Football is a results based business

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has been talking about the pressure on Premier League managers

It seems Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal’s situation has raised questions about the pressure put on Premier League bosses by the British media and fans alike.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has hit out at the pressure on Van Gaal at Old Trafford and football bosses in general.

However, as Bobby himself should understand football is a results-based business, just like any business if a manager is not producing results then there will always be questions about their future.

Sympathy for football

Asked if he had sympathy for his Old Trafford counterpart Martinez said: “I have got a degree of sympathy about football in general.

“I think we have gone mad in trying to sell new projects all the time, and I think we need to accept that in a football game you are going to win, draw or lose.

“You are not going to win every week and we should try to give managers time to put their vision across and find solutions, otherwise we are becoming so volatile and, after one or two defeats, you are looking to sell a new project.

“A new person is going to come in and be given another two games, and then we are going to look into a new project.”

Maybe Martinez is sending a message to Evertonians, who in a recent online newspaper poll suggested he was no longer the man to take the club forward. Sorry Bobby, as us Evertonians like to call him, bosses are not judged by most people on one or two bad results.

A series of unfortunate displays

A football manager’s career lives and dies on what happens on the pitch. Manchester United fans have not just turned on Van Gaal because the Red Devils suffered one defeat.

They have turned on him because of a series of mundane displays this season. They feel like the team is not progressing, or playing the sort of football that United fans are accustomed to.

Most of the mainstream media do not jump on a boss just because of one or two bad results. If United or Everton were making progress then nobody from the media would be questioning the positions of Van Gaal or Martinez himself.

There will be some worthless hacks that will voice rumours and speculation as the truth, but in the whole I would like to think that most football journalists have a certain amount of integrity.

They may voice their opinions in their columns, editorials or football pieces. However football is all about opinions, or let’s face it many of us would not have jobs.

Good managers tend to get the credit they deserve by the media and they get criticised when things go south. It’s like any job if you are not getting results, then you will come in for criticism and people will question your ability to do your job.

As a football manager your decisions are just more visible to billions of people around the world and everybody likes to have their say. It is just the nature of being a football manager.

It is not only Father Christmas who is in danger of getting the sack this festive season. The speculation and rumours has Louis van Gaal as favourite to lose his job next at odds of 1/7. This is understandable considering United’s form and style of play this season.

Covering his own back

Martinez may have been talking about Van Gaal in the above interview, but he may have been talking about his own situation as well. There have been murmurings of discontent among Everton supporters, mostly about the Spaniard’s complete lack of defensive acumen.

There are a growing number of Everton fans losing faith with their Catalan boss. Without actually mentioning himself he is attempting to cover his own back.

Maybe people would ask fewer questions about manager’s futures if their teams looked like they were progressing, or not underachieving. Mr Martinez may need to evaluate his own performance before he starts attacking outside influences.

On another note this will be my last editorial until after the festive period, so to all our readers I wish everybody a safe and happy festive period.

Is the pressure on Premier League managers fair?