Former players as managers? Lampard sacked, Solksjaer close, and Arteta? | OneFootball

Former players as managers – good or bad? by AndersS

At the moment the average the average time for a manager in the Premier League to be in the job is 789 days. This is around 2 years and 8 weeks. Not long compared to other walks of life. Not that we necessarily should feel sorry for the average manager in the league. They are extremely well paid, and I am sure for many managers getting sacked isn’t a big dent in their CV, as it is now a common occurrence, which most managers can expect happening to them at least once, if they have a long managerial career.

Although, I do have sympathy for young managers, who early in their career get sacked and may not yet have achieved anything. They may be marked early on, and could struggle to make it in the long run.

I would have to put Arteta in the category of young managers without many managerial achievements to fall back on, should he get sacked this season. Sure, he was assistant to Guardiola in several triumphs, but honestly, how many will give Arteta much credit for them? Very few, I suspect. His best managerial credential must be winning the FA-Cup with Arsenal, and although this is a very nice title on the CV, I would fear, if he gets sacked in the near future, it would be a serious blow to his future prospects.

It doesn’t seem long ago, a majority here on Just Arsenal was calling for Arteta’s head. To me it also seemed to be the right thing to do. Now the situation has changed. There is better results and more belief. But I believe, it is a fragile situation, which could again become very bleak within a just a couple of weeks. The “rollercoaster” realities that nowadays seem to be an unavoidable part of the job.

As I am writing this, Solskjaer’s manager position at Man U could very well be terminated in a matter of days if not hours.

And this brings me to the main subject of this article.

Is being a former star player at a club really an extra qualification to be manager at that club?

If Solskjaer gets sacked now, Arteta is the only left of the 3; Solskjaer, Arteta and Lampard. All 3 are connected in my opinion.

When Man Utd sacked Mourinho in December 2018, Solskjaer was immediately employed as a caretaker manager. It is my conviction; he was not viewed as the long-term solution. Since Sir Alex left, Man United have had David Moyes, who was carefully selected with the belief that he could become a new Sir Alex. A manager who would grow into the job and continue producing titles for many years. It didn’t happen. He was sacked before time and next was Ryan Giggs as an unsuccessful caretaker manage. After him Man Utd went on to employ a manager, with a world class CV, Louis Van Gaal. That didn’t work out satisfactorily either, and being more and more desperate for titles, Man U now went for Mourinho, knowing he is never a long-term solution, but he seemed a guaranteed title provider who could steady the ship. Didn’t happen either, so Solskjaer was given the job as a caretaker, until Man U could make a new plan.

But to everybody’s surprise, Man Utd got an instant turnaround after Solskjaer was employed. 6 straight league wins plus a couple of cup matches won, meant a winning streak of 8 games. It seemed to me, this created a situation where their fans, pundits and what have you, believed he was the answer to their problems with finding a manager of the right calibre. As we all know, he was then appointed “permanent manager” in March 2019.

Possibly somewhat influenced by seeing Man U achieving more success with a former player at the helm, rather than with a world class manager with a CV to go along, Chelsea put Frank Lampard in charge in July 2019.

A “feel good” solution with the fans, and possible convictions that a person, who supposedly knows the culture at the club etc., etc. is in the new recipe for getting a good manager.

I certainly remember these arguments put forward to make Arteta’s case for getting the job at Arsenal in December 2019. Especially Chelsea with Lampard was mentioned as an example. Never mind the results weren’t completely there for them. The playing style and the project looked promising to many.

As for Arsenal, after having failed with Emery to a certain degree, despite his impressive CV, in the context of Man U/Solskjaer and Chelsea/Lampard, an Arsenal/Arteta solution could be just what we needed, it seemed. This is the background for Arteta becoming our manager. Not all the degrading and rude nonsense about being the cheap solution etc., which we read here now and again.

Almost 2 years down the road, and rapidly approaching the average time in the job, I think we can’t really say, whether Arteta was the right choice. What we do know, is Lampard is history at Chelsea. Overall mediocre results, and his successor have certainly underlined, being a former star player for the club, is probably not a big qualification.

If I were to bet, I would bet Solskjaer will also be let go without fulfilling the hopes and expectations for Man U.

That leaves Arteta. Will he achieve, what the other 2 couldn’t? Personally, I am very much in doubt. I hope he proves to be. Wouldn’t it be great?

But for the time being, I don’t see being a former player for the job is an extra plus. I think you could just as easily argue, that coming totally unbiased and with only ideas and experience from other clubs, is better.

COYG. With or without Arteta short or long term. Either way, I think the times, where a manager is with the same clubs for many years, are gone. The world of football is impatient.

Med venlig hilsen/kind regards

Anders S