The Managerial Merry Go Round

The football world has been dominated in recent weeks by news of managerial changes.

Sir Alex Ferguson started it all off by announcing his shock decision to retire as manager of Manchester United.  United moved quickly to appoint David Moyes as his replacement which created a vacancy at Everton.  I'm not totally convinced that Moyes is the right man for the job but most United fans seem happy with him and believe that he deserves a shot at one of the big jobs.

My own opinion is that United don't need to take a gamble on anyone.  They're one of the biggest clubs in the world and could have pretty much anyone they wanted.  For me Moyes is an unnecessary risk and they should have went for someone with a proven record who could guarantee success. Time will tell how good Moyes is but for me his record at Everton is pretty much par as he has them performing at the level I'd expect Everton to be at.

The Everton board now have to look at who they want to replace Moyes.  Much of the talk has been about Roberto Martinez and Neil Lennon.  Of those two Martinez would be a better appointment but I think he might give Wigan another year as he won't want to end his time there as the manager who got them relegated.

That leaves Neil Lennon but as a Celtic fan I don't think he would be a great appointment for Everton.  His stock was increased by the Champions League run but from watching Celtic every week I'm not convinced by him.  He seems to struggle to motivate the players in certain games and some of the changes he makes during games are bizarre. 

Whilst I don't think Everton should appoint him, the Celtic fan in me would love it to happen.  I love Neil Lennon and he will rightfully be remembered as a club legend for his time as a player.  He played and later captained us through what was a very successful period in our history but I genuinely don't think he has the right attributes to be a long term manager at Celtic.  If he were to take the Everton job he could leave Celtic with his head held high.  I would hate it if he stayed at the club and ended up being sacked as it's the last thing he deserves for all the years service but unless the domestic performances improve it is a realistic possibility.

The man who I would like to see get the Everton job is Gus Poyet.  Poyet has done a fine job since his playing days ended, coaching at Leeds and Tottenham before taking on the Brighton manager's job.  In his time at Leeds he assisted Dennis Wise and whether it was coincidental or not, there was a huge drop in fortunes when Poyet left for Tottenham.  Personally, I think it was no coincidence and that Poyet was the brains behind the operation but we will never know for sure. 

In his time at Brighton he has took them from being a relegation threatened League One club to the Championship playoffs.  His CV is almost identical to David Moyes' at this stage in his career.  Moyes took over a struggling Preston before guiding them to promotion and then losing in the playoffs for promotion to the Premier League.  The move may have been made a little easier too with the news that Poyet has been suspended as Brighton manager for a "breach of contract."  In one of his interviews after losing in the playoff semi-finals to Crystal Palace he commented on his future, indicating that he did not know whether or not he would be at Brighton next year.  It may be messy but it certainly looks like Poyet's time at Brighton is coming to an end and Everton would be perfect move for both parties.

Another big job up for grabs is Manchester City.  Roberto Mancini was sacked on Monday following City's FA Cup Final defeat to relegated, Wigan Athletic.  In my honest opinion it was only a matter of time before Mancini was sacked and I think the club will be better off without him.  Mancini earned a reputation as a top manager after winning three Serie A titles with Inter Milan.  When you read it like that it looks impressive.  However, the fact is he never won the first title.  Inter finished third that year but Juventus and AC Milan were deducted points after being caught up in a match fixing scandal which meant Inter were awarded the title.  The following season saw Juventus playing in Serie B and AC Milan beginning the year minus eight points and understandably Inter romped to the title.  In Mancini's final season at Inter, he won another title, narrowly edging Roma to the championship.  Juventus were still recovering from the effects of losing half their squad the season before and Milan's ageing squad was finally catching up on them. 

On paper, Mancini's three Serie A titles look impressive but when investigated a little further, the record really isn't as good as it seems.  He also struggled to make an impact in the Champions League and made the Quarter-Finals on just one occasion.  He was eventually sacked after the 2007/08 season and replaced by Jose Mourinho.  This decision was criticised by many at the time but Mourinho went onto win the Champions League in his second season so the Inter board were proven to be right in the end.

