I was thinking today after the sacking of Villas-Boas about this. Why aren't the same rules for the transfer of players also applied to managers? Originally I believe the transfer window was created to prevent players being unsettled or transferred mid way through a season so as not to cause as much disruption to the selling team. For example if it got to February say and Liverpool were top of the league, with Man Utd in second they could put in a 60-70m (whatever amount) bid in for Suarez and unsettle him or even force the transfer through, giving them a huge advantage in the run in. That was my understanding of it anyway. So why isn't it the same for managers? Arguably they are the most crucial part of a club. Why is it that clubs having a good season (a la Southampton) could get their manager poached mid way through a season, potentially disrupting the great season they are having? Similar scenario as above - Southampton are sitting in 4th come Feb/March, Spurs are in 5th, there's nothing to stop them sacking their manager in order to lure Pochettino over and, again, thus giving Spurs a huge advantage for that 4th spot. It would also force Chairmen, to a certain extent anyway, to stick to their convictions (well I suppose they wouldn't have a choice until the transfer window comes round). It'd give managers more time to turn things round and maybe make chairmen think a little more carefully about who they hire. Maybe I'm missing something glaringly obvious (highly likely)
It would lead to more panic sackings in the January window, I think it would be chaos at that time. Id also hate to have to put up with 4-5 months football with a manager who has clearly lost the players. Also, what happens when a manager resigns and the club hasnt got any way of getting a new man in?
I suppose the resignation of managers would be a problem, but the No.2 could always take charge on a caretaker basis as we've seen in the past. But agreed, it's not ideal. Maybe a rule whereby if they manager does resign, they are allowed to bring someone else in. But again I guess that would be easily open to abuse. January is chaos anyway with players. I'm not sure it'd lead to panic sackings that much if chairmen knew they were stuck with their choice until the end of the season. As for a manger who has lost the players etc, well that's just part and parcel of football anyway isn't it? The onus would be on the chairmen/club moreso to absolutely make sure they had hired the right man for the job and work out whether the current squad of players would respond to said manager that they have chosen.
i think the player window should be stopped too. We all know how it was under Hughes, could you imagine several months of that when it was obvious he should go? Id change it around by allowing the clubs to cancel one contract per summer, that way players cant coast along once they get their pay day, it would also bring down salaries as a player on 50k is a lot more likely to be let go than the same player on 30k. I wouldnt allow injured players to be cut though.
I'll admit I don't know the ins and out of the current players transfer windows rules at all but so long as the club has the ability to sack the manager at any point in the season if they aren't performing (such as Hughes for so long with us) this would be a good idea. The main difference to me is under this Chairmen would only be able to sign an unattached manager until the window opens, in this scenario WBA having sacked Clarke could appoint Zola as manager (as he is now without a club) but wouldn't be able to move for say Pochettino until say January, which to some extent would remove the problem. Of course when it comes to unsettling players/managers with silly rumours this seems to mostly be caused by lazy journalists (just looking for an easy story) or agents (trying to manipulate moves) and even with the current player transfer window system this has not stopped players from being unsettled mid-window.
Bob..I like that OP. Thats a good idea i think, and whilst flyers points / opinions may be valid, I think it would be an intresting experiment.
