Hearing the news that Norwich City have fired their manager with just 5 games to go to the end of the season, it really makes me wonder what the management are thinking.
Whilst I never like to see people fired, and I wish Chris Houghton all the best for the future, it really does make me think.
I just don’t understand the timing of this decision, I am not going to dispute whether it’s the right or wrong decision, there have been plenty of stories saying the the managers job was under threat, but why now with just 5 games to go.
It almost feels like a submission, an admission of defeat, as it will be practically impossible for a new manager to have the time to be able to make an impact.
Even worse Norwich have just 5 games remaining and will play the 4 best teams in the league, hardly a good time to take over especially when Norwich are just above the relegation positions and will need to get something out of these games.
If this was the right decision why wasn’t it made before when there would be a chance for the new manager to be able to make the changes, like they did at Crystal Palace who replaced their manager before christmas when they were rooted to the bottom of the table.
But no they wait for 5 games to go before they replace him.
If Norwich do get relegated I am sure the management board will look to blame the manager, but who’s fault will it really be?
If they doubted the managers ability then they should have made the change earlier, if not then they should have stuck with him until the end of the season.
Instability, especially around the managers position, often has a very detrimental effect on a football club, I don’t have the statistics on how many under performing clubs who change their managers during the season turn it around, but what is clear this season is that the bottom 7 clubs in the Premier League, all fighting to avoid relegation have all changed their managers, but of those only Crystal Palace have changed their fortunes.
If we need to make a change, then we need to take action and take it as soon as possible, in order to give the new manager that comes in, the chance to be able to introduce their methods and get the team to respond to that approach.
If Norwich get relegate this season, then for me, the real culprits will be their management board, because they failed to act on their intuition that the manager was not good enough, they can’t blame it all on the manager.
We need to act early in order to give ourselves the chance to turn things around, otherwise we are just adding to the problems, not fixing them.
Gordon Tredgold
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