We are talking about what will happen with the top six managers come the end of the season.
Today we look at the managers of Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool with the other three spotlighted tomorrow.
Warning!! There now follows some indisputable reasoning and irrefutable logic the like of which is only normally heard when two politicians are arguing the case for their respective parties.
Arséne Wenger
A good one to start with as he has been likened, on occasion, to a politician. This comparison is either due to the way he is often very diplomatic or it is because of his propensity to say one thing one minute and the complete opposite the next!
There is a small consensus of opinion which says that Stubborn Old Man, if he ends the season empty handed, may well cut short his two year contract by one year.
If he is offered a seat on the board or another senior role within the club this could be his final season as manager.
Whilst many Arsenal fans will be hoping that this “catch 22” situation actually materialises if it results in a change of manager, there are many others who would probably be prepared to suffer him for another season if he wins one of the domestic cups or the Europa League.
At present he has a reasonable chance of winning the Carabao Cup and is well placed to do likewise in the Europa League. If he wins either of these then he can be expected to stay on and have another go in Europe next season.
If he finishes outside of the top four and with no trophy then he may rethink his final season.
Our opinion is that winning nothing will actually make him more determined to stay and try and finish his career on a high. This would be the wrong decision, he has already stayed longer than was necessary.
Antonio Conte
Having misundertsood a journalist’s question, causing a feud with the Premier League’s “Mr. Nice Guy” José Mourinho, and with his team sitting in third place in the table, all is not well in the Italian’s world.
The positives are that Chelsea are still in the Champion’s League, although not for much longer, and they are in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup, although they are not now favourites to reach the final.
Which leaves the FA Cup.
Past Chelsea managers have been sacked for being a lot more successful than Conte is likely to be this season because they either lost the confidence/trust of the owner or there was somebody who Abramovich thought superior to them available for employment.
Add to this the fact that Conte is, apparently, homesick and everything points to an exit at the end of the season.
Jürgen Klopp
This is a guy who appears to have embraced everything the north west of England has to offer. He is settled in the area and he is settled in the job.
He is still trying to get a team which is as settled as he is and is doing so slowly but surely. He seems to have come through a rough patch where his record was being compared, unfavourably at the time, with that of his predecessor Brendan Rodgers.
He has managed to keep the fans on his side even though he was forced to sell the club’s best player, although it helped that he was able to bring in Virgil van Dijk from Southampton.
He will be going absolutely nowhere at the end of the season and, if he could win a trophy and buy a world-class goalkeeper, he could even achieve cult-hero status on Merseyside.
So that’s it for today and, as we said, we’ll look at the others tomorrow.
If you have any inside information on any of the three managers under discussion in this article, such as what their future plans may be, please feel free to share it with the rest of us in the comments section below.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 