Welcome to The Debrief, Box Score’s freewheeling conversation about the sports we love that begins right when the action stops.
This Week’s Contributors
Neil Squires
Author and journalist, former chief sportswriter for the Express
Neil McLeman
Broadcaster and journalist covering the Premier League, golf and tennis, former sportswriter for the Mirror.
Paul Mahoney
Award-winning journalist, former sportswriter for the Independent and Esquire
When the Premier League starts this Friday, nine clubs start with new managers — the most since the 1946/47 season — including five who have never coached in England before. What does this turnover say about the state of the league, and which new managers will you be watching most closely?
Neil McLeman: It shows the impatience of the Premier League owners and just how unpredictable the top flight is now, on and off the pitch. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is now the longest serving Premier League manager. He was appointed in December 2019. Only Fabian Hürzeler (Brighton & Hove Albion) and Unai Emery (Aston Villa) have been in the Premier League with the same club for more than two years. There really is a lot of change there. A lot of new faces. Marco Rose at Bournemouth, Pierre Sage at Crystal Palace. For me, the most interesting one is Newcastle. They've appointed Matthias Jaissle. He replaced Eddie Howe just last week. Newcastle have had another terrible summer in the transfer market. They lost Anthony Gordon. They lost Sandro Tonali. They lost Bruno Guimarães, after losing Alexander Isak last year. Jaissle is just 38 years old, he's never coached in the Premier League before, and the club is in turmoil. Really interested to see how Newcastle do. They finished 12th last year, but could be lower this year.
Neil Squires: Every manager worth his salt wants to manage in the Premier League. It's a very global league. There are managers from nine different countries in the Premier League this season. So managers are asking their agents if there are vacancies, and the clubs are willing to scour the world to get the best man because it's a very aspirational league. You've got clubs like Sunderland, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace qualifying for Europe. They've proved it's possible, so owners are willing to chop and change to get the right guy in. For me, the manager I'm really interested in is Xabi Alonso at Chelsea. Chelsea was such a basket case last season, trailing in 10th with all their outlay under Todd Boehly’s ownership. But a degree of common sense has arrived. Alonso's record at Bayer Leverkusen was incredible. What a job he did there. Then, of course, it all fell apart for him at Real Madrid, his dream job. So he's got a lot to prove. I think that Chelsea, with their resources and a steadier hand on the tiller, could be a team to keep an eye on this season.
Paul Mahoney: This turnover just shows that the world we're all living in now is success or failure, and no one's prepared to wait anymore. It's instant gratification. I think the most recent, daft example of that is poor Arne Slot following Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool. He won the league in his first season. In his second season, things changed a bit after Diogo Jota's fatal car crash. And now Liverpool bins the guy that won the league the year before. It's all just a bit embarrassing. So what happens if new Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola doesn't win for two years? Do they sack him? I'm going to be looking at Michael Carrick at Manchester United this year because he's going to get a full season. Can he turn it around? They've been an absolute mess since Alex Ferguson left. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what Frank Lampard does with Coventry because he's been such a big hero for England and Chelsea, and he has just been a born winner. He has got Coventry into the big time. It could go completely wrong for him and it's going to be interesting to see if they can maintain that team spirit they had that got them promoted.
