Are Managers Being Made Scapegoats By Football Owners?

Managers are a rare breed. They are appointed amidst great expectations and unbridled joy for their clubs no matter how. Some go on to achieve great heights winning silverwares and are immortalized by the club faithful. Others however are not so lucky, they might give their heart and soul to their job, but ultimately fade into oblivion. The key question lies in today’s football fraternity whether the current owners treat their club’s manager like a towel, they change the accessory whenever they feel its time that they aren’t shiny anymore.

First there was Roman Abrahimovic, whose ilk and nonchalance has been rarely matched since time immemorial. Now, there is Cardiff Owner, Malaysian Businessman, Vincent Tan. People of Tan’s ilk are destroying the image of the game albeit their greedy intentions and vicious attitude towards making profits. This is where I feel for current Cardiff manager Malky MAcKay. MAcKay insisted that he had expected to lose his Cardiff job over the weekend after receiving an explosive email from the club’s owner Vincent Tan. However even after the 1-3 reversal at the hands of Liverpool at Anfield, MAcKay is still in charge at the Cardiff managerial helm but is deeply upset with the latest proceedings.

“I did feel I was going to lose my job on the weekend. The email deeply upset me, said MacKay. I declined to resign and expected to be sacked over the weekend. To give the fans a clap was something I wanted to do for the support they had given me.”

Mackay also confirmed discussions with the club’s chairman had taken place:

“My representative has been talking to Mehmet [Dalman] in recent days because I have been busy looking after the football side,” he said. “I don’t know if we can talk. Mehmet has been trying to do this for three months, as have I. There are certain areas that have to be addressed that were in the email. I will find out when I go to the meeting.

“At that point I will take stock of where I am. The club has worked very well in the last couple of years, especially when Gethin Jenkins, Alan Whitely and TG were here. Mehmet Dalman gives us a stable hand but the owner is a man who makes the decisions.”

The third category however belongs to managers like Marcelo Bielsa, who don’t wilt under pressure and hence lose their jobs. It’s surprising that  El Loco or the genius Marcelo Bielsa with all his experience and tactical acumen is currently unemployed. With his bizarre tactics of 3-3-1-3 system he went on to reach cult status with Chile, later on Bielsa went to Spanish side Athletic Bilbao and perhaps wrote his name in history in golden letters.

So what I exactly do I want to point out? Football is just plain business and it’s not rocket science on why it is. On one side there are managers who give their all to enhance their club’s reputation burning the midnight oil. On the other side though there are the club owners who know nothing else than the green stuff.

There are very thin line between success and failure and owners sometimes do cross the line and make mockery of the beautiful game.