The Premier League has always been a tough place for the managers as they do not get much time before they are judged by the fans and the media in the country. So it is not out of the norm to see managers getting sacked even this early in the season. One such story that is doing the rounds recently involves Welsh outfit Swansea City.
Francesco Guidolin, the 60-year-old Italian, who has already managed 16 different clubs around Europe, moved to the Premier League for the first time to replace Gary Monk at the Liberty stadium in January this year. He managed to keep the side in the top flight for another year but has not started the new season on a good note. His side have picked up just the one victory in their seven games and are in desperate need of inspiration and rumors now say that he may be the first man to face the sack in the Premier League this season.
The side were recently beaten by Liverpool but the performance was encouraging. After two tough skirmishes with Manchester City. Swansea gave a good account of themselves against the Reds and if not for some atrocious finishing by Baston and De roon, they could have drawn or even won the game.
Reports have revealed that former Manchester United assistant manager Ryan Giggs is the front-runner to land the job. Chairman Huw Jenkins is a long-time admirer of Giggs, but it is understood the club’s new majority shareholders, Jason Levein and Steve Kaplan do not want to make a change so early in the season. However, with poor results and an international break coming up, Guidolin will have sleepless nights.
The 42-year-old Manchester United hero was working under Louis van Gaal in the previous season and has gathered some valuable intelligence from one of the most experienced managers in Europe.
He has, in the past, spoken about his desire to become a manager some day in his career and if Swansea are desperate, that day may almost be here. It is a huge risk, given the amount of experience, or the lack of it, that the 42-year old has and here is why it might backfire.
To begin with, one of the major reasons why a manager is sacked in between the season is to get in another manager who has some experience to guide the team back to winnings ways. Liverpool did that, bringing Klopp, who was active in Europe for 7 years and also Sunderland, who sacked Dick Advocaat to rope in Sam Allardyce recently. Swansea are doing the opposite.
They want to sack a manager who has an experience of close to 3 decades. The Italian has been a manager of a senior competitive side since 1988 and has moved all around Europe before taking over the Liberty outfit. Giggs ,on the other end, will make his debut as a manager and will walk into a situation, where he will have to steer a club, for the entire season, with a set of players, he did not really want in the first place, to a decent position.
The time on the sidelines with LVG at Old Trafford may have taught Giggs a lot, but the pressure of actually making decisions that impact an entire club is not easy to handle. He has no previous experience in doing so and it would be a shocking decision if the Swansea City owners decide to sack Guidolin in the next few months.
Guidolin may have his faults, but he is trying to establish something at the club and he will have to be given more time than just 8 months before he is thrown out of the job from the league. Do you think Swansea should sack Guidolin for Ryan Giggs?
