We saw this happen with Neil Adkins at Southampton before the Saints brought in Mauricio Pochettino. We were all shocked at the way that Southampton treated Adkins but as Pochettino continued Southampton’s success, and then bettered it, we began to see the point of the change. Southampton could be “successful” with any manager but needed a better one to keep improving on that success.
The move that Matthew Benham and the Brentford Football Club board have made looks crazy and shortsighted from the outside. But since Benham became the majority shareholder in 2012 Brentford finished 3rd in League 1 four points behind automatic promotion winners Bournemouth, and then next season 2nd eight points clear of 3rd placed team Leyton Orient. This season they are touching on promotion to the Barclays Premier League.
After considering all the angles, Brentford fans should trust in their commander in chief. He’s a Brentford fan (Since 1979, his own admission) and all he wants for the club is to continue its success. If that means changing the structure of the club then he must do it now.
The idea that football clubs need to stick with one manager to be successful is nonsense. The longer a manger stays at a team, the staler they become unless they are one of the greats. Not everybody will be afforded a truly “great” manager, and thus must keep fresh ideas coming in to forefront of their football club. Look at Southampton and the success it is having in the Premier League — now without Pochettino.
Manchester City sacked Roberto Mancini after he won them the FA Cup, the Premier League and not to mention finished higher than they ever had before in every season their Premier League history. In Mancini’s case City’s owners decided that even though he was successful (59% was his win percentage) for the most part, they felt the club was stagnating.
Manchester City appointed Pellegrini — who has won the Premier League and the Capital One Cup — but has since stagnated. Expect Pellegrini to be gone before long. City’s problem? There’s no system. It’s just spend, spend, spend and throw big names into the managerial hat.
It’s faux success, unstable success.
The most obvious example of a club implementing a system and being successful with it is Barcelona. They are successful because of a system that was put in place and they worked at it and worked at it. Almost anybody could manage Barcelona now and be successful.
Modern football needs a modern approach. Southampton’s system is what is making them successful, and Matthew Benham has been slowly changing the structure since taking over at Brentford since 2012. This is the last piece in his puzzle, the piece of the puzzle that should help Brentford solidify themselves as a legitimate promotion candidate to the Premier League.
The days of managers being at clubs for ten or twenty years are gone, early adopters will be rewarded the rest? They’ll be left behind.
Here’s the real secret of modern football — “managers” are largely expendable.
Some very non-traditional minnows in race for EPL gravy train
