Are the top football managers cracking under the pressure to win?

[Cathaze Blue]

Last year we had the touchline spat and subsequent barborous exchange between Mourinho and wenger. Mourinho infamously calling wenger a "specialist in failure" while wenger thought the comments brought more shame on mourinho than upon himself.

Then we had mourinho's 'paranoid' campaign rant before xmas. Big Sam did what he does best and got right under mourinho.

A strained looking Irvine on the WBA touchline knowing that one goal in the wrong end might be his last.

Pardew 'sizing down' after he found his former football palace too big and too taxing to maintain.

Just the other day under pressure pearson had his hands round the throat of a player known to him while seemingly grinning like the cheshire cat. Telling the world he could handle himself, do your worst.

The subtle but not so subtle mourinho comments regarding Jamie Redknapp

Dad's suspicious departure from QPR on 'medical grounds'

Now Van Gaal (again hooked by Big Sam) has come out with some sort of court-room like statistical testimony that long balls are ok in certain circumstances and West 'Am play more long balls anyway.

Is the seemingly endless increase in money flooding into premier league football causing some to crack under the pressure of what is expected of them. The stakes seem only to get higher and higher.

Is Big Sam the biggest ahem, wind-up merchant in the EPL? Does he understand what British football is? Is he the midlands medusa of tika-taka, total football managers from the continent?

Is it all just a show to keep the mob entertained. Fill collumn inches, and keep those pound, euro and yen signs propping up what has become one of Britain's most important export industries?

[The Bob Banker Spanker]

Nope, I just think the fans have become petulant, child-like spoilt brats who believe they have a God given right to win every game and if not, the manager should be sacked .

[the other bob wilson]

Last year we had the touchline spat and subsequent barborous exchange between Mourinho and wenger. Mourinho infamously calling wenger a "specialist in failure" while wenger thought the comments brought more shame on mourinho than upon himself.

I think you've answered your question in the last paragraph of your post.

[Cathaze Blue]

For those who are interested, I could not edit the original piece, so here is a more professional effort in full with more stuff added in...


Are Top Managers Cracking Under an Ever Increasing Pressure to Win?

The dream job in the most beautiful of games might be turning into something of a nightmare as Caeser looks for an ever increasing return on his investment.

Last year brought the touchline spat and subsequent barborous exchange between Mourinho and Wenger. Mourinho infamously calling Wenger a "specialist in failure" while Wenger thought the comments brought more shame on Mourinho than upon himself.

A strained looking Irvine on the WBA touchline knowing that one goal in the wrong end might be his last.

Then we had Mourinho's "paranoid" campaign rant over the festive period. Big Sam did what he does best and got right under mourinho.

Pardew, 'sizing down' after he found his former football palace too big and too taxing to maintain.

The subtle but not so subtle Mourinho comments regarding the pundit who shall not be named. Next came Redknapp's unfortunate but understandable departure from QPR. Although there are those who take a more cynical outlook; he no longer had a leg to stand on at the club.

Just the other day, under pressure Pearson had his hands around the throat of a player, apparantly known to him, while seemingly grinning like the cheshire cat. Do your worst he told the world, he could handle it.

Paul Lambert was next to receive the call; being informed that he was surplus to requirements over the phone from Villa Chief Executive, Tom Fox. The conclusion to a long list of bizarre events at the historic club; Lambert later revealed what we had known all along through a statement on the League Managers Association website; that he had been instructed to systematically implement a fierce cost-cutting regime while at the same time "maintaining the club's position in the premier league". Caeser wanted his games, but he did not want to sell the grain reserves to pay for them.

A similar example can be seen at Championship club Cardiff City, where the once exuberant if widely disliked Malaysian owner no longer attends games. Russell Slade, who's previous team currently sit 6 points from safety at the bottom of League 1 was brought in to bear the brunt of what was to come. Slade earns a fraction of his predecessor, Ole Solskjaer, but obviously there was something of benefit for both parties in this murky transaction. Any player with a modicum of flair has been sent away like a naughty boy while cheaper models have been brought in to, just as at Villa, achieve the impossible. Lerner is trying to run his club like business. Cardiff's billlionaire owner it seems, has just lost interest.

Now Van Gaal, usually the most sensible of Dutchmen (again hooked by Big Sam) has come out with some sort of court room like statistical testimony that long balls are ok in certain circumstances and West Ham play more long balls anyway.

Is Big Sam the biggest, ahem, wind-up merchant in the league? Does he understand what British football is? Is he the midlands medusa of tika-taka, total football managers from the Continent?

The seemingly endless increase of money flooding into our top division (TV rights contracts up 70% to a staggering 5 Billion sterling) could be causing some closest to Caeser to crack under the pressure of what is expected of them. The stakes seem only to become higher and higher.

Perhaps it is all just a show to keep the mob (that's us) entertained. Fill collumn inches, and keep those pound, euro and yen signs propping up what has become one of Britain's most important export industries. 'The Sack Race' is after all, as big a part of football now as curry pie and bovril - and a great generator of income for gambling companies. Perhaps we must accept football's movement away from being 'just a game' and towards something more sinister.

Oblivious to us in our cheap seats maybe those on the frontline of this beautiful export deserve more credit than they often receive for doing what is fastly becoming an almost unbearably high pressure job.