It is often said that the most insecure job in the world is that of a football manager. This hypothesis will be proved conclusively in the summer when at least 10 top managers, club and country included, could move on to pastures new.
Let’s start with Serie A. It is quite rare for coaches in Italy to stay longer than three-to-five years at a top club. The reason for this is that there is a belief that things grow stale after a while, and that a new coach is needed to provide a bit of spark and a new tactical approach.
Carlo Ancelotti has broken with tradition in this sense as he is now in his seventh season with Milan. Undoubtedly things have now grown ‘stale’ following a hugely disappointing season, and despite President Silvio Berlsuconi’s denials, there will be wholesale changes in the summer, starting with the coach.
Staying in the same city, Roberto Mancini will also be packing his bags and leaving San Siro. As a player Mancini always struck me as the kind of person who could not handle the pressure, and this has also been the case during his coaching career to date. Inter have been torn apart by internal unrest in recent weeks, with Mancini falling out with a whole host of players. His resignation soap-opera following the Liverpool game has made him look like a fool, and once again, despite Massimo Moratti labelling all talk that he will be sacked as “lies”, even a Scudetto victory surely won’t save his skin.
On we move to Spain, and La Liga’s two giant clubs are also extremely likely to be employing new managers. Frank Rijkaard’s situation at Barcelona can be compared to both Ancelotti and Mancini. After five years at Camp Nou, his reign is also growing stale. The spark and silky smoothness that was in his sides play two or three years ago is no longer there. He also seems incapable of controlling the dressing room, with Barca, much like Inter, having so many big stars and strong personalities. A summer exit seems a certainty.
Bernd Schuster promised that Real Madrid would play exciting football when he took over from Fabio Capello last summer. He has dreadfully failed to deliver on this front, and quite how Madrid are still four points clear at the top of the league, following a disastrous recent run of form, I will never know. Either way, even if Schuster delivers La Liga, he will be shown the door. The Champions League exit to Roma was the final nail in his coffin.
There also could be managerial changes in England, although these are perhaps not so much of a foregone conclusion as is the case with Italy and Spain.
A few months ago it was almost guaranteed that Rafa Benitez’s four year relationship with Liverpool would be coming to an end. His public feud with the club’s American owners, as well as yet another disappointing Premiership campaign, seemed to be the main factors in this. However Benitez now finds himself in a very strong bargaining position. The Spaniard simply cannot be fired by Tom Hicks and George Gillett because the club’s supporters, who detest the owners, simply would not allow it, and there would be anarchy. The only way Benitez will leave, is if he decides to resign, or if Hicks and Gillett finally decide to sell up, which is a possibility.
Avram Grant’s position at Chelsea is less than secure. Unless he delivers the Premiership or the Champions League he will be softly pushed aside by his good friend Roman Abramovich. The odds are that, even by wining one of these trophies, the Russian billionaire will look to bring in a high-profile manager that can actually make Chelsea play the beautiful, entertaining football that he desires
Finally it must be noted that Bayern Munich, the other European giant outside of the three big European leagues, have already announced that current manager Ottmar Hitzfeld will be replaced by Jurgen Klinsmann in time for the 2008/09 season.
If this potentially incredible number of high-profile managerial casualties is not enough, then there are also the national teams competing at Euro 2008 to consider.
Holland’s Marco Van Basten, Portugal’s Luiz Felipe Scolari, Spain’s Luis Aragones, Switzerland’s Kobi Kuhn, and the Czech Republic’s Karel Bruckner will all leave.
Meanwhile Italy’s Roberto Donadoni and Greece’s Otto Rehhagel have yet to sign new contracts, and all logic suggests that they will both be on their way.
Other coaches such as Turkey’s Fatih Terim and Croatia’s Slaven Bilic are attracting the interest of club sides.
This summer is set to be the most exhaustive in recent memory on the managerial front. Many of the departing coaches will end up at another club or country listed above. The permutations are never-ending and it is impossible to predict who will end up where.
All we can do is wait for the first domino to fall.
What are your views on this topic? Has there ever been a summer where there could be so many managerial changes? Which managers do you think will end up at which clubs? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think
Carlo Garganese
