Kilmarnock were more ruthless than the mafia in dispensing with their Italian manager last week.
Just 22 games in and sitting fifth in the Premiership, Angelo Alessio was given the football equivalent of the concrete boots and thrown overboard.
With just one win in his last eight games and rumours that he had ‘lost the dressing room’, one of football’s favourite nod and a wink phrases when managers are given their P45, the Italian boss’s reign at Rugby Park has been outlasted by snow in my back garden.
There has undoubtedly been discontent among the players at his methods, with ponderous training sessions and poor communication skills apparently upsetting the camp.
The situation clearly shows that it’s always much easier and cheaper to ditch the man in charge than replace a changing room in revolt.
The issue of foreign managers is a vexed one.
Any suggestion that the language barrier is an issue is often met with allegations of xenophobia.
However, keen communication skills are essential in the game.
Tactics and methodology require to be imparted in a clear and concise manner, particularly in the frenetic heat of battle of the game itself, and in the crucial half time interval, when a few key instructions need to be given and understood in an often charged atmosphere.
Some foreign managers like Ivan Golac have managed easily with a good command of the language here, while others like Csaba Laszlo often struggled to communicate their ideas and strategy clearly.
* The news that the SFA are to decide whether to bring VAR into Scottish football has split fans down the middle.
The move will be costly and come out of the money which all clubs draw from, but as importantly, it’s no guarantee that supporters will be any more satisfied with refereeing decisions than they are at present.
Football is a tribal pursuit.
I’ve seen highly rational folk, many of whom hold senior employment positions, reduced to gibbering, raging individuals when a decision goes against their team.
On social media yesterday I conducted a quick straw poll on the introduction of VAR, and within minutes almost 2,000 folk had responded.
Do you want to see VAR introduced to Scottish football
— Jim Spence (@JimSpenceSport) December 20, 2019
Some of them were incandescent at the prospect, offering the kind of refereeing conspiracy theories which make wacky notions of aliens living amongst us seem entirely plausible.
There are some technical innovations which have been a huge boon to the game, such as goal line technology to clearly indicate whether a ball has crossed the line.
VAR though has now gone too far, with players being adjudged offside after lengthy deliberations to analyse whether a centimetre of someone’s boot has gained an advantage.
What next – players with prominent noses being adjudged offside?
It’s systematic of a game where huge amounts of money are at stake due to wrong refereeing calls and of many fans who cannot conceive of a decision against their team being anything other than wilful bias by an official towards their club.
In many cases no matter how many viewings of an incident, the decision will still be the subjective opinion of an official.
VAR won’t change that.
