By Richard Lee - 16/02/2009

All Change?

There's so much pressure for instant success in the game now that no one should be truly surprised by the sacking of managers like Luiz Felipe Scolari.

People talk about the fact that our current game's best managers have all been given time and, yes, that's true. But would Sir Alex Ferguson have been able to do a first four years without a trophy at Manchester United in today's cut-throat environment? I doubt it.

Although Arsene Wenger enjoyed a title win soon into his time at Arsenal, he's had a good few trophy-less seasons so I suppose they're the club - above all others - who have nailed their mast to the theory that you get nowhere by chopping and changing who's in charge. Arsenal always seems to be as much about a long-term project as it does a football team working towards instant success.

With the money available to the bosses at the biggest Premier League clubs now, you've simply got to be top of the league - there isn't an alternative. So I understand the Scolari sacking; it doesn't really matter if I agree with it particularly, that's the way football is now and anyone saying it shouldn't be like that is living in the past.

And they weren't doing too much wrong, really. What would have happened if Chelsea hat got that late winner at Anfield and not Liverpool? Those are the fine margins which get decisions made in football. It's a results business, and despite anything else if the results aren't there than change will come - a lot sooner now than even two or three seasons back.

Even players, who will keep themselves to themselves if at all possible, are now beginning to see the sort of heat managers are under. I'm not suggesting we ever feel quite the same pressure as our manager.

But, it's interesting, this was something we explored with Aidy Boothroyd: the concept of taking more and more responsibility for your own personal actions. The manager then takes that through to his post-match interview by acting in a calm and considered way, rather than finger-pointing about things that went wrong. It's a collective commitment, really, and helps the feeling that the pressure isn't all on one person.

I suppose I can see a scenario now where a new manager is told he's got something like 10 games to make an impact. Tony Adams only got 18 or 20 didn't he? I know not each situation is the same but the clamour for instant success has never been greater.