Premier League: Why Owners Backing Could Lead to Manager Sackings

This season, the Premier League looks to be like no other. For the first time in what feels like a decade, four teams have a realistic chance of winning the title – possibly more. That is, of course, because the big clubs have backed their managers to the moon, spending millions to form a squad worthy of challenging for success.
With that, sadly, comes the unwanted pressure of facing the sack should the required targets not be met. And in football, there can only be one winner.

Manchester City

Manchester City will be looking to defend their crown this season and continue their dominance in the Premier League under Pep Guardiola. However, City’s success in the league has become somewhat stale now, with the Manchester-based side’s owners wanted a bit more – specifically the UEFA Champions League.

Failure to get that this season could be the end of Guardiola’s reign at Manchester City, especially after being backed with £100m to spend on one player, being Jack Grealish.

Manchester United

The pressure could force its way into the red half of Manchester as well with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at United. This season, the Norwegian boss has no excuses whatsoever after the board showed their full support to Solskjaer, bringing in big-money signings in the form of Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane, while the Red Devils also gave Cristiano Ronaldo an invitation back home that the Portuguese superstar just couldn’t refuse.

They’ve now closed the gap on Manchester City, while many would argue that the signing of Ronaldo makes them favourites for the league. After finishing runner-up to City, United will have to go one better and claim their 21st title, and with the squad they now have, further pressure will be on Ole to shine. If he doesn’t, it’s almost certain that he’ll be sacked – legend or not.

Chelsea

Football is a cruel sport, and sometimes being cruel can bring success – as has been the case at Chelsea. The Blues were ruthless last season to sack arguably the greatest player in the club’s history in Frank Lampard, however, it paid off in leaps and bounds as Thomas Tuchel came in and injected new life into Chelsea, guiding them into the top four and famously winning the UEFA Champions League.

Now, the bar has been set and standards need to be met for Tuchel to survive. When analysing Chelsea’ Champions League winning team, many would agree that a world class striker is the only missing piece to complete the puzzle. With the addition of Romelu Lukaku to the team, Tuchel also has no excuses to challenge for the league title – if not win it.

Liverpool

His German companion, Jurgen Klopp, will also have a few believers turning into doubters again if Liverpool fails to mount a title challenge again this season. Despite the minimal excuse of not signing any big-name superstars in the transfer window, the Reds have kept hold of the bulk of their first-team stars.

Teams may know how to play against them by now, so more pressure will be on Klopp to pull a few tricks up from his sleeve and ensure Liverpool have a successful campaign. Should they not, Klopp’s name could be thrown into the conversation of a potential departure, despite winning the club’s first league title after 30 years. As ludicrous as that may sound, this is football and we’ve seen this movie before.

In summary, not all four of the abovementioned teams can have a successful campaign, which could lead to the third and fourth placed teams in the league to sack their manager, possibly even the runner-up too considering the squads these teams possess.

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