Football’s
continuity problem
Chelsea
legend Frank Lampard became the latest high-profile manager to depart the
Premier League in recent years, after being relieved of his duties as Chelsea boss
on Monday. Former PSG coach Thomas Tuchel took the reins just 24 hours later as
Chelsea’s managerial merry-go-round continues.
Lampard became the 10th man to be sacked by Chelsea’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich in his 17-and-a-half-year tenure at the club. This figure is in stark contrast to Chelsea’s opponents on Sunday with Sean Dyche being in the Burnley hot-seat for 8 and a half years making him the longest-serving manager in the Premier League.
Dyche’s
longevity makes him somewhat of a statistical anomaly amongst his fellow bosses,
as according to an article by SQAF in 2019 the average lifespan of a
manager in England’s top division is just 789 days. Which poses the question
why does football have a continuity problem?
Below we
look at five reasons as to why managers are no longer given time to turn things
around at their clubs:
1.
Revenue- Since
the birth of the Premier league in 1992 English football has become a global
force. The Premier league pulls in an average global audience of 4.7 billion
according to SPORT+MARKT and therefore attracts billionaire
investors looking to pump their cash into our football clubs and in return they
want to see results. In Chelsea’s case
Lampard had lost five of his last eight league games, leaving The Blues in 9th
position 5 points off the Champions
League places at the time of his departure.
For a man of Abramovich’s wealth success is of
paramount importance and this means winning trophies, hence the sticking
plaster strategy he has adopted throughout his time at The Bridge. In the most
part this has worked for the 54-year-old who has overseen five league title
wins and a Champions League triumph in his period as owner.
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However, after Maurizio Sarri left to take
over at Juventus in 2019, Abramovich appeared to adopt a new approach. In
appointing Lampard, he immediately had the backing of the supporters with many
fans expressing that they were able to identify with the blend of youth and
experience that Lampard was establishing within the side. Everything started
pretty rosily for ‘Super Frank’ as he managed to steer the club to the Champions League
spots at the first time of asking. One area of potential weakness that was
identified though was their inconsistent nature.
Under Lampard’s stewardship, Chelsea had a habit
of rattling off five wins in a row before losing three on the bounce.
Abramovich attempted to rectify this by splashing out £222 million on reinforcements
in the summer transfer window.
As of yet, Chelsea have been unable to reap the
rewards of this investment on the pitch with £90 million record signing Kai
Havertz struggling to adapt to life in the Premier League. His fellow German
international Timo Werner has also failed to hit the ground running in a
Chelsea shirt this season after he was brought in for £50 million in the summer.
This caused Abramovich to lose patience and things
came to a head when Chelsea were handed a 2-0 defeat at Brendan Rodgers’
Leicester on the 19th of January. Behind the scenes the Chelsea
hierarchy began the search for Lampard’s successor with the 42-year-old
seemingly being given a farewell fixture bowing out with a 3-1 victory against
Luton the following weekend. Chelsea’s record goalscorer spent a total of 18
months in charge which was the fifth-longest reign of any Chelsea manager appointed
by the Russian, putting into context the need for instant results in today’s
game and that pressure will always be intensified when the cheque book comes
out.
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2.
Social media- Social media now plays a huge part in football, football
fans now have a platform to showcase their understanding of the beautiful game
and their words can often carry meaning. Rallying cries calling for the
manager’s head can be trending on Twitter within minutes and that can eventually
lead to a toxic atmosphere within a fan base which ultimately never ends well
for the person in charge.
Anyone can now essentially become a journalist
and if enough people listen to what they are saying then that can spell bad
news for the manager of their football club.
Fan channels are a perfect example of this new
way of producing content by breaking the mould to attract huge numbers on platforms
such as YouTube by allowing supporters to connect with the ordinary fan’s
opinion. The flipside of this is that when the team hit a bad run of form a
debate is often sparked about whether it is time for a change in the dugout.
3.
Player Power- Gone
are the days of Sir Alex Ferguson’s infamous hairdryer treatment, players have
more of a say in the direction of their careers and sometimes that can include
what manager they play for. If a player disagrees on tactics, formations or
feel that they aren’t getting enough game time they can on occasions prove to
be a difficult conundrum for their boss to solve.
All it takes is for the manager to put a couple of player’s noses out of
place and they have ’lost the dressing room’. In the fast-paced world that
football has become it is vital for everyone to be on the same page otherwise
the manager will be gone before they have even got their feet under the table.
4.
Philosophy- The
word philosophy has become extremely prominent in football over the past few
years, particularly since Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp arrived in England. Fans
and owners alike now have a view of what the ‘modern game’ should look like,
and if that doesn’t involve 300 passes before going for goal then the manager
is often questioned even if they are getting results. Sam Allardyce is a prime
example of someone whose style of play falls under the newly spawned ‘anti-football
phrase’.
But if you actually look into his career, ‘Big Sam’ has achieved his
objectives at more or less every club he has been at and has never suffered
relegation from the top-flight as a manager. From the outside looking in the
Dudley born man appears to have a one-dimensional way of operating, but this
doesn’t tell the whole story. He is someone who champions the use of sports
science and psychology to help get the best out of the players at his disposal.
These methods
first came to fruition when he guided Bolton to the Premier League in his first
full season, then going on to secure safety and qualify for the Europa league
in the subsequent years that followed. Allardyce also began to use analytics
when preparing for games and used this tool to help him identify new players.
His software
of choice was an emerging stats-based company called Prozone. Prozone allows
football clubs to use data to analyse a variety of areas such as opposition’s
strengths and weaknesses, individual player statistics and hidden gems within
the transfer market. Allardyce was one of the first Englishmen to incorporate
Prozone into his coaching methods and he gained plaudits for his innovative
ways.
As time
moved on though the football world developed an urge to be entertained as well
as getting the three points. Sam found this out at West Ham in 2015 when Hammers
fans grew tired of the style of play citing a desire to go back to the ‘West
Ham Way’. This didn’t match up with the long ball football they had become
accustomed to under Allardyce and so he was shown the door.
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5. Ego’s - Ever heard of the phrase too many
cooks spoil the broth? Well this can certainly prove to be the case in football.
There have been many instances where owners have let their egos get in the way
of decision-making and the individual leading the team has bore the brunt of
that decision.
Massimo Cellino took over as owner of Leeds in 2014 and his first action
was to remove Brian McDermott from his job. Only for him to be reinstated
within days when it came to light that Cellino didn’t have ownership of the
club yet. Businessmen sometimes view football clubs as toys rather than a
long-term project and this is a dangerous combination when trying to build a
sustainable football club and can result in a lack of direction.
And so that brings an end to why football has a problem with continuity.
What are your thoughts? Do you think managers should be given more time or is
an instant impact what you are looking for?
Sources
https://www.chelseafc.com/en/about-chelsea/history/trophy-cabinet
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