When a team is underperforming the manager is always the first to suffer the consequences, and this season is no different. The players may well not be up to much and there could be not enough money to fix things, but still if results are not what the owners want bosses can quickly find themselves out on their ear.
Of course, these days departures can happen for any number of reasons. Disagreements over player purchases and even managers not feeling up to the task have all happened this season, so here Sports Mole rounds up five of the more surprising departures in 2013-14.
1. Malky Mackay - Cardiff City
Malky Mackay was the manager who got Cardiff City promoted to the Premier League for the first time in the Welsh club's history. He built a strong Championship team and went about things sensibly in the lower division. Upon promotion owner Vincent Tan made money available to strengthen and, aside from the expensive purchase of Andreas Cornelius, Mackay used it reasonably well, with Gary Medel a particularly good signing.
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However, following the replacement of head of recruitment Iain Moody with the friend of Tan's son Alisher Apsalyamov, things started to go south. Mackay expressed his discontent with the decision and from that moment on the relationship with Tan was strained. He first had an ultimatum, with Tan eventually backing down, before ultimately getting the sack. Mackay had the full backing of Cardiff's fans throughout, which made the decision all the more bizarre.
2. Michael Laudrup - Swansea City
A year ago there was talk that Swansea City might struggle to keep Michael Laudrup as manager, with his impressive performance at the club reportedly making him a candidate for bigger jobs around Europe. Fast forward to early February and the Dane is now hunting for a new position. Swansea are not having all that good a season in the Premier League this year, but the dismissal still came out of the blue.
It has been suggested that Laudrup was fired because of the trip he took to Paris recently and also because of a reported lack of discipline within the squad. There has also been a long-running disagreement with chairman Huw Jenkins over transfers. When everything is considered it is perhaps not the biggest surprise, but with his side in the Europa League, the FA Cup and the Premier League talk of Laudrup underachieving was not quite right.
3. Andre Villas-Boas - Tottenham Hotspur
When Andre Villas-Boas was dismissed by Tottenham Hotspur in December his side were hardly out of contention of the top four, which was the expectation. His main downfall was a lack of consistency in results, with the board finally taking umbrage with the heavy 5-0 defeat to Liverpool - his last game in charge. There was also a 6-0 loss to Manchester City along the line that did not help his cause.
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However, the blame could not be entirely attributed to AVB. The biggest problem Spurs had in the first half of the season was that the players had not fully gelled as there were so many new faces to choose from. AVB could not find the right combination with any sort of consistency, so he paid the price. For outsiders looking in this was a strange decision as much of what was needed after such a busy summer was time, and he did not get that.
4. Martin Allen - Gillingham
A quick switch away from the Premier League tells us that unusual managerial departures are not restricted to the top flight. One of the earliest sackings of the season came in mid-October when Martin Allen was relieved of his duties by League One side Gillingham. After just 11 games Allen's side were sitting 17th - nothing disastrous - but he was fired following a 2-0 loss to Shrewsbury Town.
What was most unusual about this decision was that Allen had managed promotion from League Two the season before and was far from underperforming in the new league. There was no immediate danger of relegation and, amazingly, before the Shrewsbury defeat Gillingham won two on the spin to move them into their mid-table position. A very odd departure.
5. Ian Holloway - Crystal Palace
Having got Palace promoted back to the Premier League, Ian Holloway was struggling at the start of the new season. He had taken just three points from eight games before he left his job, so in a lot of respects there was nothing shocking about his departure. However, it was the manner in which it was done. There was mutual consent, with seemingly Holloway most keen for it to happen.
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Holloway was frank in his assessment of his performance before losing his job in October. He admitted that he had made too many changes to his squad over the summer and said that he should have given more of a chance to the players that earned the club's promotion the previous year. He also admitted that he did not have the energy in him for a relegation dogfight and left the task to someone else - who turned out to be Tony Pulis.
Perhaps, then, the most surprising aspect of the Holloway departure is the refreshing honesty of Holloway and that the two parties ended things on good terms.
Matt Domm
