If we put to one side the managerial train wreck that was Charlton this season, there have still been quite a few managerial movements this year. Now that the season has come to a conclusion, a lot of them have happened in the last week or so.
Recently we had Chris Coleman being sacked as Fulham manager and Lawrie Sanchez leaving the Northern Ireland job to take over. We’ve had Sam Allardyce leave Bolton after over 7 years in charge. He left for a break. He’s already got his feet under the desk at Newcastle United. Some break! Paul Jewell saved Wigan from the dreaded drop and promptly decided he’d had enough. Moments later, Stuart Pearce was booted out of Manchester City after only 2 years in charge, which seems about average in this day and age! Now the manager Jewell defeated on the last day of the season, Sheffield United’s Neil Warnock, has also decided, three days after that crushing defeat, that enough is enough and it’s time for a break.
Warnock had been at Brammal Lane for seven and a half years, similar to Allardyce at Bolton. That length of time in charge of a top flight football club nowadays is some feat. I think I’m right in saying that apart from the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Dario Grady of Crewe (who has also left recently) and Arsene Wenger, Allardyce and Warnock were just about the longest serving managers around. Not any more. Ferguson is way out on his own with Wenger a distant second.
Of course, it’s not just the defeat on Sunday and the simple fact Sheffield United were relegated that has prompted Warnock and United to part company. There have been external reasons as well. Warnock stated that he was leaving with “a bitter taste in the mouth”, referring of course to the ongoing saga that is West Ham United and the “signing” of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. Sheffield United are furious at what they see as West Ham cheating (fielding illegible players) and the Premier League coping out of deducted points points which would have certainly seen West Ham relegated and Sheffield saved.
I’m not really going to talk about all that here. For a start I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about it and secondly, there will no doubt be books written on it all in the near future. Suffice it to say, one player (Tevez) doesn’t really make a team. Plus Sheffield United were in that position in the league because of their results over the whole course of a season, if they’d won more games it wouldn’t be an issue. Why aren’t Watford and Charlton bleating? Because they weren’t good enough, and to be honest neither were Sheffield Utd.
No disputing though what Warnock, a self confessed fan of the club first and foremost, has done for The Blades over those seven and a half years. When he joined they were only getting a maximum crowd of about 8,000 and to be honest it wasn’t much of a ground either. Now, the stadium is worthy of full houses and that’s what they get. Apart from the relegation obviously, Warnock leaves the club far far healthier than when he arrived. It has the feeling of a real family oriented club, which unfortunately, there aren’t too many more of. It is a shame too see a club like Sheffield Utd get relegated and also see a character like Warnock depart. However, I think Utd should accept their fate with grace, learn from it and come straight back a stronger set of players and club for the experience.
The Soccer Blogger