‘If you have employed them then back them’ – Crewe boss Artell on early sackings

(Photo: Action Images via Reuters)

By Alex Beard

Crewe Alexandra manager David Artell has given his take on the early managerial sackings taking place in English football, and he’s unsurprisingly in favour of rather more patience from chairmen.

Former Ajax and Inter Milan boss Frank de Boer lost his job at Premier League Crystal Palace after just four games this season, while Birmingham gave Harry Redknapp the boot this weekend – as did League Two clubs Chesterfield and Port Vale who got rid of Gary Caldwell and Michael Brown respectively.

With fellow Football League managers like Lee Clark at Bury and Aidy Pennock at Gillingham reportedly games away from losing their jobs, Artell has urged club’s to give the men they chose more time.

“November used to be the month when managers were getting the sack. It used to be the month that owners assessed things and sacked them – but it is even quicker now,” he told Crewe’s official website.

“De Boer got four matches at Palace and that is frankly ridiculous. If Scott Dann heads in from a yard out then he probably gets another week.

“There was pressure on Slaven Bilic at West Ham but his player hits a shot off the back of a defender and it loops in and the pressure is off him for a week or so.

“The owners in the Premier League are scared of dropping out of the league and losing the money that comes with that. At our level, the chairmen don’t want to be losing their Football League status and what comes with that.

“I always think that if you have employed them then back them – stick with them a bit. If you keep changing your manager or players and don’t have that stability then that doesn’t help anybody.”