5 managers who did not deserve the sack in recent years
A football manager is the brain of his team and it is the hours of effort and planning the managers put in that eventually shows on the pitch. When results go the right way, the managers usually don’t get the accolades they deserve as the players hog the limelight.But when results go the wrong way, the managers take the bulk of the blame – irrespective of how poorly the players fared. This is the hardest part of the job and that is why the job is a challenging one.Every year many managers are sacked across various leagues in Europe and sometimes even some of the best in the business are not spared. So here is a look at five managers who were unfairly sacked in recent years.
#1 Sam Allardyce - Blackburn Rovers
Newly appointed Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has managed many relegation-threatened Premier League clubs before joining the Black Cats and one such club he managed were Blackburn Rovers. When ‘Big Sam’ was made the manager of Rovers in 2008, the club was staring down the barrel with just 13 points from 17 league games.
Three days after his appointment the club defeated Stoke City 3-0 to end a run of 11 league games without a win. This game was also the first of a nine-game unbeaten streak in all competitions as Allardyce was slowly getting Rovers out of the relegation zone. By the end of the season, Rovers finished 15th and, under Allardyce, they won five games, drew four and lost just one game at Ewood Park.
The following season Blackburn finished 10th in the league and reached the semi-final of the League Cup where they lost to Aston Villa over two legs. Big Sam also impressed the fans by going unbeaten at home against the Big Four at the time – Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.
During his third season in charge, the club was taken over by Indian company VH Group and almost a month after the takeover, the new owners sacked Allardyce and replaced him with Steve Kean when the club was sitting in a decent 13th place. The decision came as a shock to both the fans and the players, and Sir Alex Ferguson called the decision “absolutely ridiculous”.
Rovers went on to finish 15th at the end of the season and under Kean they managed to win only four out of 17 league games. The following season, the former Premier League champions was relegated to the Championship and they haven’t returned to the Premier League since.