I was thinking about that argument today at work

The whole "this manager's years are coming to an end". I mean - why is there an ingrained belief among almost all fans that a manager has a shelf life at a club? That things just go stale after a certain amount of time? It's obviously not 100% true at all clubs - Ferguson at Man Utd, but almost all other clubs with ambition sack their manager when things start going wrong rather than sticking with him. Why is that? I can't remember the last time a club braved out a dreadful run and stuck with a manager who had been successful in the past - and more to the point - what the outcome was. Could we be setting a new precedent here?

The whole Dowie thing though should be thought about in a different context though. Simon Jordon has sacked about 6 managers in 5 years at Palace - there was real instability. And Dowie, who is an intelligent guy (he has a degree for a start - not many managers do), made the difference. But maybe he is a rarity - a guy who could come in with intelligent ideas, with positive psychology - who could get the team performing as they should? Obviously if we appointed a Dowie - we would be top 6 next season - but we might appoint a Megson....

Posted By: Poirot, Feb 9, 22:52:13