COLUMN: Football’s sack race to reach its peak ahead of festive season

Brendan Rodgers is one of 24 bosses to have bitten the dust so far this season.

Recently in our neck of the woods Dean Saunders has been dispensed with by Chesterfield.

At the time of writing his successor is yet to be appointed.

No doubt whoever takes up the reins at the Proact will come out with the usual speak at their unveiling; about building for the future, assessing what tweaking the squad needs and bringing in his own ‘brand’ of football.

However, it is highly unlikely in this modern age of football that the new man will be given that precious commodity - time.

Saunders lasted just six months - two of those were pre-season - and his departure came as no surprise in today’s trigger-happy environment.

In the South Yorkshire/North Derbyshire region there are six professional clubs.

The two Sheffield sides, Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster and the Spireites.

When reporting at a match between two of the aforementioned sides recently, Barnsley against Sheffield United, I got talking to a colleague about the length of time each respective manager had been at their club.

He was amazed as me at the fact that out of those six clubs the longest boss was Barnsley’s Lee Johnson - a mere ten months!

Three of the clubs had changed manager since the start of the season, with the two Steel City sides both appointing bosses in the summer.

Football is extremely fickle nowadays and it is hard to envisage anyone creating a legacy such as Arsene Wenger’s or Sir Alex Ferguson.

Clubs, and probably the media and supporters, are just not forgiving as maybe they once were.

In an age of instant gratification, people aren’t willing to wait.

Results need to change and if they don’t then blame the manager and move on.

It’s cut-throat but managers know what they’re getting themselves in to.

Already this season the likes of Brendan Rodgers, Dick Advocaat, Steve Evans and Steve Clarke have left their posts.

Infact, 24 of the 92 clubs have already dispensed of bosses - around 22 per cent and it isn’t even Christmas yet!

Sadly, you can only expect many more comings and goings before the year is out.