MONORAIL!
Another two bite the dust. With Scott Parker, Thomas Tuchel, Bruno Lage, Steven Gerrard, Ralph Hasenhüttl, Frank Lampard, Jesse Marsch, Nathan Jones, Patrick Vieira and Antonio Conte already having been ushered towards various club doors marked Do One, the number of top-flight managers ordered to hand in their stopwatches, whistles and initialled club-issue puffer jackets hit a record 12 for the season on Sunday, when Brendan Rodgers and Graham Potter both found themselves out of jobs.
News of Rodgers’ departure from Leicester City was flashed up on-screen during the early stages of West Ham’s relegation six-pointer against Southampton; arguably the most interesting thing to happen during the game. The club and its manager had parted by “mutual consent”, we were told in news that would normally prompt a lame, monotonously predictable gag about the decision being far more mutual on the club’s part than it was on Brendan’s. However, in this case it may well be an accurate summary of events, as the manager’s enthusiasm for the gig seems to have visibly dwindled since Leicester failed to bring in anyone more glamorous than the big-haired Belgian boulevardier Wout Faes during the summer transfer window.
Indeed, if anything it was a surprise Brendan hadn’t gone a lot sooner, Leicester having got the season off to an inauspicious start by taking just one point from the first 21 available, before rallying briefly only to take just four more from the last 21 available. Now they find themselves managerless, second from bottom of the table and sleepwalking towards relegation, but on the plus side at least Scott Parker, Bruno Lage, Steven Gerrard, Ralph Hasenhüttl, Frank Lampard, Jesse Marsch, Nathan Jones, Patrick Vieira, Antonio Conte and now Graham Potter are all available.
Having insisted in the face of increasingly toxic fan unrest that he would be patient with Potter, Chelsea frontman Lyle Lanley Todd Boehly pulled the trigger just six months after appointing the Englishman to his first elite level job in football having lavished him with around £300m worth of players, many of whom Potter almost certainly didn’t want within an ass’s roar of Cobham but found himself lumbered with anyway. “On behalf of everyone at the club, we want to thank Graham sincerely for his contribution to Chelsea,” droned a club statement. “We have the highest degree of respect for Graham as a coach and as a person. He has always conducted himself with professionalism and integrity and we are all disappointed in this outcome.”
Having arrived at Chelsea with Potter and the rest of Brighton’s coaching staff in September, Bruno “Bruno” Grau will take caretaker charge while the club’s owners embark on an “exhaustive search” for a new manager ahead of next season. In news that will come as no surprise to anyone, a young German with a penchant for wearing controversial trousers and Mauricio Pochettino are both believed to figure prominently on their wish list, while another trip to the seaside to bundle Roberto De Zerbi and his backroom staff into the back of a van has not been ruled out either.
Given the baffling approach to football club ownership that Boehly and his backers have demonstrated since taking over at Stamford Bridge, they may find the very best of the best reluctant to take over from Potter and could struggle to land their top targets. On the plus side: Scott Parker, Bruno Lage, Steven Gerrard, Ralph Hasenhüttl, Frank Lampard, Jesse Marsch, Nathan Jones, Patrick Vieira, Antonio Conte and now Brendan Rodgers are all available.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Fancy some hot Monday night Premier League action, featuring two more teams that have parted ways with former Chelsea managers this season? Then join Will Unwin for Everton 1-0 Tottenham (8pm BST), why don’t you.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I love it, honestly. It’s given me back the real deep love for football and I didn’t know I’d lost it. On the grass, trying to work out a way to play against teams, trying to develop an individual. The coaching stuff, I absolutely love” – Jack Wilshere, who retired from playing last year, tells PA Media that coaching Arsenal’s under-18 side has helped him rediscover his love for the game.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Football Weekly is here! Max, Barry, Jonathan Wilson and Barney Ronay chew over Sunday’s double managerial sacking, and much more besides.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
“Re: Football Daily writers’ byline pics [Friday letters]. Spare a thought for John Brewin, who apparently doesn’t warrant a profile pic – much like the promising youngster who hasn’t warranted a mock up in the team strip yet” – Kevin Worley.
“I can imagine the scenes. All across north London, weary Daily writers were finally snatching a meal with their partner, reading a child a bedtime story, or building a ship in a bottle or something. Then, the phone pings. Surely not FD Towers, not now. A pause, a sigh. ‘I’m sorry, you know I love you, but Potter’s been sacked, and I have to go in. My last week before retirement, too.’ Guess it was a bad day to quit sniffing glue” – Jon Millard.
“Since Potter’s magic hasn’t been powerful enough to transform this Chelsea team, no one should be surprised that he has been shown the Gryffindor marked Do One” – Basile Bailey.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Basile Bailey.
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