The Premier League as a whole hasn’t really lived up to the big budget hype again as we only have to look at the final four in both European competitions to see that English clubs continue to fall behind their continental contemporaries.
Of the list you’re about to read, only one manager is from the British Isles, suggesting that, in fact, the problem could lie not just with the number of foreign players that now populate every team, but also foreign managers – managers who have seen their reputation plummet this season for a variety of reasons.
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With the amount of money now being pumped into the game at the elite level, the pressure at the top-end is as intense as it has ever been. Clearly, some managers need to buck their ideas up in 2017/18 or they could find themselves plying their trade elsewhere, or on the scrapheap.
#1 Jose Mourinho
The Special One? Don’t make me laugh. What on earth is special about a manager who publicly criticises his staff, who routinely deflects blame onto referees and opposition managers or otherwise when things haven’t gone well, crows about an unbeaten run that, whilst lasting over 20 games, was pretty worthless when you look at the detail?
Manchester United began that run in sixth position and ended it in fifth. Most games were bore draws and certainly not in keeping with what those at Old Trafford expect.
A vast outlay at the beginning of the season required an immediate return. Not labouring to the finish line in the hope of Champions League football. In many respects, Jose’s brand of football at United has been no better than Louis van Gaal or David Moyes’. The Red Devils have only scored 51 goals in the league – even Bournemouth in 11th place have more.
After a horrific final season at Chelsea, and with his Real Madrid tenure also coming to an abrupt end, one has to question just how relevant Mourinho is as a manager now. It looks like he’s finally been found out.
#2 Arsene Wenger
There once was a time where Arsene Wenger would be used as the example for all managers to aspire to. Along with Sir Alex Ferguson, he transformed the fortunes of his club, bringing Arsenal kicking and screaming into a new era.
New ideas and a different way of working were hailed at the time, but over the course of the last few years, the Frenchman has failed to move with the times. His teams now look ordinary and beatable. A lack of silverware has been his Achilles heel for a few seasons but a lack of team cohesion and the type of results that the Arsenal faithful demand have been sorely lacking in 2016/17.
The tide of support for the manager has definitely turned with the ‘Wenger Out’ brigade growing bigger by the week. Ex-players have joined the call for him to step down and allow fresh blood to come in and reinvigorate the Gunners in the same way that Wenger did 20-odd years ago.
Though he’s yet to confirm or deny whether he will go, the plain fact of the matter is that support for him is dwindling. Fast. For a man who is almost professorial in his role, it’s sad to witness his demise. Sometimes it’s just better to leave at the top. Too much longer and his legacy will be tarnished forever, and that would be the biggest shame of all.
#3 Pep Guardiola
Who’d have thought that the maestro would’ve made the list? When Pep Guardiola was officially unveiled at the Etihad Stadium back in August last year, thousands turned up. His procurement was hard on the previous incumbent, Manuel Pellegrini, but supporters were sold on the fact that they were getting the most successful manager of the modern era as one of their own.
His start couldn’t really have gone much better and talk after half a dozen games centred around whether Man City could go unbeaten for a season. It proved to be short-lived, however, as Pep’s playing staff found it difficult to get to grips with his particular style. We’re now in May and it’s arguable that they’re still finding it difficult to grasp.
In all fairness to the manager, he has stuck to his principles and won’t change them, expecting everyone to adapt, but his employers can’t be happy with no silverware and no guarantee, at this point, of Champions League football next season.
Guardiola will forever be respected for what his Barcelona team achieved in the four seasons he was there, but that was then and this is now. He’ll be the first to admit that he hasn’t coped well with the demands of the English top flight.
#4 David Moyes
Some will argue that after the Manchester United debacle, David Moyes’ reputation was already on the slide. In fairness to the Scot, whoever took over from Sir Alex Ferguson was in for a bumpy ride, and let’s not forget just how good Moyes’ Everton teams were, and why he was Fergie’s pick to take over.
Louis van Gaal’s tenure and also Jose Mourinho’s have shown that actually, the United job is something of a poisoned chalice which no one since Fergie has got to grips with. He has to be commended for then taking on a Real Sociedad job that he could’ve easily turned down.
He had a point to prove and kudos for stepping out of his comfort zone.
When that too ultimately didn’t work out, he was handed the reigns at Sunderland. A massive club. His opening gambit upon signing the contract? Talking about how likely relegation would be. Against that backdrop, is it any wonder his side were so poor? Why would you want to play for a manager with such a defeatist attitude?
His issue with a female reporter only compounded the misery of an awful campaign – one in which the Black Cats failed to score in 10 successive games.
There have been suggestions that he will stay on at the Stadium of Light, but his time is quickly running out. If he is sacked again, the phrase ‘damaged goods’ springs to mind. He’ll find it incredibly hard to get another top-flight job again.
#5 Slaven Bilic
The writing was on the wall for West Ham ever since they lost their Europa League qualifier to Astra for the second season running, this time at the London Stadium, which many who have visited have called ‘the worst football ground in the world.’
Bilic had only enhanced his reputation in the final season at Upton Park, winning away at Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City in the first few weeks of the season. An affable nature allied to a steely will to win was a heady mix and he remained popular both inside the dressing room and with the supporters. Not now.
Until recently, the Hammers were candidates to go down. The scenario that has played out over the course of the campaign can hardly have been more different that the one imagined – with European football at the stadium in its inaugural season.
Instead, crowd trouble, poor team selection and an inability to galvanise his troops have all seen to it that Bilic’s stock has fallen well below what it was 12 months previously.
It’ll be interesting to see if he’s still in the job come August.
