So yet again another Premier League manager has lost his job after a some what humiliating defeat at the hands of West Bromwich Albion. The first manager casualty occurred when Newcastle boss Chris Hughton has his contract terminated that shocked the football world after 3-1 defeat at the Hawthorns. I believe that it was very harsh on Hughton who in my view, and many Magpie fans, did his job successfully.
The big one in terms of Albion fans happened to Mick McCarthy following a damaging rout at home with the final score 1-5, a day that both sets of supporters will remember for different reasons. I think part of the reason that the board at Molineux opted to axe McCarthy, regardless of the fact that they were in a dogfight to avoid relegation, was that it was a degrading defeat to the club’s bitterest rival that ultimately identified the severe gap in quality between two sides at the wrong end of the league table.
The third sacking came after Chelsea visited the Hawthorns that finalised Andre Villas Boas’ short reign as boss after he suffered a shock 1-0 loss. The young manager was brought in my Roman Abramovich to finally bring stability to the club that it so desperately needed to emulate the success at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, but unsurprisingly the Portuguese coach lasted under a season.
Villas Boas’ replacement Roberto Di Matteo was given his marching orders shortly after a defeat at his former club. Technically he was fired after a 3-0 defeat to Juventus in the Champions League, but his final league game came in the Midlands.
Then it was the turn of the mad Italian Paolo Di Canio who, as you may have heard, has become the first Premiership manager of the season to be dismissed of his position. Stephane Sessegnon opened the scoring at the weekend, which made matters all the worse for Di Canio after allowing the attacking midfielder to depart under the new revolution. His last match in charge of the Black Cats ended with the scoreline 3-0 in the favour of the Baggies that both teams needed to win.
However, I would find it highly unlikely that the Italian was purely sacked for that loss, it was just the final hurdle in a eventful yet short spell in charge of his first top tier club.