| Alain Perrin has been axed from the position of Portsmouth Manager.
Milan Mandaric has said that it was a hard decision but player morale and performances were down so he believed they needed a change.
He is confident Pompey will get the right man.
Perrin spent eight months here with the almost constant threat of being sacked.
Ever since the beginning of the season the media, especially Charlie Nicholas, have been extremal critical of Perrin. He was attacked by everyone, from pundits, newspapers and the bookies from the start of the season.
I put it to you that this cant be good for team morale, to turn on the T.V or pick up a paper and see the headline 'Perrin to be Sacked' or similar. The team wouldn't be able to concentrate properly when they would be wondering whether their manager would be in charge much longer.
I cannot think of a manager in recent years that has been attacked as thoroughly and maliciously as Alain Perrin by the media. Before the last match the fans hadn't attacked him and neither had the board or Milan Mandaric.
So why this sudden hate of Perrin? Was Martin Jol attacked when he took over at Spurs? Was David O'Leary attacked when he took over at Villa? Or Mark Hughes at Blackburn, Benetez at Liverpool, Pearce at Man City, Souness at Newcastle or Robson at West Brom.
They may have had some criticism but nothing in the amount that Perrin had. It was a nationwide witch-hunt for him.
I admit he made an easy target. A man who we in Britian knew relatively nothing about and could hardly speak a word of English. It was all so easy to attack a man who couldn't fight back in the English language.
Not only was he criticized but the players comments were twisted to work against Perrin. Take LuaLua for example, he said, quite clearly in the local paper, that to win games at home we had to play the 'Harry Redknapp way' with two up front. Skysports reported it as, LuaLua pining for Redknapp and the players wanting to be reunited with Redknapp.
Not only that but Skysports reported that Dartio Silva went absent without leave when in fact it was Uruguay's fault because they sent him home from three or four different plain trips rather than a direct route.
Yes Charlie Nicholas will be very pleased with himself this Saturday. He made sure to critise Perrin every chance he got until Milan attacked him then he made some feeble attempt to laugh it off on Soccer Saturday.
I liked Perrin and am sorry to see him leave but the fact remains that he was not given the time needed to settle in properly, not to metion that many major players left the club in the summer.
Thats another thing that annoys me. The pundits keep saying that we 'let' these great players go.
Nobody said to Yakubu 'we don't want you anymore' he came to the management and said that he wanted to move away. It was obvious when he got all that interest that he wasn't interested in Portsmouth anymore.
Nobody said to Patrik Berger that he wasn't wanted, he chose to go to Villa, nobody said to Arjan DeZeeuw that he wasn't wanted he chose to go to Wigan. Both of them left because they were told that they couldn't be garenteed a first team place, not that they wouldn't get one.
out off all the top players for us for the last few seasons that left only one was told that he wasn't wanted and that was Steve Stone. And even that was only because he was only fit half of the time.
Anyway Joe Jordan has taken control for the moment while Milan searches for a new manager. | |
