Mickey Ambrose on the last minute penalty that sealed Ten Hag’s fate
Who would want to be a football manager? The stress levels of both Julen Lopetegui of West Ham and Erik ten Hag of Manchester United were at an all time high and worse when their teams met on 27 October. Both men knew their jobs were on the line.
Loprtegui came out on top and Ten Hag paid the price. He was sacked within 24 hours.
You have to ask yourself who would want this type of pressure and for what – winning a game of football, a trophy?
Lopetegui edged it thanks to a highly disputed Jarrod Bowen late minute penalty.
Man Utd’s players and their manager were incensed but Bowen’s cool finish made it 2-1, and sealed the Man Utd manager’s fate. He was sacked a day later.
Ten Hag’s United missed a host of chances. Let’s be fair, they should have been 3-0 by half-time, but they missed a host of chances, the worst from Dalot who somehow fired way over the bar in front of an open goal.
For West Ham, Lopetegui has more breathing space in terms of not getting the sack.
But some owners are very quick to sack the manager, even one they spent months trying to hire. What does that tell you about how ruthless and brutal football can be? In the end, of course, it’s all about results.
In other news, the long awaited Independent Football Regulator is now 15 months away from happening. The government proposes to use the football regulator to tackle questionable practices by club owners and executives, aiming to prevent a new attempt to establish an independent Super League.
The Football Governance Bill would empower an independent regulator to safeguard the future of clubs, including more rigorous checks on who can run or own them.
A legal proposal was presented to the House of Lords in October incorporating amendments that “will explicitly require clubs to make effective commitments” to fans regarding changes in ticket prices or plans to relocate a stadium.
The bill aims to ensure the financial stability of elite men’s football in England and prevent valuable community and cultural assets from crumbling, as seen in the recent collapses of lower league clubs Bury and Macclesfield. This was something I spoke about in an interview for Sky Sports News in my capacity as the Chair of The People’s FA Reform Group.
The government says there will be a “clear commitment” to improve equality, diversity, and inclusion in the sport.
Now this is good news because as it stands we have only one black manager in the whole of the football pyramid. That is my friend Darren Moore who manages Port Vale, currently sitting top of the 2nd division. That is a shocking indictment and a disgrace to those governing bodies like the Football Association who have never employed a black person in a senior executive role who has a vote on the main FA Board.
The People’s FA is wishing to reform the FA, the oldest sporting governing body in the world, and will continue to hold such organisations to account. We have already handed our 14 page People’s FA Blueprint to the government.
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