‘Stop coaches’ sack race’
Former Liverpool Jamie Carragher wants to see a new rule introduced to stop football clubs changing their manager during the season.
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Currently 52 per cent of clubs in English football have a manager who has been at the helm for less than one year, while eight bosses have been axed in the Premier League during this campaign, one shy of the Premier League record.
Fulham, currently bottom of the Premier League, have had three full-time managers this term and Norwich boss Chris Hughton is likely to be the ninth manager to go following last Sunday's 4-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
Paulo Di Canio was the first to go at Sunderland, followed by Fulham’s Martin Jol while Ian Holloway left Palace to be replaced last week by Tony Pulis.
But Carragher, now SkySports expert, would like managers to be given more protection and wants to see a new rule that blocks clubs from making changes mid-season.
He told ‘The Footballers’ Football Show: “You see the carry-on at certain clubs when you have two or three managers in one season and it just looks like chaos.
“I think there should be a rule where if you pick a manager at the start of the season then he should be your manager until the end.
You’ve made that decision and you should have to stand by that.
“I think the chopping and changing of managers throughout the leagues is something that should stop in the season.
“Also when a team sack a manager if results aren’t going well, they go and get a manager from somewhere else. That manager will normally be doing well and that takes the manager away from a club and could affect their season as well.
“I think that would be something for our game to bring in, whether it’s just in this country or around the world: managers get a job at the start of the season and no-one can be sacked or lose their job within the season.” — SkySports