Scolari Sacking a Sign of the Times?

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On one hand 'Big Phil' Scolari's sacking from Chelsea this week was a great surprise. Indeed, when the axe fell, it fell quickly and without much warning. Many commentators were surprised, even though Chelsea's recent results had been poor - or at least not good enough to satisfy owner Roman Abramovich's thirst for trophies.

Big Phil Scolari and John Terry at Chelsea

Big Phil Scolari and John Terry at Chelsea

Looking at it differently, however, Scolari's swift exit is merely a sign of the times that we are in, both in sport and in business. Both are about results. Both seem to be increasingly about short term results. Indeed, football and business are one and the same. Big football clubs, whether PLC or privately owned, just like any businesses, are at the whim of shareholders and other key stakeholders.

It has long been recognised that balancing short and long term results is one of the toughest tasks of a business leader. There's no point in having a great strategy if you don't get good enough results to see it through. If there's no strategy, short term results are going to be hard to sustain. Likewise in football. You've got to earn the right to see through the strategy. You need the youth system, but you need to still be in the Premier League when the new talent starts coming through.

I was at a conference before Christmas, where the speaker was talking about business leadership increasingly being about getting through the next quarter. Abramovich might be seen as being twitchy or impatient, but that's roughly where Scolari was. Abramovich was unhappy, basically, with this quarter's results, and wasn't confident that the next quarter - basically to the end of the season - would be good enough. So, he's bringing someone in - most likely Gus Hiddink - that he believes can provide those short term results. If Hiddink earns the right to stay for the long-term, however, it remains to be seen whether he will choose to.

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Rob Robson
Co-founder, iStadia.com
Get updates on Twitter@sportpsychrob

Tags: abramovich, chelsea, football, leadership, long term, management, phil scolari, results, short term, soccer

Posted February 11, 2009 at 12:58 AM by robrobson in Football Psychology, Leadership and Management in Sport, Sports Business | Permalink | Comments(1)

Comments

I think Chelsea are scoring a massive own goal here. For a start, we're running out of top managers to approach for the job, and those that may be available are going to question the worth of moving to London when there's a good chance they're going to be sacked within the year. Secondly, to expect instant results is unrealistic and possibly foolish. When Clive Woodward took over the England Rugby team, his first two years (if I remember correctly) were largely uninspiring. But fortunately the RFU looked long-term, and in 2003 their patience was rewarded - massively! At the time, there were plenty of calls for Woodward to be sacked, and it came pretty close at times. (Note to RFU - give Johnno a chance!)

From another perspective, I wonder how soon this short-termist thinking will affect the work of sports psychologists, who are already regularly used as a last resort, and may now find themselves being asked to perform miracles?

Gary Baker
Sports Psychology in Kent & Essex
Director, The Centre for Sports Hypnosis

Posted by garybaker | February 14, 2009 at 4:04 AM