Alex Smith is a well respected figure in Scottish football, but his heartfelt plea that bookmakers should stop offering odds on football bosses being sacked fell on deaf ears this week.
In the rough old trade that is our national sport, making a few bob on the next boss to bite the dust is a profitable pastime for bookies and savvy punters alike.
It is also a harmless way to pass the time unless of course you are themanager getting your marching orders. Even then, the agony of the axe falling is numbed by the bulge in the bank account, with six-figure pay-off sums frequently frittered away on poor appointments by boards of directors.
I have some sympathy with the view that having made their beds, clubs should be forced to sleep in them for the whole season.
Knowing that a manager could not be offloaded during that time might bring a degree of professional recruitment to what is often a Russian roulette approach to hiring for the top position at a club.
I’ve heard of managers who missed out because their industrial language at interview offended the ears of sensitive board members, who presumably thought they were auditioning for the Christmas nativity play.
On other occasions, managerswho had seemingly lost out to another candidate because of the supposedly unsavoury company which they kept suddenly found themselves in possession of the gaffer’s gig, once themysterious hints about dodgy acquaintances were unmasked as emanating from representatives of other interested parties.
In short, football is a murky world and bookies laying odds on the next boss for the bullet is tame stuff bycomparison to some of the sordidshenanigans in boardrooms, once the managerial merry go round is in full swing.
So I suspect most punters will say ‘Chapeau’ to the bookmaker who offers the best odds on the next managerial mishap, just so long as there is a decent windfall from the wager.
As I suggested though, there is some merit in the suggestion that a manager once appointed should not bedismissed mid-season, just as there is a very strong case for not selling off key players once supporters have shelled out and signed up for their seasontickets.
A reasonable expectation for fans might be that having paid their hard earned money in advance, the team and players that they had signed up to see might, like the supporters, still be there at the end of the season.
The relationship between fan and club is not like that of a supermarket and customer, otherwise many clubs would have found themselves out of business a long time ago.
From selling off key players tomaking it difficult for pay as you go fans to turn up on the night and see the game, clubs abuse their fan base in a way which would lead to insolvency in any other line of business.
So forgive me if I resist the cries of the game’s respected elders when it comes to well-paid managers.
Now, what were those odds on Joe Blogs getting the chop?