Top ten for Dyche
Less than three weeks ago, after Claude Puel had been appointed as the new Southampton boss, I wrote an article about the ever decreasing number of British managers in the Premier League.
With all twenty clubs with a manager, it left the Premier League with just seven British managers, five English and two Welsh, but today two of those five Englishmen have vacated their positions for very different reasons.
First, Sam Allardyce said farewell to Sunderland after no more than nine months in the job. He might not have gone with Sunderland’s blessing, and their supporters are bitterly disappointed to lose him, but he’s left the North East to become the new England manager.
He’s replaced Roy Hodgson who had, I felt, gone way past his sell by date and I still wonder how on earth he survived after our poor showing in the last World Cup in Brazil. After the embarrassing defeat against Iceland he was left with no option but to resign.
A change of manager has become an annual event at Sunderland in the last few years as they’ve gone from Steve Bruce to Allardyce via Martin O’Neill, Paolo Di Canio, Gus Poyet and Dick Advocaat, all of whom have been able to drag them from a likely relegation only to fail miserably in the next season.
Bruce actually had over two years there, although his Newcastle background ensured he never really won the fans over. He quickly got a new job at Hull and in four years on Humberside he’s won two promotions to the Premier League with them looking forward to a third season in the top division out of the last four.
There were thoughts that Bruce, had they not won promotion via the play-offs, might have walked. I don’t think anyone could have expected he’d still do it and certainly not just about three weeks before the first game.
All is not well at Hull. His relationship with Ehab Allam, who appears to be in charge now, has been described as fractious and the Hull Daily Mail are reporting that he’s gone due to a total breakdown with the club’s board.
Interestingly, Bruce was also interviewed for the England job this week before missing out to Allardyce. He is very unlikely to be in the reckoning for Sunderland, although his very departure from the KC Stadium saw the bookmakers place him as second favourite.
If Sunderland have been placed in a difficult situation, then Hull have created one all of their own. We think we are struggling to bring in players; they don’t seem to be wanting to bring any in with suggestions that there won’t be any deals until a takeover is completed, a takeover which has been put on hold until after the transfer window closes. I don’t know what head of recruitment Stan Ternent makes of that.
Former Claret Micky Phelan has taken over on a caretaker basis and Sky Bet currently have him as 3/1 joint second favourite with Ryan Giggs to get the job, but favourite tonight is the Red Adair of football management Neil Warnock. Over at Sunderland they’ve now got David Moyes back at 1/10 although Bruce remains an unlikely second favourite.
Sean Dyche, by the way, is priced at 25/1 for both jobs but tonight he sits as the third longest serving manager in the Premier League, some 17 days behind Eddie Howe who is the second longest but over 16 years behind the league’s longest serving manager Arsène Wenger.
But the departure of Bruce, who was appointed as Hull manager in June 2012, has moved Dyche into the top ten longest serving managers in the Premier and Football Leagues. This is now a list where you only need to have been in the job for just over eight months to be in the top half.
The nine above him now are: Wenger (Arsenal), Paul Tisdale (Exeter), Karl Robinson (MK), Paul Hurst (Grimsby), Jim Bentley (Morecambe), Steve Davis (Crewe), Gareth Ainsworth (Wycombe), Neal Ardley (Wimbledon) and Howe (Bournemouth).
In the last few days we’ve become aware that all is not as it should be between Dyche and our board. He’s made it perfectly clear that he expects them to bring in his targets and he’s undoubtedly far from happy with the results so far. Thank goodness there is no relationship, or lack of it, between him and our board as has been the case with Bruce and Hull.
Sunderland fans are unhappy, but understanding, at losing their manager; Hull fans are also unhappy but are already hitting out at the owners for whom they lost any respect some time ago. It’s hard enough dealing with the loss of a manager you don’t want to lose, it’s even worse when it’s just three weeks before the start of the season and you haven’t made a single signing.
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