There seems to be a common theme amongst the clubs at the bottom of the Premier League table, that common theme is the strugglers are managed by British bosses.
British bosses, some of whom have been around a long time in the English top-flight, manage the bottom five teams in the Premier League. Foreign coaches have dominated the English top-flight for the last two decades, especially at the top end.
Clubs need to stop employing underachievers
The likes of Roy Hodgson, Alan Pardew, David Moyes, Paul Lambert and Mark Hughes are mediocre bosses at best. The best they seem to achieve is midtable or survival for the teams they manage.
Although not in the bottom three, Everton’s Sam Allardyce must be added to that list as one of the bosses that need to disappear from the English top-flight managerial merry-go-round.
These are the old-school network that milk the English top-flight for all they can get, then suffer the sack before some other Premier League club gives them another opportunity for a big payday.
Some of these bosses like Hodgson are nice guys and affable. However, it does not hide the fact that they achieve very little with every club they manage.
Worrying for British football
The current state of British coaching is a worrying one. Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe is the only British boss under the age of 45 in the Premier League.
Germany, for example, seems to be churning out bosses like they do players, with 13 German bosses in the Bundesliga. Incredibly five of those bosses are still in their thirties. There is just no comparison.
English clubs are scared to take a risk in an appointment. Instead, they go for the same tired old faces. That is why British clubs look abroad for their coaches because they see the Moyes, Pardew’s and Allardyce’s of this world as an example of British coaching.
They should not be held up as an example of British bosses. However, they are because they are the ones with top-flight jobs.
I am a big fan of Eddie Howe. He just a breath of fresh air when it comes to English bosses. He talks sense and his team play good football. Unfortunately, there are not enough Eddie Howe’s in football.
I do also like the no-nonsense of Burnley’s Sean Dyche, who I would take over any of the bottom five and Allardyce to manage my football team.
Whether the lack of inspiring young bosses is down to a lack of quality or teams’ playing it safe is hard to say. English football will never develop while the young, progressive British coaches are not coming through the system.
The current national team boss Gareth Southgate gets a lot of stick, including from me. However, at least the former Middlesbrough boss now looks to have a plan on how he wants his team to play.
In the past England teams have lacked identity. However, Southgate looks like somebody that wants to change that. Whether he is given the time to do so remains to be seen, though.
Set to suffer relegation
It seems that at least two British bosses will suffer relegation with their clubs in the Premier League this season. West Brom under Alan Pardew already look relegated and are odds of 1/125 to now suffer demotion to the Championship.
The sad thing is that even Pardew will probably get another Premier League job, despite suffering relegation with a team who were much higher in the table when he arrived than now.
The same goes for Allardyce if he leaves Everton in the summer. The vicious cycle of these old-fashioned and out-dated British bosses will continue and the people who suffer the consequences are the clubs daft enough to hire these out-of-touch supposed bosses.
Should Premier League clubs take more chances with managerial appointments?
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