What do the following have in common;-
Arséne Wenger, David Moyes, Sam Allardyce, Marouane Fellaini and Claudio Bravo?
The answer is that they were all, at one stage or another, unwanted by the supporters of their club and some still are.
There are others too numerous to mention but these five are probably of the highest profile at present.
ARSÉNE WENGER
Arséne Wenger is now at the point where he is tolerated by the fans and this only because he awarded himself a new two year contract recently. Most Arsenal fans would have preferred if he had left or moved upstairs at the end of last season but not Arséne. He is deluded enough to place his own self -importance above the wishes of the majority of the supporters and stay where he is.
This, unfortunately for Arsenal, probably means another finish outside of the top four followed by another season with no Champion’s League football.
Verdict
This is one situation where the fans were, and still are, right.
DAVID MOYES
A manager never wanted by the majority of United fans but, as always, they were prepared to give him a chance. Not much of a chance, but a chance nonetheless.
In succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson he took on a job he was never qualified to do. In fairness, Fergie should have known better than to put forward the name of a man who had won nothing and whose claim to fame was keeping Everton comfortably in the Premier League without ever really mounting a challenge to the top four.
Moyes made all the wrong comments, broke all the wrong records and was sacked before eventually whining that he wasn’t given much of a chance. Well, he was given a chance at Real Sociedad and what happened? He failed abysmally. He was given a chance at Sunderland and what happened? He failed abysmally. The common denominator is that, at all three clubs, the fans gave him a chance and he let them down woefully.
Verdict
This is another one where the fans were right.
SAM ALLARDYCE
When Big Sam was employed as manager of West Ham United he was one of the most unwelcome appointments ever made at Upton Park.
The fans had already decided that this was going to be the end of football as they knew it and they were immediately preparing to be bored rigid when watching their team.
They stopped short of actually boycotting games because, as per usual, Sam got them promoted to the Premier League, albeit through the play-offs, and then proceeded to keep them there.
Throughout his tenure and despite keeping the Hammers in the Premier League with relative ease he was never accepted by the diehard fans and left, reputation enhanced, to pitch up at Sunderland a few months later.
Verdict
In this instance the fans were, in the main, wrong to treat Allardyce the way they did just because his way of playing football is designed, through necessity, to keep teams in the Premier League.
MAROUANE FELLAINI
One of David Moyes’ acquisitions for United he is a lumbering, often clumsy midfielder, who will never be accepted by some at Old Trafford simply because of his “style” of play.
Despite not being one for the purists, he has managed to hold down a reasonably regular place under Louis van Gaal and is doing the same under José Mourinho. In fact, if Mourinho is being truthful, he is now saying that Fellaini is too important to sell!
This is probably a little tongue-in-cheek and designed to flatter Fellaini into thinking he is wanted at Old Trafford. The truth is that, with the arrival of Nemanja Matic, Fellaini is unlikely to start many games unless there are injuries or suspensions but he remains a different option from the bench.
Verdict
The fans are, generally speaking, right on this one. We can’t help thinking that Mourinho, despite what he is now saying, would not have bought Fellaini had he been the manager at the time.
CLAUDIO BRAVO
The first obstacle he had to overcome when he arrived at the Etihad was that he was replacing a fan’s favourite in Joe Hart so he was always going to have to be something special to get the supporters on board.
Unfortunately for Bravo this is something he has never been able to achieve. Whilst being quite good with his feet, (this being the main reason he was purchased), he proved to be pretty inept with his hands and was responsible for the concession of a number of goals throughout the season.
So impressed with him was Guardiola that he went out and broke the world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper when signing Ederson at the end of last season. This, of course, is to provide competition for Bravo. Course it is Pep, we believe you!
Verdict
The fans have, once again, been proved right on this one.
So, in a world where the top clubs do exactly as they wish and only usually listen to the fans when they want to get rid of a manager, these five examples prove, to an extent, that the supporters get it right more often than the clubs do.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 