Tuesday, March 6, 2012

When Big Club Coaches Get Sacked For Doing Bad...

...they automatically draw speculation on which big club they will arrive at next? Sounds like a strange thesis, wouldn't you say? Interestingly enough, this seems to be the odd trend.

AVB's signature Chelsea look of disbelief
Over the past few days, Andre Villas-Boas (pictured above), freshly sacked by Chelsea, has went from the career low of being dismissed by his first big club, to somewhat of a revival in the news with all the speculation involving which big club he will land at next. The Portuguese tactician is already linked with Serie A money spenders Roma and Inter, and I would imagine as the season dwindles down, clubs like Barcelona, Madrid, et. al will be thrown into the mix. How does this make any sense? In football, it just does.

You could argue AVB was a good coach in a bad situation, similar to Carlo Ancelotti last year; or that his ideals simply did not match those of the team, causing the negative results. Still, it is peculiar when someone recently fired for not doing the job correctly is desired by other firms days later. Would this make sense in your field of work? Nevertheless, in football, it just does.

Lets look at some more of these conundrums and how they turned out:

Who Rafa Benitez When June 2010 Verdict FAIL
Rafa Benitez with his own signature look of failure
All throughout the 2009-10 season, Rafa Benitez had the weight of Liverpool on his shoulders. Ultimately, the Spaniard lead the team to an undesired finish and was dismissed. For some reason...I blame Alberto Aquilani? Anyway, seven days later, Inter scooped up the goatee sporting gaffer to replace Jose Mourinho, the man who won Inter a treble weeks prior. After running Liverpool off the rails and arriving in the shadow of Mourinho, the "destined for failure" motto floated about Milano.

As it turns out, it was an epic fail. In spectacular fashion, Benitez was dismissed after Inter's Club World Cup win. Following the triumph, Benitez stated in the media reinforcements were needed in January...to a team that just won a treble and the Club World Cup. Puzzling comments and a dismal start to the season resulted in the sack for Rafa. Inter might have hoped for better in the situation, but really got what they deserved by hiring a recent failure.

Who Claudio Ranieri When Anytime Verdict FAIL
Claudio Ranieri's "not again" look of despair
The nervous looking Claudio Ranieri is the AVB scenario on repeat. His career is like a broken record that repeats 5 steps: 1) do well for a season 2) dismal results begin 3) pressure mounts because of dismal results 4) pressure boils over and equals firing 5) miraculously hired again. This has happened to Ranieri everywhere. Where is he now, you ask? At Inter. Doing what? Well, he skipped step 1), went straight to steps 2) and 3) and is nearing step 4). We'll probably be reading about his step 5) return to Chelsea in June.

Who Luciano Spalletti When Nov./Dec. 2009 Verdict WIN
Luciano Spalletti's "I have the balls to be bald in Russia" look
Just to prove the anomaly of hiring a freshly sacked manager is not as outrageous as it sounds, behold former AS Roma coach Luciano Spalletti. Spalletti saw a few bad results at the beginning of the 2009-10 season and was forced out of the Capital. But, being the ever-so-awesome bald man that he is, was scooped up be Zenit St. Petersburg in a month and ultimately lead them to the title in his first year at the helm, something they had not won in 10 years. In this case, Zenit's gamble of hiring a coach who recently faltered paid off.

What do these instances mean? The football world is unpredictable. Keep your eyes on the Villas-Boas saga that will surely unfold over the next few months!


Photo Credits:
footballz.com
soccerisfutbol.com
topnews.in
britishblogs.co.uk

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