Sport
Were the Dean Smith and Daniel Farke sackings unfair?
International breaks always spell danger for under-pressure managers and both Dean Smith and Daniel Farke los t their jobs this month. Smith had led Aston Villa to the Premier League and kept them in the top-flight but a run of five straight losses was enough to persuade the club suits to pull the trigger.
Farke’s fate, meanwhile, was sealed by Norwich City’s terrible start to the new season after promotion. A first win of the campaign against the similarly struggling Brentford was not enough to save the German’s job. But were the sackings of Smith and Farke unfair?
Victims of over-performance
Villa have greater aspirations than Norwich, but both Smith and Farke are arguably victims of over-performance, which led to rising expectations they were unable to meet. Smith’s arrival at Villa Park came in October 2018, with the boyhood fan of the club switching from Brentford – who were actually three points and eight places above Villa in the table.
Much of his appointment centred on the fact John Terry came in as his assistant, with the former Chelsea and England defender having departed that role in the summer. Smith made an immediate impact, sparking life into a sputtering attack, though Villa’s form dipped when talisman Jack Grealish was ruled out for a time by a shin injury.
Nevertheless, a run of 10 straight wins set a new club record and Villa finished the season fifth in the Championship, beating West Brom and Derby County to secure their promotion. Villa pulled off a great escape to stay up the following season, having been four points inside the relegation zone with four games to go, only to survive on the last day of the season, then in 2020-21 they were among the league’s most improved sides, climbing to 11th in the table.
Smith was given plenty of cash to spend in the transfer market but taking Villa from mid-table in the Championship to mid-table in the Premier League was a huge achievement. It is hard to imagine that anyone at Villa would have complained if they were told on the day of Smith’s appointment they would be 16th in the Premier League just over three years after his arrival.
While Smith was making waves at Aston Villa, Norwich also made great strides under Farke but he was sacked just a few months after being handed a new four-year contract. The Canaries had finished eighth in the Championship when Farke was brought to Carrow Road, with the German overseeing a mixed first season before claiming the title in the 2018-19 season.
Relegation back to the Championship followed but Norwich romped to the title to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Again, two promotions is surely more than anyone at Norwich could have expected from Farke. While there were signs his leadership was growing stale – parallels could be drawn with the experiences of his compatriot David Wagner at Huddersfield Town – it makes little sense for Norwich to show faith in him with a long new contract in the summer and sack him anyway shortly afterwards.
Injuries and sales costly for Smith and Farke
While there is no doubt results at Villa and Norwich have been dire, Smith and Farke were not helped by the situation in their clubs’ physio rooms. Smith also had to cope with the sale of club captain Jack Grealish – with whom he had a very close relationship – with Villa’s attempts to replace their star man falling flat.
Danny Ings, signed to add firepower alongside Ollie Watkins, has missed a couple of games and his fellow summer signing Leon Bailey has also struggled to get fit from a groin injury.
All clubs have injuries, of course, and it is part of the manager’s job to manage their squad in such a way that they do not have a great impact. But losing a star player like Grealish and not being able to field his replacements often enough had a big impact on Villa’s loss of form.
Norwich’s injuries have had less effect but they have also been unable to handle the departure of a talisman, Emi Buendia having been sold to Aston Villa, where he has so far been unable to justify a fee of over £30 million. Buendia was Norwich’s main man and their attempts to replace him in the transfer market failed even worse than Villa’s efforts to address the loss of Grealish.
Sporting director Stuart Webber recently came out firing in the media when it was suggested Farke had not been given the tools to do his job properly, but it is almost always the manager who carries the can. Webber, just a week before Farke departed, had even said in an interview with the Guardian that it would be “incredibly unfair” to ask questions about the manager. Webber also said Norwich were “fully committed” to Farke, who he called “beyond incredible”.
Webber was being touted for a move to an elite club not long ago but, for the second season in the Premier League, Norwich’s squad still looks a long way from being competitive. That responsibility falls on his shoulders, rather than Farke, with Webber in control of their transfers.
Ultimately, only time will tell whether Villa and Norwich were right to sack Smith and Farke. Steven Gerrard has a tough task turning Villa around with Dean Smith quickly back in employment at Carrow Road. Both need to be wary that doing their jobs too well in the short-term might well end up costing them their positions in the long run.
You could earn up to £10 (or currency equivalent) in bonus funds by joining Colossus with our New Player Bonus. Click here to join the action.
