Peter takes a look back at how the early sack favourites have faired, and a couple of new faces emerged.
With the first 5 games gone so far this season, no Premier League manager has been made redundant yet. At the beginning of the season a lot of pressure was put on Martin Jol, and after a poor start an ultimatum was put to him. Either you finish in the top four or you’ll be looking for a new job was the jist of it and the speculation surrounding a proposed successor might have had normal people squirming in their seats and possibly jumping before they’re pushed. Personally if I was Jol I would have quite the day Juande Ramos’ quotes were made public. It was 3 games in and the ultimatums and a search for a replacement were at the top of the Spurs Boards’ agenda which doesn’t exactly inspire you as a player or a manager.
But as we’ve seen from seasons past, some chairmen tend to be quite reactionary and as is quite often the case with those situations the club suffers as a result. A firm favorite right now would have to be Sammy Lee, and although yet again I’d have to say getting rid of your manager this early in the season only harms your team, the expectation created by Fat Sam has made it difficult for Wee Sammy Lee to follow.
Another manager that’s had to deal with raised expectations was Sven at Manchester City, especially after he’d remolded the whole squad. Man City bosses have never had it easy with their neighbours’ success evident for all to see so how the team began was always going to be crucial as to how much pressure was going to be heaped on the team. With a derby victory under his belt, it would appear that Sven has bought himself quite a lot of time.
A lot of scrutiny was also going to placed on how the promoted clubs faired, especially Roy Keane, being the highest profile manager of the 3. Again, an opening day victory against cross city rivals has bought him some time but the Mackems aren’t a patience bunch although I think they’ll give Keane slightly more time than others.
Another favourite for the sack race was Chris Hutchings but again aided by Wigan’s good (lucky?) start to the season has bought him some time before the vultures start circling. Wigan haven’t got the most talented squad and effort, although is an admirable trait, won’t guarantee you Premiership survival. Along with the newly appointed Hutchings, Laurie Sanchez will have a rather tough time if results don’t turn themselves around while Sam Allardyce is starting to feel the heat at Newcastle.
To be honest I think the whole Jol situation has alleviated some of the pressure that the aforementioned managers might have had to experience in the opening weeks of the season. Once Spurs sort themselves out though, which I’m sure is just a matter of time, the rest of the managers who have also had underwhelming starts to the season will be looking over their shoulders.
So who do you think should be leading the sack race now?