EUROSCENE: Why is the life of the modern coach at the highest level so often short, sharp and spectacularly remunerative? Last night Serie A side Fiorentina rejected coach Roberto Mancini's offer to resign. If he had of gone he would have been the eighth Serie A coach to part company with his club since the beginning of the season, confirming a trend that has parallels all over Europe.
Six of the Serie A coaches to "part company" with their clubs this season (Dino Zoff at Lazio, Cesare Prandelli at Venezia, Renzo Ulivieri and Argentine Daniel Passarella at Parma, Turk Fatih Terim at AC Milan and Englishman Roy Hodgson at Udinese) were actually sacked, thus obliging their clubs to continue honouring their not insignificant contracts.
The total cost of these golden handshakes was €7.4 million with one coach, Passarella, picking up €2.58 million for just six weeks work.
In a recent interview with your correspondent, Juventus coach Marcello Lippi tried to explain the high casualty rate in the coaching profession: "The problem about today's football is that the only thing that matters is winning, that is from the point of TV rights, marketing, sponsorship etc. All the club presidents go out and spend a lot to win but only one club can actually lift a title so the others end up running at a loss.
"When only one team actually wins it, then does that mean the team which finished second or third did badly and that their coaches should be sacked? Yet, the reality of our football is that of the first seven teams in last season's final Serie A table, only one did not change coach, namely Roma, the side that had won the title."
Whilst a coach like Lippi might argue for a certain fixity of tenure, experienced players acknowledge a coaching changeover can sometimes provide a winning stimulus.
Danish international Thomas Helveg recently explained to The Irish Times: "I think you're absolutely right, clubs do change coach too often. Yet, sometimes, that is exactly what it takes for the team to improve. The most recent change we made here at Milan, with (Carlo) Ancelotti coming in to take over from Terim, that has worked. You can see it in training, the players are more convinced about what they're doing.
"At the end of the day, a coach says to you, are you with me or are you not? And it only needs two or three players to say no and the coach has to quit more or less immediately because he cannot work in those conditions."
True enough, but if the coach is wise he will not quit, rather he will wait to get fired and that way continue collecting his salary. It's a funny old business, football.
