Garry Monk, Steve Bruce, Steve McClaren and Jaap Stam all pitched up at their respective clubs this season.
The rapid turnover of managers in the second tier of English football is undoubtedly the inevitable by-product of the demand, and expectation, of immediate success. At the start of every Championship season, almost every team in the league believes this year is their year, from big-spending bookies’ favourites to plucky underdogs hoping to follow the path blazed by Bournemouth and co.
Consequently, job losses are inevitable, with owners colluded into thinking that the grass is greener elsewhere. In a Sky Sports study published in the summer of 2015, the average lifespan for a manager in this traditionally unpredictable league is just 0.86 years. Barely enough time to get your feet under the table, yet alone preside over a tactical overhaul. In the year and a half since, that figure may well have dropped again, with seven different clubs dispensing with their managers since July.
In the case of Wolves, they’ve already handed out two P45s, one each to Kenny Jackett and Walter Zenga (below), since their Chinese conglomerate owners arrived promising untold riches and promotion in the summer.
Yet, while this most knee-jerk of reactions has been used as a stick with which to beat the impatient nature of the English game, the Championship’s form table suggests it’s not all bad.
Only considering points accumulated over the last eight matchdays, four of the second-tier’s top six have changed their manager this season while Newcastle United only hired Rafael Benitez in March.
Aston Villa were widely flogged for dispensing with Roberto Di Matteo after just 124 days but his replacement, promotion specialist Steve Bruce, has only lost once since taking charge and that came this weekend against Leeds United, under new management themselves.
Garry Monk is the sixth permanent coach of Massimo Cellino’s blood-soaked reign but, by hook or by crook, the Italian seems to have stumbled across the right answer, with Leeds in the play-offs for the first time in three years.
Meanwhile, of all the Championship teams to have played in the second tier over the last two seasons, only Rotherham United have accumulated fewer points than Reading. Now, Jaap Stam, in his first managerial role, is laughing in the face of his many doubters while serving up football fit for, well, Royals.
And, last but not least, Derby County. The nation scoffed when Steve McClaren returned to replace the one-man wrecking ball Nigel Pearson in October, 17 months after getting the boot for failing to lead the Rams to promotion. But, as it stands, McClaren is having the last laugh. Derby, after all, are top of the form table with six wins in eight.
While Chris Hughton’s Brighton and Hove Albion stand as a proud example of the benefits of consistency, it seems the grass is sometimes greener after all.
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