Told you so: The football appointments they said wouldn't last

[Swanny]

Told you so: The football appointments they said wouldn't last

Sven Goran Eriksson
When Notts County were taken over at the start of the season, the new owners came in with big ambitions. They were a League Two side destined for the Premier League and the man who would lead the revolution was Sven Goran Eriksson. The very same Sven who led England for five-years, was paid millions of pounds and was once considered one of the best managers in the world. With this in mind, football fans struggled to understand what would motivate the Swede to take the Director of Football role at the League Two side - and most are still wondering. But after the club were sold this week to new owners, his time at Meadow Lane has come to an end - just seven-months after his arrival. But at least he lasted longer than Sol Campbell who made just one appearance for the Magpies before jumping ship.


Paul Gascoigne

The appointment of Paul Gascoigne - England legend and legendary drinker - as manager of Kettering Town in 2005, seemed a little strange. The former Tottenham midfielder took charge of the non-league club in 2005 amid a blaze of publicity. Imraan Ladak, the club's 27-year-old chairman, said Gascoigne was his hero. But it seemed hero status could buy Gazza just 39 days (plus two wins, two defeats and two draws) before he was shown the door. Ladak accused Gascoigne of drinking on the job, with one local reported claiming: "He was always off his face when I saw him, even in press conferences." Gazza denied the claims and even claimed he would buy the club so he could take over again. He didn't and hasn't returned to management either.




Brian Clough
Ol' Big 'Ed made his name at Derby County - leading them to the Division One title in 1972 against the odds. His outspoken manner and no-nonsense approach to the game was highly respected and at that time in his career he was the most exciting manager in England. But a fall out with the board at Derby saw him walk out on the club. But where would he go next? Well... rather strangely Division Three side Brighton & Hove Albion. It was clear he never wanted to be there. He refused to relocate to the south coast and turned up just for the matches. He lasted 32 games (winning just 12 of them) and left the club at the end of the season. And then he shocked everyone by taking the manager's job at Leeds United. Clough hated the club - he said so himself enough times. Famously his tenure lasted just 44 days.




Robinho


Chelsea had already started selling the Robinho shirts. The Brazilian had all but signed on the dotted line. And when the former Real Madrid player arrived in England he appeared delighted with his move: "On the last day, Chelsea made a great proposal and I accepted." Apart from he hadn't signed for Chelsea. He had signed for Manchester City, who had jumped in at the last moment to hijack the move and take him to the North West instead. It wasn't a great start to his career and many were wondering how long it would last. Well now we know. Last month and 18 months after joining he agreed a loan move to Brazilian side Santos, ending his unhappy spell at Eastlands.


Steve Staunton

When the Republic of Ireland failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup and Brian Kerr's reign was brought to an end, the officials in charge of appointing a successor promised a 'world class' management team. The likes of Terry Venables and Bobby Robson were linked with the role. They hired Steve Staunton. Admittedly a good professional during his playing days, the player/assistant manager role at Walsall that he left to join Ireland didn't smack of the 'world class' experience that was wanted. In his first competitive match he was sent to the stands for kicking a water bottle - and it didn't get much better after that. Poor results and angry fans were the staple of Staunton's reign and he was fired at the end of the Euro qualifying campaign, 19 months into his four-year contract.




John Barnes

When John Barnes took over at Celtic it was billed as the dream ticket. He, working under Kenny Dalglish as director of football, would help the Scottish giants to scale the heights - or at least that's what the owners said after his much hyped appointment. However, the pairing of the Liverpool legends seemed to have less the air of 'dream-ticket' about it and more the sense of an impending nightmare - and so it played out. Shortly after a shock defeat at the hands of Inverness Caledonian Thistle - Barnes was sacked, before even seeing out an entire season.



Thomas Gravesen

A few had noticed that the Dane was having a rather good season at Everton in 2005 - and among those few were Real Madrid. They swooped in during the January transfer window of that season to take him to the Bernabeu. But surely Gravesen wasn't Galacticos material was he? Well... No, he wasn't. He somehow managed to get 35 appearances under his belt despite Fabio Capello, the Real manager at the time, saying: "His behaviour is like this, and I don't like it, everything has to be done like he wants it to be done." He was sold off to Celtic in 2006.


Kevin Keegan

The return of the Messiah was how Geordies billed Kevin Keegan's return to Newcastle in 2008. For those without an emotional attachment to the club it was an insane appointment - derived from owner Mike Ashley's desperation to appease disgruntled fans. King Kev's sensational appointment appeared all the more bizarre when people learnt the former England manager had been running a 'football circus' and had not watched a live football match for three-years. Was this really the guy to turn Newcastle's fortunes around? Three matches into the 2008/09 season, Keegan resigned, citing disagreements over the club's transfer policy. He would later go on to win £2m in damages after Newcastle were found to have breached his contract over the signing of Uruguayan Ignacio Gonzalez. It was not a happy return.


Steve McClaren

The writing was on the wall the moment McClaren took the England job. The FA had offered the job to Phil Scolari - who turned it down - before the former Middlesbrough boss was appointed. He had served as Sven Goran-Eriksson's number two - and he was choice number two with the FA as well it seemed. His first move was to drop David Beckham from the team in what appeared to be a statement of his intentions to rid the squad of the celebrity culture and show everyone who was boss. But it didn't work. Results were poor, Beckham was recalled, and on that memorable night in the rain at Wembley as England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, his reign came to an end.

Claude Anelka

In 2004, the brother of Chelsea star Nicolas (pictured), fancied a go at the management game. Where most people would go out and purchase Championship Manager for their PC, Claude offered £300,000 to any team that would offer him the manager's job. Amazingly, a team came forward - Raith Rovers of the Scottish First Division. Here was a chance to see if your average man in the street could lead a football team. The answer was no, he couldn't. Claude managed just one draw in eight games before resigning. He then took up the Director of Football role at the club, but he wasn't much good at that either and resigned after less than a month.

Claude Anelka In 2004, the brother of Chelsea star Nicolas (pictured), fanci...

[spurs2rise]

I am awesome at Football Manager. I reckon I could do it.

[juergensdive]

What? No mention of Ramos?

[Swanny]

What? No mention of Ramos?

That's the problem he lasted too long...simples

[thfcire]

thanks for bringing up staunton mate,im off to stick icepicks in my balls to forget that experiance ha ha