Kevin Palmer: Changing faces of football management still face a familiar fate

Sunday World

16-06-2025

Most top-level managers are doomed before they start
Only a handful of managers in the history of the game have walked away from a top jobs on their own terms, with Alex Ferguson and Jurgen Klopp notable examples in recent years.
For the rest, the countdown to the sack begins the moment they take on a new role and the clock will already be ticking for Frank at Spurs.
The impressive Danish tactician may have suspected the contract he signed with Spurs until 2028 was little more than a security agreement that would be useful when he faces the almost inevitable outcome, probably long before his three years are up, with all managers going into these high pressure jobs appreciating the perils that go with it.
The fact that Frank's managerial approach is based around getting the best out of moderately priced talent should give him a chance to enjoy more success under Spurs chairman Daniel Levy than many have enjoyed in recent years, but he will be aware of the big names that have tried and failed to achieve success under this owner.
Levy's determination to put financial prudence ahead of success on the field has been increasingly evident in recent years, with their Europa League success last month a rare highlight of his long and generally unsuccessful tenure running the club.
If Frank fails to build on that trophy success Ange Postecoglou achieved before he was sacked, the last Tottenham boss will be the latest recipient of a huge pay-off that will serve as compensation for the humiliation he will be forced to endure when he is condemned to join the ranks of the unemployed in the most public fashion imaginable.
All of us accept our jobs can be taken away at any moment, but we don't live in a world that sees our exit celebrated by supporters who are generally glad to see the back of you and with your reputation shredded by the slide in fortunes that led to your demise.
The probability of the sack threat does not dissuade those eager to get back on the managerial treadmill, with the intoxicating nature of the game ensuring the embarrassment of a bruising dismissal is quickly overtaken by a desire to get back into the madhouse as quickly as possible.
"How does it feel to get the sack? It's part of the job and we all realise that will probably be the end at some point," former Newcastle and Brighton manager Chris Hughton told the Sunday World.
"You have to dust yourself down and go again, but that is easier said than done because you do take a confidence hit when you have a tough time and results go against you.
"I've had situations where I saw it coming and the one for that was a bit different was at Brighton, as I didn't see that coming when the call came.
Chris Hughton says being sacked is not a pleasant experience. Photo: Reuters
"I wouldn't say it's embarrassing to get the sack, but it's not nice. The way things are in the modern world, there are a lot of places for people to talk about you and pass judgement on you and that's probably different than it was for managers when I was a player.
"It can be hard to build an affinity with clubs if you know the demand for quick success is there. You might speak to the owners when you take the job and give them a vision for a two or three year project and they might go along with it at that point.
"What then happens is the long-term plan is ripped up if you don't get instant success and that can change the way you manage.
"The game has changed and the arrival of foreign owners is part of that. They run the clubs as if they are a business and follow the same principles, but that doesn't always work in football.
"The situation I had at Nottingham Forest was challenging and it was the one job that I couldn't find the right solutions.
"A manager needs time to bring in players and build a team, but that isn't always possible when an owner wants to win and isn't prepared to wait."
Former Ireland defender Hughton is currently open to offers as he waits to make a return to the dug-out at the age of 66, with his appetite to continue his coaching career not diluted by a torturous experience as Ghana manager last year which ended amid a storm of protests from angry fans.
Yet the touchlines he has patrolled for so long are now being occupied by fresh faced newcomers arriving into the game via what would have been seen as an unconventional route not so long ago.
Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho shattered the notion that success as a player was a prerequisite to landing a top job as a manager, with Brighton's 32-year-old manager Fabian Hurzeler and Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner among those working at the top of the coaching game without a C.V. of success as a player.
Gone are the days when a club struggling to beat the drop will turn to a veteran escapologist such as Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis, with a youthful coach boasting a vision that may be seen as more progressive now likely to impress perspective employers.
Former Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard is bucking that trend as he has a playing career few of his touchline rivals can match, but the pessimism around his move into coaching is evidence of a changing mindset around what managers need in their armoury.
Frank Lampard is currently Coventry City manager Photo: Zac Goodwin/PA
Lampard has taken on challenging roles at Derby, Chelsea and Everton before highlighting his coaching qualities as he oversaw an impressive run of form at Coventry in the final half of the Championship season that ended with an agonising play-off defeat against Sunderland.
In some respects, Lampard's status as one of the stars of the English game over the last two decades is working against him as there is a perception that he only getting these coaching roles due to his star status, but he is eager to defuse that negativity.
"I had a long career and people maybe think I don't need to work, I guess financially. But I wanted to get back in because it's what I love doing," says Lampard.
"I love coaching players. I love working with players on the training ground. It's a very consuming business, but this is where I want to be.
"It's easy to sit at home and play golf, but I like to work. I'm driven. I like to prove people wrong. I did in my playing career."
Job security is not a condition that will be included in the job description for any football manager, as the average tenure of a manager in England is now around two years.
That does not dilute the ambitions of those eager to throw themselves into the line of fire, with the sporting drug seemingly irresistible despite the perils that come with it.