In the 21/22 season, up to now, I think 32 of 72 EFL clubs have appointed a new manager. In the Prem 9 of 20 clubs have sacked their manager (Watford have done it twice). It would be no surprise to see 50% of managers move on by the time all is said and done, in just one season. Something is wrong. It is becoming the impossible job, unless you are happy to take the compo, but in my experience people want to succeed and certainly football coaches are in it for the success. Like in a lot of modern society it is the 'must have now' society. Go back and the average time in charge for a manager was 3 years. Now it is c1 year. Instant success is the only acceptable success for a lot of people it seems. What I find most frustrating about this is the people doing the hiring and firing arent qualified or experienced enough to do so, in the main. The manager / head coach is the most important position in the club, yet the recruitment process for it is arguably one of the most poorly designed. I wonder how many of the appointments in the last 12 months have been done by highly experienced football people? Very few I would suggest. The same obviously goes for sackings. How can you judge if a manager is good enough if you dont understand the role. How can you judge if a manager is failing if you dont understand the challenges and context at a point in time. Now I am not saying all of these managers should have kept their job. Of course people fail, and they should go. But where is the collective responsibility? If you appoint a manager and 12 months later decide he isnt good enough in my mind you have failed too. If you are players who have lost form and a manager goes you have failed too. I think it needs to be made more difficult for clubs to sack managers and coaches. One thing I would do is prevent a club from sacking a manager who has not had one full season (for performance based reasons). At the same time I would only allow sackings either in the close season, or transfer window. I would also make a change to contracts so that all managers are fully paid up their contract within 1 week of sacking - non of this month to month payment stuff. I would put the same safeguards in for coaching staff. More radically I would ask clubs to consider having 1 non exec role (minimum) on their board who must be an ex player / coach who could have a seat on the selection process. Someone who can dig into the football mentality side of the prospective new gaffer. It might just stop some of the selections that happen that dont even last a year. I do realise I am the arch defender of the coaches and managers, and people might think I am barmy. But surely there has to be room for improvement somewhere in this.
