If the sacking of Scott Parker was entirely predictable, Burnley’s actual decision has caused some surprising debate among both coaches and those who hire them.
Is there a best time for a manager to leave? Can coaches get unfairly siloed in terms of their “profile”? Should this be playing on the newly in-demand Frank Lampard’s mind?
Parker, after all, is now being cast as a “mere” promotion specialist, a “Championship” manager.
That may well be entirely accurate, given the available evidence. He is one of just three coaches to have got three clubs promoted to the Premier League (name the other two my weekly Inside Football quiz!) and has never finished above the relegation zone. One of his three campaigns in the competition actually saw him fail to finish the month of August, having criticised Bournemouth for being “unequipped” for the 2022-23 Premier League.
Gary O’Neil then proved they absolutely were equipped, before Andoni Iraola went beyond that.
All of this is swirling around the questions that executives and managers themselves are asking, which are all the more pertinent given the new fluidity from the middle of the Premier League to the upper reaches of the Championship.
Some even feel that available evidence around Parker is incomplete. One argument is that there are now too many variables with promoted clubs, and there’s an obvious difference in what you needed to get up to what you need to stay there – so that it’s harsh to judge.
It is nevertheless for all these reasons that clubs like Crystal Palace feel Lampard may be worth pursuing this summer. He is on the shortlist of a few clubs. That makes quite the change from a few years ago, which is why some executives feel that Lampard could be persuaded to use that momentum.
Coventry City manager Frank Lampard with players celebrate promotion to the Premier League (Reuters)
As one high-profile coach – a little harshly – said, if you don’t take these opportunities as they come “you can end up like Kieran McKenna”. In other words, some mangers have been on the up and had a chance to go higher, only to stay and see their reputation be diminished.
The expectation had been that McKenna would leave Ipswich Town if they failed to win promotion – albeit not for clubs of the same calibre as Manchester United or Chelsea, who were linked with him previously.
There is also considerable risk that Coventry City end up in a similar situation. One of the same reasons their promotion is such a feel-good story is also a reason why they are immediately a favourite for relegation.
The finances are restricted. While the talk among the industry is that they will spend this summer, that will be within a budget that generally only allows £30,000 a week to signings.
If that’s the case, clubs feel that Lampard might be tempted elsewhere. The sense is still of course that the 47-year-old will stay. He’s emotionally invested in Coventry. It’s been such a feel-good story, and so good for him, too. He’s loved it.
There is also a financial restraint there. Interested clubs have balked at an estimated buy-out of around £5m.
Palace have naturally been looking elsewhere, too. McKenna is on their list, ironically enough. The Independent has also been told that overtures have been made to Villarreal’s Marcelino and Filipe Luis, recently of Flamengo and of interest to Chelsea.
Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna on the parade bus as they celebrate promotion to Premier League (Reuters)
The profile of coach targeted is said to be more open than more ideologically-driven clubs would usually allow, which perhaps speaks to the openness of that area of the table, too.
Clubs like Sunderland are suddenly sensing the opportunity to get into Europe and transform their entire outlook.
Some around the Stadium of Light believe this ambition has actually played into recent issues – and even a feeling that Regis Le Bris might end up available.
While the Sunderland leadership would love European football, some closer to the technical side believe it’s too soon. They don’t think the squad has the experience or depth yet. Better to consolidate in the devision, sell to buy, and “do a Brentford”. Otherwise, it could put them in danger.
Coaches are consequently newly aware of how there can be a mobility to their own value, too. It can drastically rise and fall as if in a managerial stock market, especially if you don’t have that CV with a major trophy.
Some managers naturally obsess about this. As has been written in this newsletter before, when discussing the different market at the top of the table, there’s inevitably an ego to the role. That actually doesn’t mean “an arrogance”, but a personal intensity because of how much team success or failure is intertwined with their own professional identity.
Almost all coaches start off planning some kind of trajectory, an ideal path of leaping from promotion, to an unexpected trophy for an overachieving team, to one of the biggest clubs in the game.
Some – a little sadly – quickly have this beaten out of them by how brutal the job can be. Inside Football knows of one once-idealistic manager who dreamed of the top, but very quickly admitting to becoming a “mercenary”: to just going wherever the money is.
That is also natural.
On that, however, Lampard has had an influence in another way.
He could have just accepted the biggest paying jobs, after all, maybe in the Saudi Pro League. He instead dug in at the EFL, to lift him and his team up.
Some of his playing generation are said to have been struck by this, and are now newly open to jobs they wouldn’t have previously considered.
The fluidity of the table only encourages that.
Reputations can abruptly fall, sure, but Lampard has shown they can quickly rise again.
It is said to be one reason why Bristol City have been pitching for Steven Gerrard.
As for Parker, there are already aspiring Championship clubs looking at him. They go up and down, and round again.
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