Since Mancini arrived in Manchester he was well backed by the owners who spent millions to give him all the tools he required to make City a top team not only in England but also in Europe.  In three and a half years he managed to pick up an FA Cup and the Premier League title but for the money he spent I don't think the City owners got value for money.  Once again his European record was terrible with City twice failing to make it out of the group stages of the Champions League.  Many will point to the groups they have been drawn into and there is no doubt they have had tough draws but for the money he has spent and the squad at his disposal it was nowhere near good enough.  Last year Bayern Munich and Napoli made it out of the group ahead of City.  Bayern Munich was fair enough but Napoli weren't world beaters and City should have been able to get the better of them.  This year people will say that Dortmund and Real Madrid went onto reach the Final and the Semi-Final which is a fair point but they finished bottom of the group behind those two and Ajax who went on to get knocked out of the Europa League by Steaua Bucharest. 

For me it was the right decision and thoughts now turn to who will replace him.  Manuel Pellegrini appears to be the hot favourite and I think he would be a decent man to get the nod.  His record since coming to Europe has been impressive.  In his time at Villarreal he took a small provincial club to the Champions League Semi-Final before losing out narrowly to Arsenal.  He also guided them to a second place finish in La Liga.  After leaving Villarreal he had a year at Real Madrid were he never done much wrong but just finished behind the best team in the world.  His Real Madrid team finished the year with ninety-six points which was a club record at the time but Barcelona managed ninety-nine to pip Madrid to the title.  After being released from Real Madrid he moved to Malaga.  Malaga were another provincial club but once again he managed to guide them to the Champions League and they were extremely unlucky to be knocked out by Borussia Dortmund after conceding two goals in stoppage time. 

Pellegrini is yet to be officially confirmed as City manager but it looks as though it's just a matter of time before he gets the job and if the board give him the financial backing they gave Mancini, I expect the trophy cabinet at Eastlands to have a few pots in it by the end of next season. 

The other big job opening in England is the poisoned chalice at Stamford Bridge.  The only thing Roman Abramovich loves more than winning trophies is appointing new managers and Chelsea will have yet another new man in the dugout when the 2013/14 season kicks off.  Rafa Benitez has done a decent job as interim manager, qualifying for next years Champions League and winning the Europa League but his position is untenable as he has a fractured relationship with the Chelsea fans which dates back to his time as Liverpool manager.  It's a pity as Benitez has done well and deserves a crack at it but there's no chance of it happening. 

The media and pretty much everyone in the footballing world seem to think that the job is Jose Mourinho's.  He has had a rough spell in Madrid and in typical Mourinho fashion he has clashed with players, media and fans.  It seems that he has decided that enough is enough and he will leave at the end of the season.  He always said he felt there was unfinished business at Chelsea and it looks as though he feels now is the time to go back and finish what he started. 

I am a big Mourinho fan but I do have a few reservations about this appointment.  Everyone knows about Mourinho's ego and for anyone that doesn't I've no doubt Jose himself would be only too happy to tell you how great he is.  The problem is Chelsea already have a huge ego at the club and Mourinho's biggest problem is the other big ego sits in the board room and is the guy who signs all the cheques.  It didn't work out between Mourinho and Abramovich the last time so why is it going to work this time?  As I see it, nothing has changed since last time.  If anything they've both got worse and I just don't see this story having a happy ending. 

If Mourinho does leave Real Madrid, that will be another huge job that needs a big name manager.  Rumour has it that Carlo Ancellotti may be in line to leave PSG to take it which in turn would leave another huge job to be filled. 

Whilst all this managerial merry go round is happening there is one man who I would like to see make a move to one of the bigger clubs.  That man is Borussia Dortmund manager, Jurgen Klopp.  Klopp has done an amazing job at Dortmund and many people will ask would he leave the Champions League finalists but with the news that Mario Gotze is leaving for Bayern Munich and rumours circulating that Ilkay Gundogan, Robert Lewandowski, Marco Reus and Mats Hummels could also be moving on you would wonder will Klopp want to rebuild the squad again.  Gotze on his own is a huge loss to Dortmund but if the others leave too then surely Klopp will have to consider his future.  The one thing standing in the way is Klopp seems to be one of the few in football who have loyalty and respect for their contracts but I just wonder how many more players he can afford to lose and still feel he can keep Dortmund competitive. 

Right now there seems to be more questions than answers and with the Premier League finishing this weekend there may be even more managerial casualties and as the weeks pass things should become a little clearer.  With new managers usually comes new signings so despite the fact that the league is coming to an end at the weekend, the real drama is just about to get under way. 

Sir Alex Ferguson - The End Of An Era!

Football has lost one of it's all time greats with the news that Sir Alex Ferguson is to retire as manager of Manchester United.  Ferguson has been in charge at Old Trafford since 1986 and has won thirty-eight trophies in that time.  Regardless of what team you support, Sir Alex has been one of the best managers of all time and deserves respect from all football fans.

As a player Ferguson was a decent striker, averaging better than a goal in every other game.  He spent his entire playing career in Scotland and spent a few years at Rangers although it was during a period of Celtic dominance and he never picked up any silverware.  His only honours as a player came when he won the Scottish Division 2 title with St Johnstone (1962/63) and Falkirk (1969/70). 

Ferguson started his managerial career at East Stirling but was only there for a few months and quickly moved onto St Mirren where he transformed the clubs fortunes, winning promotion to the Premier Division after winning the league in 1977. However, he was sacked by St Mirren in 1978 and moved onto Aberdeen were he really started to show the brilliance that he is now known for. 

Scottish football has been dominated by Celtic and Rangers over the years but Sir Alex gave them a rough ride during his time at Pittodrie.  He managed to break the Glasgow dominance by winning three league titles, four Scottish Cups and one League Cup.  More remarkably though was leading Aberdeen to victory in the Cup Winners Cup which included wins over Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on the way to the trophy.  They also went onto win the European Super Cup in the following season. 

In 1986 he led Scotland to the World Cup in Mexico, stepping up from assistant manager after the death of Jock Stein.  Scotland failed to make an impact in Mexico and in November 1986 Ferguson left Aberdeen to take over at Manchester United after Ron Atkinson was sacked.  When he took over United they were second bottom in the old first division and he had a big job on his hands.  Slowly but surely he began to rebuild the club but at a club like United, trophies are a big part of it and it has been said that if they had lost to Nottingham Forest in the 1990 FA Cup, Ferguson was going to be sacked.  Fortunately for all concerned, United won that game and went on to win the FA Cup, giving Ferguson his first trophy as manager of Manchester United. 

United followed that success by winning the Cup Winners Cup in 1991 and in the following season United took part in their first real title race of the Ferguson era.  On that occasion they were pipped to the title by Leeds United but Ferguson learned some valuable lessons and hasn't looked back since, winning thirteen league titles in the next twenty-one seasons.   

As well as those thirteen league titles, Ferguson will end his career with five FA Cups, four League Cups and ten Community Shields.  His success hasn't been limited to England and he has added to the Cup Winners Cup with a European Super Cup, two Champions Leagues, an Intercontinental Cup and a Club World Cup.  That is an extraordinary record and it puts Ferguson up there with the best managers of all time.

For someone who is not a United fan it is difficult to put into words my thoughts on Ferguson.  When I was younger I really hated him.  He had a nastiness about him and when United lost it was always the referee's fault.  As he has aged he has mellowed and has become a more likeable character.

Maybe I'm wrong in saying that as my anti-United bias has dwindled since Leeds got relegated and we are no longer in direct competition with them.  I still watch as much Premier League football as I ever did but without that personal rivalry perhaps it's me that has mellowed.  However, when Leeds beat United in the FA Cup at Old Trafford, Ferguson spoke very well of Leeds which wasn't like the guy I remembered. 

