Cleverley 12th longest-serving Championship boss as Rooney departs
The words ‘Wayne Rooney’s’ can now be removed as a prefix when the media refer to Plymouth Argyle with the former England and Manchester United legend departing from Home Park.
His exit comes hot on the heels of managerial changes at Stoke City, Millwall and Oxford United.
Indeed, Tom Cleverley is now the 12th longest-serving head coach in the Championship, while Derby County boss Paul Warne tops the list – and yet he only has 27 months in the job.
There are 15 clubs in the division whose manager/head coach has had the job for less than a year.
Can such a turnover be sustained?
“It’s a very good question – I think football might be able to sustain it, but I’m not sure coaches can!” said Tom Cleverley.
“It’s a difficult industry to be in, that’s for certain.
“Before I took this job I said I had the self-belief and the work ethics to feel like I’m the guy that can make it work here.
“I’m sure every manager that goes into a new job has the same mindset.
“Stats and data will tell you that it’s a very short-lived job very often.
“My mindset is still the same. I believe I can be the guy to have long-term success at this football club, but if you put a blanket over the time all of us head coaches and managers have been in their jobs, it doesn’t look very sustainable.”
While Watford were among the setters of a largely unedifying trend, it now seems commonplace for managers to be sacked after just a few months.
Clubs having multiple different coaches in the same season is no longer the sole domain of the Hornets.
Something has changed to increase expectations, reduce patience and shorten timespans given to head coaches and managers.
“I’m not sure what the cause is, is my honest answer to that,” admitted Cleverley.
“Younger coaches are getting employed and that may mean that termination clauses come into more contracts these days.
“I’m really not sure without sitting down and putting a lot of thought into it.
“This is a very cut-throat business and social media have input and can tap into the minds of supporters.
“It can all create a very toxic position for a manager.
“But before I could really give a strong answer I’d need to have a longer think about it.”
