Big Shoes to Fill In?

Being a football manager is not an easy job.  Ask someone like Vicente Del Bosque or Fabio Capello who won the La Liga title for Real Madrid and still found themselves out of their job. In England Roberto Martinez and Rafa Benitez would feel they deserved more credit than what they got from their respective clubs last season.This year plenty of clubs have appointed new managers.Two managers though would be closely watched as they would be filling in big shoes left by their predecessors.

The first one is David Moyes, who would be taking incharge of Manchester United post the Fergusson era. A lot of United supporters will still be very much in ‘Sir Alex Ferguson’ mode and those are the fans Moyes has to work very hard to overcome. The initial phase would be crucial for him. If Manchester United don’t start well in the Premiere League he would come under a lot of pressure. There are already many people questioning his credentials. In 11 years at Everton David Moyes has won nothing, and his greatest tangible achievement remains winning the League One title with Preston North End in 2000. Comparisons would be drawn with his predecessor and all decisions taken by him would be scrutinized and debated a lot.

The second one is Pep Guardiola. When Pep decided to join Bayern Munich earlier in the year, many including me felt that he has taken the right decision. Bayern Munich had everything right in them. A great youth system, healthy financial figures, a good team and plenty of money to bring in big players. What they were looking though were to dominate Europe. But since January, Bayern Munich under Jupp Heynckes created history by winning the treble. Heynckes success means Pep would no longer have an easy job at hand. His previous stint at Barcelona means he knows what it is to work under pressure. The most challenging aspect for him would be to change Bayern’s existing setup and bring in the ‘tiki taka’ style of play. Adapting to a new system takes time. How quickly Bayern adapt to this change would decide how far Pep Guardiola would be able to take Bayern Munich in their conquest to dominate Europe.

Both these managers have proven track records. However only time will tell how successful they have been in applying themselves in the new job. Being under pressure and getting results is part and parcel of this job. Ask Roberto Martinez who famously said "If you meet a manager who does not have the pressure to get a good result he will not last long".