Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas will be out for up to four months after rupturing his knee ligaments against Liverpool in the Premier League clash on the weekend. the injury happened when Fabregas went into a challenge with Xabi Alonso and came out worst off.
This is a big blow to Arsene Wenger's league campaign with both Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky also injured and set to come back well into 2009. Fabregas is a clever midfielder who links up well with Robin Van Persie and his general composure will be missed in this four month period.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Football managerial sackings make way for impact managers
As Gary McAllister joins the list of other young managers to be sacked (arguably premature), he exits at a time when chairmen like Ken Bates are looking for instant results and will not wait for any manager to pull through a bad patch and create continuity in the long term.
It has to be said that Sunderland's chairman Niall Quinn has proven to be an exception with the recent issues at The Stadium Of Light. It appears that Quinn most definitely did not want ex Man United captain Roy Keane to leave the managerial post after 2 years in charge and wanted to support him in the long term. In the premiership it is fair to say that this is a rarity. Since 2001, Daniel Levy is now on his 6th manager. Now, in the case of Martin Jol and more recently Juande Ramos Levy would argue that he had no choice but to sack both coaches, as would many Spurs fans. It could even be said that Ramos was a success in his brief time at White Hart Lane as he did win a competition and bring in some decent players.
Historically, 'impact managers' were used in relegation battles to not only give the club a fresh start but simply do whatever it takes to survive. Managers such as Big Ron Atkinson and more recently Steve Bruce at Wigan Athletic were incentivised heavily to keep their club in the top flight. The transfer window now acts as a mid-point to give a manager the opportunity to improve his chances of better footballing performance. Chairmen will review the teams performance consistently and will only give the manager funds to buy new players if they trust them and believe long term that it is them that they want to employ as coach.
After being swiftly terminated by Newcastle United, Sam Allardyce is back where he belongs in a Premiership managerial position. His impact? Similar to Harry Redknapp he is a superb motivator of players and led his new club Blackburn Rovers to an important 3-0 victory against Stoke City. Paul Ince's loss is Allardyce's gain. Whether he will be given more time to succeed at Ewood Park remains to be seen.
What is the risk of this short termism? That you don't create a long term strategy from the club's Academy upwards to the first 11. Liverpool fans - take note. Benitez is a superb manager who got incredible levels of criticism last season for tinkering too much with his team. Is it possible that the Reds just weren't good enough in terms of ability last season? If the Liverpool board had made a hasty decision then they probably wouldn't be top of the Premiership this Christmas.
It is interesting to hear Alex Ferguson's views on this topic because he is the shining example of continuity paying off even when the team's performance at times is not what you'd want it to be. He blames 'hangers on' - non-director shareholders that want a say and try to influence senior decisions at board meetings. He refers to it as the 'second board' - corpoarate hospitality types that add pressure, demanding instant results that have a direct correlation on the financial health of the football club.
It has to be said that Sunderland's chairman Niall Quinn has proven to be an exception with the recent issues at The Stadium Of Light. It appears that Quinn most definitely did not want ex Man United captain Roy Keane to leave the managerial post after 2 years in charge and wanted to support him in the long term. In the premiership it is fair to say that this is a rarity. Since 2001, Daniel Levy is now on his 6th manager. Now, in the case of Martin Jol and more recently Juande Ramos Levy would argue that he had no choice but to sack both coaches, as would many Spurs fans. It could even be said that Ramos was a success in his brief time at White Hart Lane as he did win a competition and bring in some decent players.
Historically, 'impact managers' were used in relegation battles to not only give the club a fresh start but simply do whatever it takes to survive. Managers such as Big Ron Atkinson and more recently Steve Bruce at Wigan Athletic were incentivised heavily to keep their club in the top flight. The transfer window now acts as a mid-point to give a manager the opportunity to improve his chances of better footballing performance. Chairmen will review the teams performance consistently and will only give the manager funds to buy new players if they trust them and believe long term that it is them that they want to employ as coach.
After being swiftly terminated by Newcastle United, Sam Allardyce is back where he belongs in a Premiership managerial position. His impact? Similar to Harry Redknapp he is a superb motivator of players and led his new club Blackburn Rovers to an important 3-0 victory against Stoke City. Paul Ince's loss is Allardyce's gain. Whether he will be given more time to succeed at Ewood Park remains to be seen.
What is the risk of this short termism? That you don't create a long term strategy from the club's Academy upwards to the first 11. Liverpool fans - take note. Benitez is a superb manager who got incredible levels of criticism last season for tinkering too much with his team. Is it possible that the Reds just weren't good enough in terms of ability last season? If the Liverpool board had made a hasty decision then they probably wouldn't be top of the Premiership this Christmas.
It is interesting to hear Alex Ferguson's views on this topic because he is the shining example of continuity paying off even when the team's performance at times is not what you'd want it to be. He blames 'hangers on' - non-director shareholders that want a say and try to influence senior decisions at board meetings. He refers to it as the 'second board' - corpoarate hospitality types that add pressure, demanding instant results that have a direct correlation on the financial health of the football club.
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