Changing a manager, the big mistake?

There is a consensus that changing a manager is a mistake. That the  change doesn’t make much difference. It seems that many teams are making this mistake.

In the past few weeks Everton, Luton, West Ham, Plymouth, Oxford, Wolves, Northampton, Reading and Millwall. That’s just since the start of December. So many mistakes there. It must be hard for clubs knowing they are doing the wrong things.

Of course, there is never a single reason why a manager departs. Sometimes owners get the idea that results will change with the same ingredients. It is like wanting a soufflé to rise without eggs. The stuff coming out of the oven is not because the ingredients are poor but because the chef is useless. Maybe a good manager knows that you can’t make a soufflé without eggs but you can make many other dishes, and you can always add different herbs and spices. 

The other big risk for some clubs is that a manager who has been failing is expected to make big changes in the January transfer window. I am not a fan of the ‘window’. It artificially inflates the value of average players and creates unrealistic choices for players and clubs alike. I would much prefer that the window was dropped because then it would allow less panic and more realistic transfer activity. It might also stop managers being sacked ahead of the window because they will not rush out and splurge all their cash on a dodgy left back. In short the window does not favour clubs like Tranmere Rovers. 

A splurge in the January window seems unlikely. The message from the club is that there is no money to spend on players because the squad we carefully crafted in the summer can’t be improved and we’re skint. To be fair they have only hinted at the latter point. The general consensus is that there are aching gaps in the team assembled all of which must be addressed after the proposed takeover. We are on course to escape relegation on goal difference at least, why panic? 

It seems increasingly likely we will be Nigel Adkins’ Super White Army until at least the end of April. We will not be making the heinous error of sacking a manager when results have by and large been poor and when the quality of football has been the same. That’s far too simplistic and mirrors the errors all those who have ditched managers since the start of December have made. Instead we will soldier on, encouraged to get behind the team, as we have done all season, because doing so boosts the performance of the athletes in front of us. 

It’s football Jim, but not as we know it.