As football clubs the world over take stock of where their club may be positioned in their domestic league come Christmas, surely Santa won’t be the only high flyer in a suit carrying a sack before the year is out.
While managers who are fighting it out for title honours have the luxury of making a list and checking it twice for transfer targets come the January window, it is managers who find themselves in a relegation scrap that will be hoping the fat lady doesn’t like carols when it comes to keeping their jobs.
The fabled “vote of confidence” has already been issued to a couple of managers in the Premier League as Reading’s Brian McDermott, Southampton’s Nigel Adkins and QPR’s Mark Hughes have all been forced to pucker-up for this ultimate kiss of death.
Such is the precarious nature of a manager’s job, last weekend’s game between the latter two sides was dubbed “El Sackico” as the losing manager of the match between the EPL’s bottom two sides would surely face the chop.
I liken this “vote of confidence”, where footballing hierarchies speak out in support of their managers to a Trojan horse. It seems like a just reward for doing your best to keep the opposition out but unfortunately overnight it can lead to your slaughter.
These days however it seems to be Russian billionaires instead of the Greeks who have taken to wheeling out these spoils of war as they seek to write Odysseys of their own with their toy football teams.
Unfortunately for Mark Hughes the guillotine blade now hangs precariously overhead. Surely anything but a win against Manchester United, ironically the side he struck so many goals for, will ensure Santa’s sack is delivered early by the Red Devils.
Neuen
Roar Rookie
Well that was expected. The Russian don't like keeping them for too long
Damo Baresi
Guest
Roberto Di Matteo at Chelsea.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Going to Chelsea really meant the poor bugger had supped from the wrong cup. He should have remembered that "the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!"
Dean Vincent
Guest
I presume you mean Michael Laudrup at Swansea? If so, what is your reasoning behind it. They lost 3 on the bounce to Aston Villa (fair enough a bad result on this season's form), Everton (who were on fire at the time and have been for much of the season), Stoke (who are extremely difficult to beat at home). They were also hampered by the fact that Neil Taylor had suffered a season ending injury early in the season and Chico Flores had a 3 match suspension after being sent off. Their only other loss was a 1-0 loss to the defending champions Man City. They currently sit in 10th with more points than at the same stage last year and the likes of Pablo Hernandez have now started to really hit their straps after a slow start. In addition they have again played some great football this year (aside from the Everton game when they were shocking) and have more than held their own so far. So I'd love to know the reasoning behind your thinking.......
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Well, we have our answer - Robert Di Matteo is the 1st to be sacked. 5mths ago, he won the most prestigious club football trophy in the world! Gary Lineker has just Tweeted @GaryLineker Roberto Di Matteo has been fired by Chelsea. The Roman emporer puts the thumbs down yet again.
pete4
Guest
Di Matteo just been sacked http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/2986865/title/statement-on-roberto-di-matteo
JohnL
Guest
Whoever it is, will probably still have a better record than what Steve Kean had at Blackburn last season. :(
Caramello Koala
Guest
Laudrop.
nachos supreme
Guest
Hughes= Gawn The vote of confidence is in... http://www.theweek.co.uk/football/premier-league/50181/mark-hughes-gets-qpr-vote-confidence-redknapp-waits
Neuen
Roar Rookie
Mark Hughes 1/5 Andre Villas-Boas 12/1 Nigel Adkins 16/1 Roberto Di Matteo 16/1 Roberto Mancini 28/1 AVB looks a good bet.
Ballymore
Guest
Hughes 1) Spent the most money of those managers in danger 2) No credit in the bank from promotion 3) 20th place Syd FC beckons? -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Swampy
Guest
Lol Bowyer and Dyer showed plenty of fight pre-relegation! -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].
Matt F
Roar Guru
QPR are looking like Newcastle pre-relegation. They've bought a lot of high-profile players in and have had to offer them a lot of cash to get them to sign on, or at least a lot more than other clubs were offering them. It seems that they've chosen QPR almost exclusively for the money and they're lacking the desire of the other EPL teams. When you're in a relegation dogfight, you need passion and commitment to keep you up. The Newcastle players, as talented as they were, showed almost zero fight when it mattered most and were deservedly relegated (though long-term it was probably the best result funnily enough as we were able to get rid of those who didn't want to be here) and I see worrying similarities with QPR
Jason Cave
Guest
Bring back Kevin Keegan!
George
Guest
It wasnt scatter gun, he brought in alot of experienced guys early on the expection being M'Bia and Cesar. But all these guys have won alot of silverware and should know what is expected of them.. problem was for QPR they all played for massive clubs infront of 80K supporters more so than not so the move to QPR and 18K Loftus Rd and a poxy training facility is showing us that they aint up to it mentally and it shows against the lower teams when we lose so pathetically... He should of been smart enough to have plans for this happening.. But he didnt. As for Ryan Nelson has been one of the best performers for QPR! If all the new recruits were like him we'd be fine.. Guys like Boswinga, Traore, Park and Fabio have been rubbish. Anton Ferdinand for all his good lacks concentration for 90minutes. Nedum Onuha hasnt lifted his game since he left Man City either. Granero is looking jaded as every week goes on and is wondering why he left Real Madrid. AJ looks a good old school pro so id say he would of been up there performing too! Mr i dont like football Bobby Zamora needs to get going outa there asap! Out of the old boys that are still at the club Tarrabt looked like the guy who would bottle it but even he has been playing out of his skin. As for Rob Green, yeah he'd be gutted but Cesar like Nelson has been performing exceptionally and we'd be copping more goals against us if he wasnt in goal.. Green got the bumper pay that he wanted and the long term contract that he wanted so he is secure with that, and will move on sooner rather than later probably back to West Ham so he is fine. All in all Hughes is a knob that cant believe his team is playing so poorly and cant offer us suppors any believe that he can turn things around.
wisey_9
Roar Guru
Who would have thought that bringing in pensioners Andy Johnson and Ryan Nelson would not pay dividends for Hughes!?! Seriously tho - QPR's transfer policy needs a thorough examination. Such a scatter gun approach looked doomed from the beginning. I wonder how Robert Green feels about the whole schmozzle?
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
I think that of the 3 managers mentioned Hughes has the most to fear, McDermott and Adkins have already proven themselves by getting their rather un-fancied teams into the Premier League and could hopefully expect some loyalty from their respective boards as a result. Hughes however hasn't really achieved much at Rangers so is probably on borrowed time. He's one of those managers who never seems to be out of work though, so it wouldn't surprise me, if he was sacked, to see him pop up at a moneyed Championship side soon after. I would suggest another manager with cause for concern to be Paul Lambert at Villa. After a dire run under Alex McLeish Villa fans were probably hoping for better under the man who orchestrated Norwich's resurgence, but now find themselves in a league position lower than McLeish ever managed (if I'm not mistaken). They can be quite impatient for success in that part of Birmingham, and if results don't improve I could see Lambert being ousted by Christmas. Also, how long for Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool I wonder?
George
Guest
Mark Hughes needs to go.. Quicker rather than later too!
Matt Simpson
Roar Guru
Adkins probably has a bit of time as he got Saints the double promotion from npower League 1, however he probably be looking for some better and more experienced defenders and GK in the january transfer window.