Look back way 18-24 months back and who would have thought the new season may kick off and both Eddie Howe and Chris Wilder on the shelf?
There is still a lot of snobbery in football. Please tell me for instance what Gattuso has done of note to get a mention for the Spurs job that makes him more of a safe bet than Wilder.
Wilder had one poor season out of an entire career with an upward trend. From his side, relative to other clubs he can point to some constraints. It's not that he isn't a judge of good players - a lot of his targets went on to better things - he just couldn't get bang for his buck this time around or he favoured players who were just too far back in their development to deliver in the here and now. He can reasonably present that, from his side I mean. I'm not sure as fans we are quite so forgiving.
It just seems that if you are a footballing magician, constantly pulling rabbits out of hats, punching above your weight, then the moment you stop doing that, the stigma remains. You've reached your limitations. Same with Warnock. He's always been relegated from the top level. But when did he ever get a budget there that wasn't a relegation one?
Yet if you're an ex-player with a high profile, chances keep coming your way almost regardless of how you did previously.
Gattuso's first 4 appointments ended in failure. A time for reflection perhaps? No. Not at all.
Due to his ex-player credentials parachuted in as manager of AC Milan. This increased his win percentage as you'd expect a club of such standing but a 6th place followed by a 5th and missing out once more on CL places did for him. So a massive failure for a club of this size.
Game over eh? Nope. Six months later, straight in at another plum job of a team that had been operating at the upper echelons, Napoli. He secured his first silverware winning the Copa Italia but once more, despite boosting his managerial win percentage, guided a team who were prior top 4, outside of the Champions League spots.
Back to lick his wounds and a more modest appointment down the leagues? Not hugely, as he was given another top flight gig in Florence that he stepped away from as they couldn't satisfy his demands. Yes his, serial failure that he is.
It will be interesting where Lampard ends up. Nobody would have suggested when we went up that Lampard as manager of Derby was better than Wilder at United. Ex-player connections kick in and he can point to a decent win percentage at the top level but only with a club of untold resources. He got a free pass first season due to their embargo but he was hardly a pauper. Then spent big and didn't spend wisely enough and had them down in 9th.
If there was less snobbery about then some of the guys who earn their way up might get a shot. Don't get me started on some of the Portuguese managers - Marco Silva, who got a series of chances after failures or Bruno Lage who has somehow aced the Wolves job on the back of some flat track bullying in Portugal and being remarkably given the Benfica first team job after a dozen games at the helm of their B team.