sven-Goran Eriksson, Gareth Southgate, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have repeatedly said that managers need time and support, both from the boardroom, but more crucially, from the fans. In Allardyce's case, the Toon army (as the supporters of Newcastle United are known), chanted "You don't know what you're doing" during Newcastle's defeat to Manchester City at home. It turned out to be Allardyce's last home game in charge.

Whatever the reasons for sacking a manager, it is well-known that doing so causes great turmoil within the club. It takes time to appoint a new manager and th e team generally loses matches or drops points under a caretaker. The new manager brings in his own staff, players and tactics. It takes time for things to settle down and the team doesn't do all that well in the meanwhile. At the end of the season, the club has finished in the same position as it would have with the old manager. Only now they are short a few million pounds (compensation for sacking the old manager, plus hiring a new one), and the team is less settled.

This is common sense and just about everyone knows it and says it. Nonetheless, 9 Premiership managers have paid with their jobs in the space of 10 months. To call it a carnage is an understatement. The amount of money in the English Premier League puts a tremendous amount of pressure on clubs to maintain their top-flight status. Teams have fallen into enormous debt-traps after being relegated due to excessive spending on players to stay in the league. All that matters is doing well.

I'd like to add my own observation to the whole situation. I came acros the league table for the 2003-2004 English Premiership season, the season of Invincible Arsenal. The table makes interesting reading. The teams occupying positions 13 through 17 are: Portsmouth, Tottenham, Blackburn, Man City and Everton. These teams (barring Spurs) which are the in-form, red-hot teams this season, were the teams fighting relegation battles just 4 seasons ago. Of them, Portsmouth and Everton still have the same manager. Blackburn appointed their current manager, Mark Hughes, at the end of this season, with Graeme Souness leaving for (ironically) Newcastle. Martin Jol took charge of Spurs at the end of this season and led them to consecutive fifth-placed finishes.

Of the teams in positions 6 through 12, three have been relegated since (Charlton, Birmingham and Southampton) while three are in the thick of the relegation battle this season(Bolton, Fulham, Middlesbrough). Only Aston Villa are at about the same level as they were. The common factor among all these teams? Barring Birmingham, all have had at least one change of manager, for varying reasons. Steve Mcclaren left Boro for England, Curbishley departed from Charlton and Big Sam from, Bolton. The rest have sacked one or more coach. And what about Newcastle? They finished fifth under the venerable Sir Bobby Robson, who was sacked at the start of the following season and replaced by Graeme Souness (the guy who finished fifteenth with Blackburn). Serves 'em right, one might say.

What's this got to do with real life? Things like this happen all the time in business. CEOs are hired and fired, the same way football managers are and for the same reasons too. Poor performance, not staying in the core business whatever. And just like in football, firing CEOs rarely produces an improvement in the company's performance. This has been proved many times over. The new CEO changes the company's direction, leading to a loss in momentum built up by his predecessor.If you want more information in this regard, check out Good To Great, a business book by Jim Collins.

So in conclusion, show more patience. Great teams and great organisations aren't built overnight.