Hours after West Brom secured their Premiership place on the final day of the 2004-2005 season, a Baggies' fan wrote to Football365 angrily demanding an apology because we'd questioned the wisdom of appointing Bryan Robson. There was none forthcoming.
This wasn't because we're ornery buggers who refuse to acknowledge our mistakes, but rather because Robson's record at West Brom deserves only a semblance of respect. That successful fight against relegation was no 'Great Escape' in the manner of a Portsmouth or a West Ham, but rather a triumph of being the 'least bad'.
After Robson's arrival in November 2004, West Brom went 11 Premiership games without victory (including a 4-0 thwacking by Birmingham) and won only five Premiership matches in their final 26 attempts. Their total of 34 points from 38 games was the worst of any top-flight team surviving relegation, and that survival only came because Norwich, Southampton and Crystal Palace all contrived to self-combust on the final day.
Fast-forward a year and West Brom were down, having picked up just seven points from their final 15 games and amassed a total of 30 points, a record only kept from the bottom of the table by the ineptitude of Sunderland.
Add in a less-than-glorious start to this Championship season and Robson's record with the Baggies reads 'P81 W19 D24 L38'. Yes, that's a winning percentage of around 25%. Can I direct Blades' chairman Kevin McCabe to that page of football statistics site soccerbase before he makes the unfathomably stupid decision of appointing him as manager and declaring that he's brought in a 'winner'?
That'll be the same 'winner' who notched up a grand total of seven victories in 28 games as he tried (and failed) to save Bradford from relegation and the same 'winner' who lost three cup finals in two years while at Middlesbrough, where he was given significant financial backing by a chairman who was loyal almost to a fault.
In short, Robson has proved to be utterly inept as a football manager. And yet he continues to be employed by chairmen wowed by 80 England caps and a list of honours as a player. And there are those words - 'as a player' - that too many football chairmen choose to ignore. It no more makes you a good manager than owning a lovely sheepskin coat.
This is a drum we beat over and over again but the top seven sides in the Premiership this season were all managed by men who were average at best as footballers. There really is no corollation between being a great player and being a great manager - as Stuart Pearce can testify after his exit from Man City. And yet chairmen continue to be blinded by the shiny glare of medals.
How poor must Chris Coleman have been in his interview for the Blades job to be looked over in favour of Robson? How little respect does Stuart McCall command that his years of service as an assistant have been dismissed? Did McCabe even consider the likes of Paul Simpson, Dave Jones or Geraint Williams?
It's frightening that Robson could still be employed by a club with Premiership ambitions within a year of his ignominious exit from West Brom. What next? Peter Reid? David O'Leary? Dave Bassett? Mike Bassett? We're weeping almost as much as McCall today...
Sarah Winterburn
*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment