I know it sounds like the beginnings of a joke, but in 2010 an octopus hit the limelight through successfully “predicting” the results of the football World Cup. When the next World Cup rolled around in 2014 there were a plethora of other animals jostling for the honour of following the octopus’s metaphorical (and wet) footsteps. The success or otherwise of these animals’ ability to predict results shows that predicting football results, particularly in the football World Cup is rather tricky. Chance may do similarly well as experts. If anyone was able to predict football results with regularity the game...
David Moyes and Sam Allardyce have both been relieved of their duties after only 6 months in charge of their respective teams. Neither team was relegated, Everton finished 8th in the Premier League. So what is the meaning of success for these clubs? Are their chairmen and boards ever satisfied with what they achieve? Employment and sacking of managers is in the hands of the team’s chairmen or leadership groups, these days either super rich individuals or business men with football as part of their portfolios. Perhaps dissatisfaction is in the nature of elite individuals. How else would they be...
Now there has been some time for reflection, some space for analysis. The over the top disbelief can be dispelled with and the usual “inquisition” into what went wrong, again, can begin. Sack the coach, the players, cut their pay and give them a break in the premier league season. All of these are trotted out every time England is struggling in international football. Yet the coach keeps changing, a lot of the players too, it is too simplistic to look for immediate changes to solve the problem. First we should look at the key question, how badly did England...
