Lancashire a hard place to be for managers

Yesterday Lancashire rivals Burnley and Preston both parted with their managers.

Bottom of the Championship Preston decided to sack boss Darren Ferguson and Burnley boss Brian Laws also left his post.

Bottom

Darren Ferguson can’t really have much to complain about after leaving his position at North End.

The club are bottom of the table with just 19 points in 22 games. North End have won just five games this season.

I predicted that Preston would be candidates for the play-offs before the season started, how wrong was I? They have been atrocious this season thus far.

Admire

I admired the job Darren Ferguson did at Peterborough, managing Posh to consecutive promotions. When they were promoted to the Championship they struggled and Ferguson got the sack just a few months into his side’s term in the Championship.

His work with Peterborough really did lead me to believe that he had tremendous potential as a boss. His team played decent football and played their way out of League One and League Two.

He managed to keep Preston up last season and this season Preston fans were hopeful of a decent season and I’m certainly sure they didn’t see their team being bottom approaching 2011. However their team have been playing like a side heading for League One.

Next

There are now question marks over Ferguson and his ability to manage at Championship level. Some of his critics will say that he belongs in League One. He needs to prove himself all over again. With his reputation now in tatters who will take the risk of employing him again?

While at Peterborough there was a feeling that he was getting fast-tracked in his managerial career because his dad is Sir Alex Ferguson. That he was almost trading on his dad’s legendary name but now he has to prove he is a good manager in his own right.

Play-offs

Preston’s neighbours Burnley have also parted with their boss Brian Laws. Burnley are only two points off the play-offs places in the Championship but the Clarets were expected to be up the top of the table challenging for automatic promotion.

Criticised

Last season when Burnley were in the Premier League and appointed Brian Laws as their manager I stated they were appointing a Championship manager and it seems he’s not even a decent Championship manager. I really wasn’t surprised by Burnley dispensing with the service of Laws.

I never believed that he was capable of getting them back into the Premier League. He managed to help Sheffield Wednesday towards League One last season and his performance as Burnley boss was hardly inspiring.

Cheap

When he was appointed as Burnley manager last season he was the cheap option. It showed a complete lack of ambition on the part of the money conscience Clarets board and chairman. Burnley fans were disappointed at Laws appointment and quite rightly. They knew they would struggle with Laws at the helm and they were right.

Comparison

The pair will now be looking for a new job. If I was a football chairman and was looking to hire either of them there wouldn’t even be a decision. Brian Laws has been a manager for a long time and still isn’t getting decent results and really hasn’t achieved much.

Darren Ferguson on the other hand is a novice in managerial terms but has already shown that he has talent and potential as a decent manager. He just needs experience to hone his craft and a bit of patience.

And I know there will be club chairman out there liking the idea of Ferguson managing their club, despite his failure at Preston. I bet there are still chairman out there looking at the hapless Laws as a decent choice for their next manager that just shows how much club chairman know about football!

Who is the better manager Brian Laws or Darren Ferguson?