john1981cr
Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Posts: 111
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 3:47 pm Post subject: EPL Managers |
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By Tim Robertson
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer
To look at the odds being offered, it would be easy to believe that three or four Premiership managers will be sacked before the end of the month.
Well, don’t bet on it.
For all that has been said in the last few days, every Premiership club is still employing the same manager that led it into the season.
The speculation has been most intense around four clubs – West Ham, Charlton, Manchester City and Newcastle – but none of them have offered any genuine signs that the gaffer’s job is on the line.
The safest of the bunch is City boss Stuart Pearce. Monday's 1-0 win over Middlesbrough aside, City’s start is not much worse than indifferent.
While they have stunk away from home -- only one point from five -- City are yet to concede even a goal at home, and Pearce’s huge popularity with the fans and the board -- as well as recognition that he has not had much money to spend -- will keep him in a job.
Pearce knows as much.
"I've had no pressure internally," he said after Monday's win (City lost on Saturday as well, 1-0 at Charlton).
"Not once have I heard any disenchantment from the fans or the chairman or anyone else connected with the club. It comes from outside and its good media coverage.
“It is me this week, it was (Charlton's) Iain Dowie last week and (West Ham's Alan) Pardew the week before, and it just wears a little bit thin."
Pardew was also cheered by three points this weekend as veteran Teddy Sheringham returned to the side and the scoresheet against Blackburn.
The result was a huge relief after the embarrassment of losing to Chesterfield in the Carling Cup, but the fans had remained behind Pardew throughout.
The man who guided them to the FA Cup final in their first season back in the top flight remains a hero in East London, and the only threat to his job right now is the continued takeover talk at Upton Park.
That resurfaced this week, much to Pardew’s frustration.
"The uncertainty of the takeover means my position is under question and every player's position is too,” he said.
"The sooner it ends, the better it will be for everybody."
At Charlton, where Iain Dowie has managed just two wins in his first 11 Premiership games in charge, the players remain behind the manager.
Although it was not enough to move them off the bottom of the table, Saturday’s 1-0 win over City represents one of the better results of the season, and Denmark winger Dennis Rommedahl sees reason for optimism.
“The manager is trying to get us playing good football, and trying to get the most out of us -- that's all he can do,” he said. “And we are playing better than in the two previous years I've been here.
“We feel we're close to getting things right.
“And that's why the manager must not change his ideas. I think that, under pressure, you should keep doing the things you believe in -- that's the only way you'll get through the tough times.”
Charlton have never been a club to make rash decisions, and Dowie will be given time to improve a squad which remains short of quality.
When it comes to resources for such a task, Dowie will no doubt be jealous of the money that Glenn Roeder was allowed to spend at Newcastle this summer.
Of all the managers in trouble, Roeder perhaps has the most to fear. After splashing out £10 million on Obafemi Martins and £5 million on Damien Duff, 19th place is not good enough -- injury crisis or not.
But even the Magpies’ trigger-happy chairman Freddy Shepherd seems happy to sit this one out for now.
He fired Graeme Souness in just this position last season, and it had little effect, so he has perhaps realized that a more long-term view is the solution. Either way, he was backing Roeder this week, dismissing a link with former England coach Sven Goran-Eriksson by simply saying “we already have a manager”.
Not that any of this will end the ongoing managerial witch-hunt in the press.
As soon as the final whistle went on Monday night, radio talk-shows -- perhaps disappointed Pearce had not lost -- quickly began speculating as to whether Gareth Southgate had the experience to coach Middlesbrough.
What were the odds?
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