Quote Originally Posted by Saint-Just View Post
You may well be right but I come from rugby and believe that a team is just that. And if quality players cannot work as a team then you do not have a team. I know the rule in football is to change the manager but I am not convinced it's suitable. Fergie and Wenger for example had long tenures, not always crowned with success but they instilled a spirit to the team, and new players picked up on that spirit or left.
Instead, we seem to have a culture where the changing room decides whether they will play with the manager or not, instead of for the team. So a new manager comes in, gets new players... Maybe he is talented enough to inspire the team but what becomes of the club? where is its spirit? It goes the moment the manager goes, or is replaced. What would you say of fans who behaved this way, who shifted their allegiances depending on the manager, the players, or indeed the results?

I mentioned I came from rugby. In 2011, in Auckland, the French manager (Marc Lievremont) lost the players, who disagreed with the team selection. For the final ML was basically a spectator on the bench, having left the players decide the starting 15 and the bench. They played as a team losing 7 to 8 to the AB in NZ.
You make many a good point, Marc. The trouble is the silly money in the game. The players no longer need very long careers to be set for life.