Football’s Foundations Are Being Turned to Quicksand by a Culture of Sackings

Football has never been a serene or forgiving environment, not even during the season for giving.

So when Les Reed was sacked by Charlton Athletic on Christmas Eve in 2006, having presided over five defeats in seven games and with his team bottom of the Premier League, one might have thought the man labelled Les Miserable and Santa Clueless by a baying, festive-less media would have seen it coming.

Reed’s predecessor, Iain Dowie—in what was a chaotic autumn for Charlton—had lasted only 15 games before being axed, departing in November with the club propping up the table despite having forked out a transfer-window record £11 million in the summer.

It’s Reed’s tenure that most catches the eye, though; at 41 days, it makes his the quickest sacking of the Premier League era. Merry Christmas, Les. Have a good one.

Ten years later, a culture of sackings is changing football and also the way in which fans and the media interact with the game and with each other.

Dismissing a manager is no longer a last resort, and as observers we have had our expectations evolved and our vocabulary adapted to account for its burgeoning frequency. Demand for change whips up on the terraces because supporters have become accustomed to the quick fix, and the whole thing swiftly becomes something circular and self-fulfilling.

‘If #MUFC axe Mourinho I wouldn’t be surprised if Fergie is asked back’ https://t.co/1lez1498id #MUFC pic.twitter.com/ahnV4Husfh

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) October 24, 2016

This week, former Liverpool and Germany midfielder Dietmar Hamann spoke to TalkSport about Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United future with a foreboding tone of inevitability that would have seemed absurd—obscene even—weeks ago.

The media, in truth, are never responsible for getting any manager of a club side the sack, and it feels rare that supporter pressure truly forces a chairman’s hand. But there’s a feeling now that we are locked inside a culture of impatience and ruthless entitlement in which the full range of the football spectrum is complicit.

Something rotten is at work, and the game is changing. It should be of concern to anyone who holds a stake.

Charlton were relegated at the end of 2006/07, a misfortune they are still struggling to recover from 10 years later. Reed was one of seven Premier League sackings that year, and of the clubs who ditched their coach, all but one have suffered at least one relegation in the decade since, with Manchester City the only exception.

The total number of top-flight sackings actually dropped over the next two seasons but then continued to rise year on year until 2014. The Championship saw the number of sackings double between 2013/14 and 2014/15. Damning stats one and all, but they’re suggestive of an industry built on quicksand when taken collectively.

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