I found Ferguson's statement to be quite interesting.  The part were he says it was important to leave the organisation in the strongest possible shape combined with what seems like a sudden change of heart over his future suggests to me that there is more to this than meets the eye.  In recent programme notes he has indicated that he would be around to oversee what he believes is a bright future at Old Trafford and now all of a sudden he has announced his retirement.  I'm not convinced that it hasn't long since been decided who is to follow Ferguson and with that person being available this summer, someone and perhaps even Ferguson himself has decided that this would be an appropriate time to step aside. 

I just find it strange that this turnaround has happened so quickly.  In his programme notes at the weekend he said "whether I will be here to oversee another decade of success remains to be seen but I certainly don’t have any plans at the moment to walk away from what I believe will be something special and worth being around to see."  I can't imagine Ferguson writing those words knowing that he was on the verge of retiring.  It suggests to me that something has happened behind the scenes and Ferguson has either decided to step aside to allow who he believes to be the right man to come in or that the club have someone lined up who they believe is the right man and they have forced the issue.  It may well be something that we never find out the truth about but there is something that doesn't quite add up here. 

All eyes will now turn to Ferguson's successor.  David Moyes of Everton appears to be the front runner but I have to be honest and say I don't think he is the right man for the job and it would be a mistake on everyone's part to give him the job.  Moyes has done a decent job at Everton but in my opinion he is vastly overrated.  There seems to be a big deal made of Moyes guiding Everton to a lot of top half finishes but is that not Everton's level?  Everton are one of the biggest clubs in England and I would have them in the top eight clubs.  If he was guiding a top eight club to top four finishes then I'd be impressed but he has took them to the top four as many times as he has to the bottom four. 

Many people make a big deal of Everton's transfer policy but it really isn't as bad as people suggest.  Outside the Champions League clubs there's not many that spend as much as Everton.  In Moyes time at Everton he has spent over £140m on players and while he has uncovered a few gems for every Marouane Fellaini there is a Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.  I'm not sure Moyes is ready to go to a huge club like Manchester United and feel that he would be much wiser to stay at a team were he seems to be regarded as a great manager for guiding Everton to their rightful position every year. 

There's only one man for me who could go to Manchester United and rise from Sir Alex Ferguson's shadow to make a success of it and that's Jose Mourinho.  Would he care about replacing Ferguson?  Not a chance.  The man's ego is bigger than Old Trafford itself.  With Ferguson still about Old Trafford in his role as a director and ambassador the last thing his replacement needs is Ferguson sitting in the director's box as United go 1-0 down at Old Trafford.  The pressure of managing Manchester United would be hard enough without the weight of Ferguson's legacy on your shoulders too.  For me, Mourinho is the only man who could deal with that pressure and it is well known that he is a huge admirer of Ferguson and Manchester United.  It has been said that he is being lined up to take over at Chelsea in the summer but if he was offered the United job I believe he would walk to Old Trafford to take it. 

If Jose has already signed a deal with Chelsea then I think United should go all out for Jurgen Klopp.  Klopp has done a great job at Borussia Dortmund and with rumours circulating that a lot of his key players are set to leave the German club Klopp may decide to cut his losses and start a fresh somewhere else too.  If United are looking for a manager who knows how to find value for money, bring through youth and have success in Europe then Klopp is the man for the job.  Most people regard Moyes as a great manager because of his ability to build a competitive team with "limited resources".  If that's what we are looking for then I'm grading Moyes as a C and Klopp an A.  Klopp took over a Borussia Dortmund side who were coming through a financial crisis.  He has had to find young talent to develop and he has done a fantastic job at it.  In similar situations Klopp has took his side to two league titles and a Champions League Final while Moyes has took his to an FA Cup Final and one fourth place finish which got them into the Champions League where they failed to negotiate the qualifiers.  Not really a contest is it? 

