Managerial Mayhem
THE axe has been wielded across English football over the past week, with a number of managers losing their jobs, and Argyle boss Derek Adams has questioned the instability such decisions can cause.
The high-profile departure of Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic, just a few months after taking the club into the Premier League, and the sacking of Notts County’s Harry Kewell after only 14 games in charge, shows the volatile nature of the business.
From a Pilgrim perspective, the club has worked very hard to build a stable base following the dark days of administration and Derek has done a great job in creating a successful team alongside a number of off-field projects.
“It’s becoming more difficult for people to get stability at football clubs,” he said. “You have situations where managers have done well, the manager at Fulham got his team promoted, and then find themselves out of the job.
“They’ve done the work and that is difficult. Harry Kewell gets 14 games at Notts County and that is the difficulty of the job at this moment in time. Maybe the chairmen or chief executives at football clubs have to look at themselves as well and their role in employing managers, if a manager is only in for a short space of time.
“We all know it’s the manager who gets the flak but it’s not always his fault. There are clubs that don’t have the resources and working to get the best of what they’ve got, but some fans will give a manager stick because of that.
“Prudence has been very good at this football club, we’ve had to work with constraints and will continue to do so. We’re building a grandstand and that takes up a lot of money. Every time something new comes along, money has to be spent and that takes away from a first-team budget.
“We’ve not been able to spend money, we’ve paid two transfer fees since I’ve been here, so we’re not on an even playing field but we’ve got a stable football club, supported by the Board.
“We’ve got a new chairman, following on from James Brent, who did a magnificent job over seven years to stabilise the football club. We’re working on a way to keep Plymouth Argyle here for many years.”