The role of the manager in the game of football nowadays is all about the result. If a manager isn't getting the results that the owners expect, than they can pretty much kiss their jobs goodbye, apart from in a few positive scenarios. However, in the modern game, the manager is focused on in the media for more than just the results that they can get their team to produce...
Jose Mourinho is one of the best known managers worldwide. He's had major success in some of the top leagues in the world and wins trophies at every single club he works at. A success story all round? Not exactly. It's not often that he doesn't have a complaint about the media or the referee or something that happened in the game, which doesn't just draw the attention of the media, but also that of the FA. He's been in bother with the FA quite a few times, but doesn't seem like he will ever hold back on what he truly feels about what happened in the game, or how he feels about something that has been said in the media. It could only be a matter of time before he says something that could give him a lot more to think about than just a fine.
Another manager recently in trouble with the FA was Louis van Gaal. It's the first charge of conduct he's received in his managerial career and he wasn't exactly too happy with it. He is pretty much in agreement with Mourinho that he should have the right to say what he wants about the game that had been played. That isn't the only thing that has drawn attention to the Manchester United manager in recent weeks though. On Sunday in a post-match interview, Sam Allardyce said that United had turned into a 'long-ball team' which seemed to upset van Gaal as it wasn't his philosophy. This meant that when he turned up to his press conference and was asked questions about that statement, he brought out what looked like PowerPoint slides that showed his team were not a long-ball team and proved that they could pass their way towards the opponent area. Not exactly your typical press conference...
Earlier today, Paul Lambert became the third manager to get sacked so far this season. Aston Villa lie 18th in the table, meaning they're in the relegation zone, which they dropped into after their loss to Hull City. They also haven't been very clinical up front this season after scoring only 12 goals in the Premier League this season. They had a goal drought of just less than 11 hours which lasted until their goals against Chelsea at the weekend, but it just wasn't good enough for a team in the top flight. Not many people would have been surprised to see Lambert go though, and it did look to have been a long time coming. This followed the news that Harry Redknapp had left QPR earlier in the month, and it probably won't be the last news about a manager losing their job due to poor results before May.
The most shocking news of all managers, in my opinion, is Nigel Pearson. He served a ban and paid a fine in December for getting into a row with one of the Leicester fans, and then seemed to be walking on extremely thin ice after an incident that happened against Crystal Palace at the weekend. James McArthur slid into him after trying to tackle a Leicester player and accidentally tripped him up. This was followed by an episode where Pearson pinned McArthur down by his neck and looked to have him in a strangle hold before letting him get up and then pulling him back again by his shirt. Pearson has said it was all in good spirits and he didn't mean any harm by it, but that still begs the question of why he did it in the first place. The other thing that really shocked me was that the FA didn't do anything about it! Even after the explanation, it deserves a punishment as it isn't setting a good example to people who watched the game. I guess we'll never truly know if there was some malice behind it or not.
Sometimes, the manager can be in the lime light even more than the players depending on which view the media chooses to focus on. To me, the manager is in a role that should be calm, collected and have the ability to turn games around for their team and this should be focused on from a positive point of view. However, when wrong choices are made by said 'responsible' members of the game, there always really is only one story that the people want to hear about.
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