Filed under: Manchester United, West Ham, Premier League, Football
Managers - the former West Ham and England guru Ron Greenwood once said - get too much praise and too much blame. The game was more about players, or should be.These days, though, as the cult of the manager has grown since Greenwood was plying his trade in the 1970s and early 80s, getting the right leader to keep a dressing room full of millionaires in check and in focus has become ever more crucial.
Manchester United have clearly had the right man in place for almost 25 years now, even if the first four years without a trophy led to doubts. The weekend clinching of United's 19th title was the 12th Premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson and shows just what a difference a manager can make.
It has not been a vintage season, nor this a vintage United team, but Ferguson has extracted every last ounce of potential from his side, rotating the squad, freshening the team and motivating them to achieve in adversity.
Think of all the games where they have been behind - West Ham and Blackpool away, for example - only to come back and win or take a crucial point, as at Blackburn.
Given the struggles of the side, it seems unlikely that they will beat Barcelona in the Champions League final and thus bear comparison with United's great treble-winning team of 1999 but there is something stubborn and perverse about the current crop that will give them a chance.
United are a team in transition, with young players like the Da Silva twins, Chris Smalling - Rio Ferdinand's likely long-term replacement - and Javier Hernandez gradually being introduced.
You suspect that they have done better than even Ferguson expected, particularly Hernandez, whose partnership with the now deeper-lying Wayne Rooney could trouble a Barcelona defence that features Gerard Pique, whose weaknesses Ferguson will know all about having released him from Old Trafford.
Compare and contrast with poor old Avram Grant. He has taken a decent West Ham squad and made them worse. Yes, we know all about their injuries. Tell me, though, a club that doesn't have a story to tell about being denied key players at some point this season?
Grant was sacked within an hour of West Ham losing to Wigan and being relegated. The words horse, stable door and bolted spring to mind.
The West Ham owners David Gold and David Sullivan are now left wishing they had acted in January when it looked like they were getting rid of Grant, only to have second thoughts.
West Bromwich Albion grasped the nettle the following month and replaced Roberto Di Matteo with Roy Hodgson, who has since done an outstanding job in guiding Albion well clear of relegation.
We are constantly told that sacking managers is counter-productive and they just need time to bed teams in. Actually, it is usually the League Managers' Association that is telling us that.
In Sir Alex Ferguson's case, the then United chairman Martin Edwards made the right choice in sticking with him 20 years ago.
In Grant's case, Gold and Sullivan made the wrong choice four months ago.
As one Premier League chairman - whose club are fond of changing the manager - told me recently: there is no point in having stability for its own sake if you don't have the right man. United knew they did, West Ham knew they didn't.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/05/16/avram-grant-and-sir-alex-ferguson-a-tale-of-two-very-different/
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