The stats relating to the duration of managerial spells are, as you might expect, damning. This season, the average length of employment across the Premier and Football League’s 92 clubs is 1.64 seasons. In the Championship the mean is even worse, standing at 0.82 seasons. Between the Premier League and League Two, 47 of the 92 managers currently in position are yet to complete a full season with their club (which will rise to 48 when Mansfield appoint a replacement for Paul Cox). Only 17 managers have been in charge for two full seasons or more. Meanwhile, behind the numbers…
All posts tagged Watford
Hot Seat Narratives: Watford’s Managerial Carousel
In passing judgement on Watford’s unusual managerial goings-on this season, one really needs to take a step back and appreciate the backdrop to a bizarre period that saw five different men – four full-time appointees and one stand-in – take charge of Watford within less than six weeks. So… for those that have been paying no attention at all, here’s a whistle-stop summary. The Pozzo family bought Watford in 2012. Three positive seasons under the management of Malky Mackay and Sean Dyche had concealed and been achieved despite bedlam in the boardroom. The previous owners, a group including Lord Ashcroft,…
A Short History of Football and Music: the 1980s
For all out tendency to view the past through rose tinted spectacles, the 1980s were abysmal. If we had just had the haircuts to suffer (and this already balding teenager resented any obligation to mimic Nick Rhodes or a A Flock of Seagulls), those years would have perhaps been tolerable, but the malaise they brought with them impacted upon all aspects of our lives, often in a vicious and violent way. Queen playing Apartheid South Africa’s Sun City, a Live Aid concert with not a single decent performance for all its worth in other respects, Fame, Steve Wright in the…
A Short History of Football and Music: the 1970s
Over the space of four posts this week, I am going to attempt to pen a brief history of how football and music have interacted over the past four and a half decades. Firstly though, you’re probably asking why football and music? Why not football and gardening or football and the re-enactment of civil war battles? I’ll leave any lengthy debate as to whether football is an art to a later date while admitting it’s a discussion worth having - even if the horror at such a suggestion etched over the faces over non-lovers of the round ball always makes it…
Dilemmas of Football Ownership: Are Foreign Owners or Dodgy Owners the Problem?
When Vincent Tan, the Malaysian owner of Cardiff City, made the – apparently unilateral - decision to change the club’s colours from blue to red, I posted a few remarks on Twitter intended to express some solidarity with those Cardiff supporters who felt that this change was the last straw. Some fans had even made the painful decision to stop going to watch their own club as a result. I’ve long had an interest in football history and its emblems and wrote a blog about the subject in 2012. I can’t remember the exact words of my tweet but it…
Chris Walker: Tom, apologies. You are indeed correct. My recollection of Burnley's a...
Tom Whittaker: Incredibly unfair comment re: Burnley's away form- we actually managed...
Michael: I am not a soccer fan but found this article fascinating. Mr Tisdale w...
Peter Hodgins: Good piece that explains well that our Italian owners are different fr...
