Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

There’s no escaping the current news of Allardyce’s departure from Newcastle ‘by mutual consent’. And despite his exit not coming as the biggest shock in the world, we have to ask how can you sack someone a mere 240 days into a job (and only 151 of those involved Premiership games and results)?

It’s a common theme in today’s game - the team’s not performing, sack the manager. The team’s not where they should be in the league, sack the manager. The team’s taking too long to be in contention with the top pack, sack the manager. If that were the attitude in the drinks industry, Guinness would have been out of business years ago!

Big Sam’s arrival at St James’ was met with a fierce hope and complete belief. Fans and pundits alike saw the transformation he caused at Bolton and only expected a similar story for the Magpies. But what they failed to see what the overall journey Allardyce took Bolton on, one that was far from plain sailing.

Taking over in October 1999, the Trotters were a just another mediocre Championship side; the prior season seeing them scrape into the final play off place. It took two seasons before Bolton regained their top-flight status, followed by another two seasons of nail biting tension as they flirted with the drop zone, once avoiding relegation by a mere 2 points.

Despite these anxious times, Bolton stuck firm with their manager and in 2003/04, Allardyce’s 5th season, the club burst onto the Premiership; an 8th place finish and victories over the likes of Blackburn, Everton and Chelsea their rewards.

They went two better in the next season finishing 6th and earning entrance into the Uefa Cup for the very first time. For the rest of Allardyce’s reign, Bolton were regarded as a top 10 team (at the very least).

The same can now be said for Everton, a feat that is most notably down to their manager of near 6 years, David Moyes.

Everton’s journey follows a similar trail to Bolton’s. Although not outside the boundaries of the top division, Everton were one of those teams you expected to get points off. The year before Moyes’ arrival, the Toffees managed only 6 home wins all season finishing in 16th.

Arriving in March 02, Moyes made an immediate impact winning his first two matches and earning 13 points from the final 9 games of the season. And when, in his first full season in charge of the club he helped Everton to the lofty heights of 7th just 5 points behind their archrivals Liverpool, the Evertonian fans thought they’d found their Messiah.

But life for the Blues has never been that simple and top half status seemed a vacant memory in 2003/04 as they found themselves just 6 points away from relegation. But despite the 21st century attitude of bin ‘em, Moyes remained Everton’s number one guy and came back bigger and better than ever before.

With many tipping the Toffees to go down in 2004/05, Moyes’ men quashed all negative speculation, grinding down opposition to finish in the directly opposite position of the previous season; in the fourth Champion League’s spot and, more importantly, above Liverpool.

Now, with a 6th place finish last season, Everton are again possible contenders to deny Liverpool that 4th place finish. And this is largely down to the time given to one astute Scot.

As for Allardyce, yes he spent a fair bit of money - around £20m for the likes of Smith, Enrique and a far from reliable Joey Barton but he also got rid of a fair bit of dead wood including £6m for Kieran Dyer’s move to West Ham.

Sunderland’s Roy Keane spent £34.4m and there hasn’t been as much as a whisper of speculation as to his future. It sounds funny to describe a manager as being ‘in charge’ of a club these days as one wrong move or one wrong substitution and their fate seems sealed, but Sunderland seem to be following suit to Everton and Bolton with Keane the one calling the shots.

It’s about time these Billionaire’s stop dirtying the beautiful game with attempts to make a quick buck. I’m by no means naïve; I know football is a business and one of the biggest businesses in the market. It can make owners BIG bucks but not overnight.

I’m by no means concerned about Allardyce’s future. In fact I hope whichever club takes him on learns from Newcastle’s mistakes. It’s almost certain they’ll reap the rewards, just as Bolton did.

As for the fans, perhaps it’s about time they give a man - a man with proven credentials, a man who many wanted for England no less - a real chance. And for the record, Shearer may be a Toon legend, but don’t pin all your hope on him. He will not be able to answer all those high demands.

You too need to learn from your mistakes. Take a look at your recent club honours and maybe you’ll realise your expectations are simply unrealistic. The St James’ trophy cabinet is hardly bursting at the seams full of silverware.

At the end of the day, there’s a reason the likes of Arsenal and Man U have been able to meet the high level of consistency year after year. It’s not all about the money; Arsene Wenger has actually made £17.2m through transfers this season. It’s because Fergie and Wenger know the clubs like the back of their hands.

Tags: Bolton, David Moyes, Everton, football managers, Newcastle, Sam Allardyce

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 13:53 and is filed under The Talking Point. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.