Following Frank De Boer sacking, the Dutch tactician has become the first managerial casualty of the season. Fired after just five games, 77 days into his new job; the firing of the former Ajax manager elucidates the sickening impatience of modern-day club owners.
Usually, in the political sphere, public office holders call for an assessment of their performances after their first 100 days in office. In football, however, we’ve seen that a hundred days is a bit too far for a thorough assessment to be carried out on a new manager – Frank de Boer has learnt this the bitter way.
Frank De Boer sacking is a bit acrider given that he joined Palace on a long term contract only to earn the tag of ‘manager with the shortest managerial reign in the Premier League era’. Even the likes of Bob Bradley with Swansea last year was allowed eleven games in charge.
On his part, Frank de Boer did guide Crystal Palace to an ugly piece of history; the Eagles are the first top flight team not to score a goal or win a point in their first quartet of Premier League games. Still, Frank de Boer’s sack comes as a huge disappointment. A man’s fight being ended before it’s even started, no one likes that.
Rock bottom or top of the league after just four games is simply not enough to make an accurate appraisal of how well or how badly a team would perform at the end of the season. De Boer had come to England with his unique blend of technical eye-catching made in Holland football. He’d started the process of instilling his philosophy on a group of players still recovering from a nerve-racking season and boom! He got fired.
Frank de Boer’s antecedent with Palace saw him suffer a 3-0 opening day defeat to Huddersfield Town. That set the tone for further defeats to Liverpool (away), Swansea (home) and Burnley (away), all without Palace finding the net. They did grab a scrappy 2-1 home win over Ipswich in the EFL Cup. Five games, four losses, eight goals conceded – that’s the door, Mr Frank.
But for Arsenal, who to the distaste of their fans have chosen to keep faith with Arsene Wenger, most Premier League clubs have developed a penchant for hiring and firing managers. The peculiar case of teams like Chelsea and Manchester City comes to mind – both clubs have, in the past, ruthlessly fired managers, including those who won them league titles.
Teams on the darker side of the table are no different. Club owners see sacking and hiring of managers as the logical course of action when their teams show signs of faltering in the division. Crystal Palace has toed that line again.
Overly impatient club owners like Crystal Palace’ Steve Parish, who have invested a sizeable amount of their fortunes in clubs, should also learn to give managers more time to make an impact. Sacking a manager after less than 100 days in office is nothing short of appalling.
Club owners today, care less about how players adapt to a new manager’s system; they don’t care what we the fans think either, they just fire whoever and whenever they deem it necessary. I’d love to see an end to this anomaly; truth is, there’s NO end in sight.
