Why Do Football (Soccer) Managers Resign?

Early on in the 2010 season a few managers decided to resign. The question is why do managers do it? We know managers usually get sacked based off performances. Obviously, some managers would jump before they are pushed. But there are usually a few examples of managers resigning with no known reason. For 2010, the examples were Martin O'Neill and Steve Coppell.

There was constant speculation about O'Neill leaving Villa during the summer. And he was linked with the Celtic vacancy. However, he always stated he is committed and looking forward to the new season. Some people thought all was not right between O'Neill and the Chairman Randy Learner. Anyway just as we thought all was settled O'Neill quits. Neither party able to give the real reasons about the move. They would only say that there was a difference in opinion on moving the club forward. Reading between the lines surely this means O'Neill wasn't getting the money he wanted to crack into the top four.

The resignation of Steve Coppell was even more perplexing, because he had only been at the club for three short months and in charge for two competitive games. The suggestion here is that Coppell took the job, but then quickly realised the job wasn't for him. Even so it's a very short time to make such a decision. Perhaps again there were problems between what he wanted to do and what the board wanted. However, the signing of David James raised a few eyebrows.

In both of these circumstances there seems to be very little information available on the true reasons behind these decisions. However, it does seem that football is changing and as we move on towards the future, the board will be more involved in football decisions. Plenty of managers have left clubs, because of interference from the board. These days it seems managers are being told who to buy and sell, and in some cases having players sold without their consent.

It also seems managers are being put under a lot of pressure to get results. Mark Hughes was doing a perfectly good job at Manchester City, but wasn't allowed to continue because the club wasn't progressing fast enough for the owners liking. I fear the situation is going to get worse and managers will have less and less control. I'm afraid until something changes the game we love is beginning to die. We simply do not want a situation where the same teams are at the top every season. We do not want football to become predictable.

Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/8898993.stm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/bristol-city/7940656/Steve-Coppell-resigns-as-Bristol-City-manager.html