Football’s going mad

Roberto Martinez for Liverpool/Villa manager?? Brendan Rodgers for Liverpool manager??

Regardless of what state these clubs are in, they are big, big clubs with muppets as current owners. There are people on here that would say Villa isn’t a big club but it is. Martinez and Rodgers have won precisely nothing in the way of trophies in their short managerial careers. The former has kept a small fish in a big pond alive for three seasons and the latter has had a honeymoon season not dissimilar to our or Reading’s first season in the Prem. Martinez’s claim to fame and reason for his current high stock value is the performing of a miracle of biblical proportions to keep Wigan (comfortably in the end) in the Prem.

If it weren’t for his special relationship with his chairman, Martinez would’ve been out. Whelan had all but given up the ghost on Wigan’s Premiership status and Martinez was only, somehow, paying lip service and making positive noises amongst the doom and gloom. Neither of them in their heart of hearts could have imagined what happened next. Martinez has admitted that what happened wasn’t by design, it just, er, happened.

Rodgers and Martinez have barely finished their managerial apprenticeships. If they stay with their respective clubs and run them on the shoestrings they have to and put them in the top ten for two consecutive seasons, then they may be classed as managers worthy of a top club job in English football because that feat is tantamount to winning a major trophy for clubs the size of Wigan and Swansea. Their current credentials are not enough.

Martinez certainly doesn’t appear to be an egotistical bloke and nor does Rodgers, to be fair, but they are human. If there is media hype and frenzy, borne of a combination of a lack of top quality, proven managers available, football writers and pundits applause and two small clubs performing supremely, although patchily well, then Messrs Martinez and Rodgers hidden egos are inevitably going to surface and be massaged. They may even start to believe the hype and think they can actually cope with the big jobs on offer.

These jobs come around and around and they’re young managers that simply don’t need to take them at this stage. Liverpool and Villa have American owners who know nothing about the game and are knee-jerking or being ill advised. Chelsea are quite possibly looking for a new manager but I don’t think Mr. Abramovich will be speaking to Messrs Martinez and Rodgers.