Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Zola Dilemma


As a Chelsea fan, there are few people in the world of football I like more than Gianfranco Zola. I had high hopes for him when he took over the reigns of West Ham from Alan Curbishley in 2008. But quite frankly, it’s just not going right for Zola this season.

The Hammers find themselves very much in the relegation scrap, and after owners Sullivan/Gold initially said they had full confidence in Zola, they have now given him two days to save his job.

Unfortunately, it’s the right decision. Premier League management is not an easy or forgiving gig, and job safety is contingent almost solely upon the expectations at the club—just ask Mark Hughes, the former Man City manager, who is now being linked with Zola’s job.

So Gianfranco has two games, both against potential relegation battlers (Stoke and Wolves), to prove his worth. Supposedly 4 points from the 2 games will be enough, but that’s a high bar to set for the club that’s lost 4 straight.

Let’s hope Zola can get some results, if for no reason other than there are not nearly enough good people in top-level football.

Check out another quality football blog, The Business of Soccer. As you may expect, it’s a more fiscally-based blog, but these guys know their stuff.

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