Why Doncaster Rovers' Danny Schofield and Hull City's Liam Rosenior must be given time to build - Stuart Rayner
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Getting it as a football manager is nigh on impossible.
Of England's 92 league clubs, only 49 have the same manager they had a year ago. Just 20 have lasted more than three and only Simon Weaver – approaching 14 years at Harrogate Town – has done a decade.
In the last fortnight, Patrick Vieira, Antonio Conte, Brendan Rodgers and Graham Potter have been sacked as Premier League clubs panic.
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Hide AdHuddersfield Town, Southampton, Chelsea, Watford (of course), Colchester United, Wigan Athletic, Cardiff City, Crawley Town, Hartlepool United and Rochdale have pulled the trigger twice this season.
Sometimes a manager has to go. On the field or off, something is not working and the situation is irretrievable.
But managers only become good managers by learning from mistakes.
Darren Moore's job last season was getting Sheffield Wednesday promoted. With a good budget to add to some Championship-quality players, he failed when the Owls lost in the League One play-offs to Sunderland.
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Hide AdIt could have been a sacking offence. Instead, chairman Dejphon Chansiri trusted Moore could learn from it and 11 months on, Wednesday are top of the table, albeit a recent wobble means promotion is not yet assured.
Sacking a manager usually means starting again - maybe a different style of play, probably a big turnover of players. Transformations like that need pre-seasons, transfer windows and time, and so competitive is this year's League One, giving Ipswich Town and Plymouth Argyle a headstart might not just have been the difference between winning it or not, but winning promotion or not.
This week there were rumours - quickly shut down by owner Acun Ilicali - that Hull's second coach this season, Liam Rosenior, was next to be sacked.
Had the Championship season began when Rosenior did in early November, Hull would be 11th - not what Ilicali expected after a summer of heavy investment.
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Hide AdRosenior has only done half a job, sorting out the team defensively without finding the right attacking formula. But it has saved them from relegation. The full service will take more than five months.
Clubs have a choice when they appoint managers - a builder, like Potter or Rosenior, or a firefighter, like Huddersfield's Neil Warnock.
Whichever you go for, you should judge them on that basis.
Danny Schofield is a builder, yet he was sacked after nine Terriers games. Now at Doncaster Rovers, the pressure is on him again.
The football is far from great, results are worse. But Rovers are not going to get relegated and no new coach could drag them into the League Two play-offs.
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Hide AdSchofield tries to play purer football than a modest League Two budget will allow.
But he was on the coaching staff at Huddersfield when Carlos Corberan made similar mistakes in his first season.
Huddersfield let him learn from them, abandon Bielsaesque man-for-man marking, bring in a bit more experience and reach the play-offs.
Holding your nerve is easier said than done but constantly ripping things up and starting again cannot bring real progress.
*Stuart Rayner is the Yorkshire Post’s chief football writer.