Managers Out at Wigan and City
Paul Jewell resigned and Stuart Pearce sacked by Manchester City
Within a day of the Premiership season ending, two more managers are out of work. Paul Jewell resigned at Wigan Athletic while Manchester City sacked Stuart Pearce.
Within twenty four hours of the Premiership football season ending, two more clubs have removed their manager. Paul Jewell resigned as manager of Wigan Athletic and Manchester City sacked their manager, Stuart Pearce.
That makes five managerial changes in the Premiership in the recent weeks. Chris Coleman was sacked as manager of Fulham last month and Lawrie Sanchez was appointed as ‘caretaker’ until the end of the season. Having ensured the club avoided relegation Sanchez relinquished his post as Northern Ireland International team manager to take up the full-time appointment at Craven Cottage.
Sam Allardyce resigned as manager of Bolton Wanderers two games before the end of the season. His assistant, Sammy Lee was immediately installed as his replacement and took the club into Europe for the second time in three years.
Newcastle United whose manager Glenn Roeder resigned a week ago are expected to announce Sam Allardyce as his replacement at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Such is the demand for success that all managers are immediately under pressure if results don’t go in their favour. Paul Jewell has just seen Wigan Athletic survive a very stressful season in the Premiership. Following a run of very poor results, they avoided relegation with a final day victory at fellow strugglers, Sheffield United, condemning them to the drop in their place.
In his resignation statement, Jewell who was manager at Wigan for six years, cited needing a break from football as the reason for stepping down. His Chairman, Dave Whelan, stated that he had seen Jewell’s health deteriorate in recent months and did not expect Jewell to be looking for a job in football for at least six months. Wigan moved quickly to replace Jewell by appointing his assistant, Chris Hutchings as his successor. Hutchings had a short spell as manager of Bradford City a number of years ago, again stepping in for Jewell.
At Manchester City Pearce has been under pressure through a disappointing season. The club only won five home League games all season, scoring only ten home League goals, a record low. Pearce replaced Kevin Keegan as 'caretaker' manager just over two years ago and started well, the club just missing out on qualification for European football at the end of that season. He won the ‘Manager of the Month’ award twice during his first five months in the role. However, following an FA Cup defeat to West Ham United in season 2005-06, results took a downward turn and Pearce can be considered fortunate to have avoided the sack twelve months ago. The Board showed faith in him but this season has shown little improvement and now the axe has fallen.
Pearce who was one of the names mentioned when the England manager’s post was vacant last summer will be in charge of the England Under-21 side at the European Under-21 Championships this summer.
Manchester City are in a difficult position, there is much talk of takeover bids for the club from a number of interested parties, so it may be some time before a successor is named as they wait to see if any of the offers come to fruition.
