Most people that get paid to do a job have some basic expectations from their employers. Turn up on time. Turn up full stop. Behave in a civilised manner. In addition, they will have a number of tasks as part of their job role and they will have certain targets to achieve. Pretty straight forward. You are paid to do a job, the employer expects that you do it.
If you are in a managerial position, then the targets you will have will have a lot more meaning to the organisation you work for. If you are responsible for other employees, then you will presumably have to in some way ensure they meet their targets to help you achieve yours, thus making the company happy. Again, nothing too difficult to understand. The business wants to be successful, and usually, that means making money.
Football is not normal business
When it comes to football, those rules still apply. To a degree. As football is played out in the public eye, then the success or failure of a manager doesn't just affect those directly employed by the club but has a wider community, which in some cases extends around the globe. The targets that a football club sets a manager are not known to this external group, and that is where things get complicated. Football fans and press have the power to render targets irrelevant.
This week, there have been some good examples of how quirky football can be, and how precarious a job that of a football manager is. Firstly, fan power. Liverpool fans protested at their recent home game with Sunderland about the club's proposed move to charge £77 for certain tickets. The fans walked out after 77 minutes. On the day, it was a good thing as they missed the two goals that Sunderland scored, but their protest worked also.
The club changed their decision and scrapped the plans to charge these huge prices. How many other organisations would go back on their initial decision when it comes to income? On one hand the fans are customers, and any business neglecting the voice of the customer take a huge risk. However, councils, energy companies and other large organisations have implemented grotesque price increases in the past, and ignored the outcry that followed. The fans protest proves that occasionally they can influence a football club into making a big decision.
Chairmen don't need too many excuses
Ronnie Moore lost his job this week. He was manager of Hartlepool United, and he has left with the club in 22nd position in League Two, just four points above the relegation zone. Not surprising that he lost his job then. Well, not quite. When he took over just 10 months previously, the club were bottom of the league and completely cut adrift from the teams above them. Relegation was a certainty, but Moore managed to achieve a minor miracle and avoid the drop. He met his unrealistic target last year. When Moore took charge last year, anybody connected with Hartlepool would have snatched at 22nd position. Maybe the chairman thinks that what Leicester City are doing this year after their own great escape last year is the norm. Maybe Moore needed to win the league?
Targets and aims in football are fair enough, but in football, there are some targets that can be quite subjective. For instance, you can be challenged with playing the 'Derby way'. Paul Clement was allegedly told that was his main priority. He obviously wasn't getting his team to play how the chairman wants, because he was sacked this week as well. That is quite a hard one to believe. Derby County have been stagnant for quite some time, and you have to go back to the 70's for glory years. Even if league position was not Clement's main aim - though how promotion could not be is a mystery - when did Derby last play with panache?
Clement is a novice in management, but he has a wealth of experience as a coach under Carlo Ancelotti at clubs like Chelsea, Paris St German and Real Madrid. He has worked with some of the world's best players. He was given money to spend at Derby, but he was never going to be able to attract players of the calibre he coached, and if you sign Nick Blackman you get a player of his ability, not Cristiano Ronaldo's. That is not saying Blackman is a bad player, or any of the Derby team, but you have to be realistic and understand their limitations. Eight months in charge didn't seem like a fair crack of the whip.
So, fans and board members actions can result in sackings. The same goes for the media. I am not sure if the Hartlepool Mail or the Derby Telegraph had any campaign against either Moore or Clement, but I am sure that they have managed to get a lot of column inches out of both stories. It is unlikely that any newspaper has a campaign against a manager of any club, but when it comes to the national newspapers, what they write and how they write it can certainly be influential. And hurtful occasionally. Ask Louis van Gaal.
Mourinho rumours take a life of their own
Going back to last December, the speculation in the press that van Gaal could be sacked has been rife. During the last week or so, stories have been out in force that Jose Mourinho to Manchester United is a 'done deal'. From the moment Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea, the press have put two and two together and reported that he will replace van Gaal. However, the done deal' comment has allegedly come from Mourinho himself so once again van Gaal's managerial obituaries continue, and the press have a host of stories to write.
Occasionally a sacking comes out of the blue, but more often than not then the writing is on the wall due to performance. Mourinho himself created headlines off the pitch during his last few months at Chelsea, and the teams performances on it were woeful. His departure was no real shock. Is the situation van Gaal finds himself in, where his future is now debated daily unfair? No. Not really. If United were top of the league, playing attractive football, involved in the Champions League and still in domestic cups there would be no discussion. They aren't, so speculation comes with the territory.
Van Gaal is quite possibly lucky that his chairman is quite desperate for him to succeed. Ed Woodward's patience must have been tested, because the fans turned some time ago. The press have picked up on that, so all that seemed to remain was for Woodward to pull the trigger. He hasn't, and until he does then van Gaal will continue to be intensely scrutinised. The only way he can get some relief is for his team to perform on the pitch. Every dropped point, and any cup exit from here on in will bring the additional media pressure.
In some respects, it is unfair that the press are talking about a replacement quite openly. Whereas football reporting at one time was just that, reporting, it now involves more speculation than fact. That's not to say the Mourinho story isn't true, but from that story comes the spin off's such as Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini are set to be sold should Mourinho take charge. On the back of those type of stories, each press conference becomes a battle, and there is something a little cruel about they way he is being treated.
If the man in the street is not performing at work, those measurables that he is judged by are brought to the fore and analysed. If you are found to be underperforming then the corporation have a duty to provide support and resources to enable you to improve. To get sacked, you would almost have to be incompetent and even then the process would take months to complete, assuming there was no improvement.
So football can be quite cut throat, and when you have a responsibility for millions with a vested interest, as van Gaal does, then it must be hard. The sympathy only extends so far though. The man on the street doesn't get their future splashed all over the papers, but they also don't get paid millions of pounds per year. You shouldn't expect abuse, but as manager of Manchester United you should expect criticism when you are not delivering what is required. As a minimum, that consists of winning football matches.
Results are all that counts
I am not sure about the 'Derby way' or even the 'United way', but I expect it means attractive, attacking football. They didn't always do that under Sir Alex Ferguson, but more often than not did. Van Gaal's methods have produced mechanical, turgid and boring performances on many occasions this season. The press can influence fans, but United fans don't need anybody to explain to them that they have not been entertained this season. That results took a nosedive has created the situation United and van Gaal are in.
The press may have overstepped the mark when it comes to speculating about a change, but the situation is all van Gaal's doing. The 'done deal' comment got explained as Mourinho saying it was a done deal if United miss out on Champions League football for next year. If that is correct, then van Gaal still has time to ensure that his last job in football ends how he envisaged, on a high. If not, he can't blame the fans or the press, results are what seals your fate. He will have given his chairman no choice.