Regardless of which way the United board decide to go in the coming days, Ferguson's replacement will face a massive task to replace certainly the best manager of my generation and arguably the greatest of all time.  Football won't be the same without him and I can only wish him well in the future.  I'm not sure Sir Alex is the sort of character who can go from running one of the biggest football clubs in the world to tending to the flowers and mowing the lawn so I wouldn't be surprised if we see him in the future with an international side but regardless of what the future holds for him, I wish him well and for what he has done in the football world, I say thank you. 

Michael Owen - The Striker I Shouldn't Like

Michael Owen announced earlier today that he is to retire from football at the end of the season.  To be honest it's not surprising as he has been ravaged by injuries throughout his career and he has been making less and less of an impact in the limited game time he has had in recent years but it is still a sad day for football.  I don't feel entirely comfortable saying that as everything about Owen's career should make me hate him but strangely I don't. 

Owen played for five club sides throughout his career as well as having an excellent international career with England.  At this point it might be useful to know that I am a Leeds United fan so it seems fairly obvious that I didn't appreciate his spells at Liverpool and Manchester United.  I also hold a grudge against Newcastle as they were one of the teams who gained the most from scavenging amongst the wreckage of Leeds financial meltdown.  His spell at Stoke may seem inoffensive but let's be honest nobody outside the Potteries likes Stoke.  He also had a spell in La Liga with Real Madrid and yes you've guessed it, I have a soft spot for their biggest rivals, Barcelona.  As if all that's not bad enough I am also a proud Irish man and at the risk of offending my readers, us Irish don't really like England.  Hopefully, anyone who reads this will be mature enough to understand sporting rivalry and I don't think it's news to anyone that there's nothing us Celts love more than seeing England players readying themselves for a penalty shoot out.

I should maybe point out that I think a lot of the anti-English feeling is brought on by the media.  As I see it the English media are the most over reactive bunch I've ever had the misfortune of experiencing.  When it comes to major tournaments the media would treat a 1-0 win over San Marino as the greatest result of all time but once they suffer an often unlucky defeat to one of the top teams on penalties they instantly become failures and a national disgrace.  It's not fair and the players deserve better but the media love nothing more than to build up their team just so they can get stuck in when it all goes wrong. 

Getting back on topic, Owen's career has took him to what seems like a who's who of teams I don't like but I can't find it in myself not to like him.  He comes across quite well in his media appearances which perhaps helps his cause but I think it's a case of the memories I have of his early career. 

Many younger football fans will think of Owen as the guy who sat on the bench for Manchester United or as the guy who grew a fantastic moustache in aid of the Movember campaign but for the rest of us, Owen is the one who got away.  In his early years Owen was an exceptional talent and it is sad that he and we were robbed of watching that talent grow into what should have been one of the best players in the world.  Unfortunately the injuries took there toll and although there were flashes of genius he was never able to reach the peaks he did in his years at Liverpool. 

Owen is the only Englishman in my lifetime to win the Ballon d'Or and his international record of 40 goals in 89 games is exceptional.  If Owen had stayed free of injuries I have no doubt that he would have smashed Bobby Charlton's record as England's top goalscorer. 

However, the biggest compliment I could give to Owen is that he is the only player in over twenty years of watching football that made me want England to win a match.  I can remember sitting as a thirteen year old watching him score "that" goal in the 1998 World Cup against Argentina.  He was breathtaking that night and it's rare to see a player play that way.  With Alan Shearer providing the focal point of the English attack, Owen was able to drop deep.  When he collected the ball he would set off at pace, taking players on and to this day it is still one of the best performances I've ever saw.

After the game when England had lost on penalties and I had finished sulking my dad said to me "I didn't know you were an England fan" and I replied "I'm not but I just wanted to see Michael Owen again in the next round."  My dad said to me, "Sure the Premier League will be back soon and you can watch him every week" and I replied "Yeah but it won't be the same" and unfortunately it never was.