Leagues around Europe have drawn the curtains on what has been another interesting season of football. There have been great goals, great games, relegation dramas, predictable winners and losers.
And as the season winds up, there will be inquests in clubs that are not happy the way their season has panned out and with that comes the axe that usually falls on heads that have found themselves on the chopping block. At this point, the club managers are usually the most vulnerable to get the chop.
In this article, we will be looking at some managers who might be or already on their way to the unemployment lines in the coming days.
Carlo Ancelotti
Of the bunch I will be talking about in this article, he seems to be the one most undeserving of the sack. He has won 4 trophies with Real Madrid yet his job is on the line. Why? In Real Madrid, doing well might not be enough if one of the La Liga, Copa Del Rey, or the Champions League is not among the other trophies that have been won.
Ancelloti has led Madrid to European Super Cup glory and also the Club World Cup this season. The previous season he had led Madrid to the Copa Del Ray and the Champions League trophies. And the trophies were all won in 2014! In another club, those achievements would insulate a manager from the firing line but this is Real Madrid we are talking here. A club were the job security is as fragile as a poorly constructed mud house.
Sam Allardyce
After West Ham's defeat to Newcastle on the final day of the premier league, West Ham released a statement stating that they would not be extending 'Big Sam's' contract. After media people confronted Allardyce with the news, he said that he already knew about it. He went on to thank the club and the owners for the 4 year adventure.
Now, Sam Allardyce is not in the league of the likes of Mourinho, Ancelotti, Wenger etc but he sure knows how to keep a club in mid table mediocrity or at least, away from the relegation trap door. Now that West Ham have gotten rid of Allardyce, they had better not make the mistake of appointing someone who would mess up all the good work Big Sam has done.
West Ham, should look no further than Newcastle to see the mess Newcastle are in right now. As for Big Sam, he will bid his time. One of the newly promoted clubs next season will hit the panic button when performances go south and he will be required to perform some miracle. Sunderland might even be interested if Dick Advocaat refuses to stay...
Brendan Rodgers
This candidate seems to be a bit odd because pressure started piling up on him recently when it was announced that Jurgen Klopp would be leaving Borussia Dortmund at the end of the Bundesliga season. However, Brendan Rodgers will not be under pressure for the first time this season.
Earlier in the just concluded premier league season, he was under scrutiny after several poor results both in Europe and at home. The turning point came after the loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford. He adopted a formation with 3 defenders at the back that fit the quality of players at his disposal and Liverpool went on an amazing run after that defeat which ended in yet another defeat to arch rivals United. From then on, results started getting poor again.
Liverpool's last 2 games have been nothing short of a fiasco. They lost at home to Crystal Palace and suffered a thrashing at Stoke City making captain Steven Gerrard's final games for Liverpool ones to forget. The loss to Crystal Palace was overshadowed by Gerrard's send forth but the loss to Stoke will definitely send tongues wagging about the ability of Rodgers to build on their achievements in 2014. At least Gerrard signed out with a goal in the Stoke game but it was hardly a consolation in a game in which Liverpool in the words of a BBC pundit, "just surrendered".
Roberto Di Matteo
Di Matteo's sacking was confirmed officially only a few hours before I started writing this post but this announcement is hardly surprising. Not many CEOs will keep a manager whose side have fallen from champions league contenders to 13th in the league standings.
But Di Matteo has hardly been in the club a long time to really make much of an impact. The Club's Chief Executive, Horst Heldt is well known to be trigger happy when it comes to firing managers. And Di Matteo's sacking, looking merely at the stats, seems to be justified based on the stature of a club like Schalke. However, the stats don't tell the full story. Di Matteo's sacking is Heldt's 7th managerial sacking in 5 years. That is too much for a club seeking to establish itself.
Schalke has fallen from grace and the constant meddling of Heldt in the team affairs has taken the club backwards. Two of Schalke's players- Sidney Sam and Prince Boateng have been controversially kicked out of the club this season by Heldt to remind the team who calls the shots. Di Matteo has had to also deal with injuries to key players like Julian Draxler. All these have combined to make this season less than ideal for the former Chelsea manager.
Sadly for Di Matteo, just like his Italian counterpart Carlo Ancelotti, he is a victim of club politics which is bigger than him. But unlike Ancelloti who might leave Real Madrid with his head held high, Roberto Di Matteo is leaving with a whimper.
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