Friday 7 March 2008

Beware The Seduction Of The Irresistible Challenge


I have to confess to being a bit worried about things in The Foxes' camp at the moment, particularly after reading Ollie's column this evening.

There is quite a lot open to interpretation if you read between the lines.

For example, his response to the enquiry about his relationship with Milan was a little evasive I thought. And although I am not unsympathetic to his comments about luck, there is a touch of desperation in them in my view.

Inheriting a problematic situation can bring excitement. It presents challenges to be overcome and the opportunity to prove your worth by achieving success. But it can also be a poisoned chalice.

That Ollie inherited a problematic situation is not in dispute. Performance was consistently poor, there was an apparent lack of both fitness and motivation and the team had been effectively rudderless for a number of months.

He is clearly working hard to a plan to bring the team up to scratch. There have been signs too that they have the potential to become a good side.

There has also been a lack of consistency in the impact of these changes to date however.

And all this places Milan in an invidious position. Leicester City have never been outside the top two tiers in the league. To drop to League One would be unthinkable. On the other hand, the rot is deep and you can't turn that around over night.

My fear is that Milan will conclude he has no option but to sack the current manager, either when the risk of relegation becomes even more imminent, or if the worst happens. Yet probably in his heart he knows that Ollie did the best he could - that anyone could have done - in those circumstances.

It's easy to sit on the sidelines and pontificate. I'm very glad I don't have to face some of the hard decisions that present themselves to the Boards of football clubs.

2 comments:

Jungle VIP said...

Most commentators these days are beginineg to suggest that sticking with the manager is the way forward to success. Suralex, Moyes, Benitez, Wenger are all examples of manager who have been in post for while. Course' they're successful and winning stuff mostly-so no wonder they are still working.

I havn't seen anything in Leicester's performances recently that would suggest Ollie has done enough. Sure, they are keeping it on the ground a bit more; sure, they have spent serious money, but they lack any real cutting edge. I wonder in Holloway is the man to deliver this.

For sure, we'll see over the next few weeks. I do think Mandaric needs to stick with his willing little horse for now.

JVIP

Anonymous said...

I'm with JVIP on this one. There is nothing to be gained by geting rid of Holloway except certain relegation.
The one thing I cannot judge is the mood of the Leicester fans; are they calling for is head?