{"version":"https:\/\/jsonfeed.org\/version\/1","title":"Premier League ","home_page_url":"https:\/\/www.trackradio.com\/programmes\/premier-league\/","feed_url":"https:\/\/www.trackradio.com\/programmes\/premier-league\/json","description":"The latest Premier League news and analysis","items":[{"id":"o2717-2109-6a16dc820f7bc","url":"https:\/\/www.trackradio.com\/programmes\/premier-league\/post\/football-clubs-are-showing-patience-with-their-managers-thats-new\/","title":"Football clubs are showing patience. That's... new?","date_published":"2026-05-27T11:58:00+00:00","summary":"There's been a change of tact in football.","content_html":"

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Nuno Espirito Santo will remain the manager of West Ham United<\/a> next season, a particularly cruel punishment to inflict upon someone but spare the rod, spoil the child and all that. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

And yet, perhaps it’s the right move. After the club’s grim 2-1 away defeat at home to relegation rivals Nottingham Forest in January, they picked up seven wins in 17 league games. That’s the sort of form that gets you close to European football if you can do it all season. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Nuno knows the capabilities of his squad now and despite this, he still wants to stay. This sort of fortitude should be commended. Other men would run for the hills leaving any replacement manager to start all over again, painstakingly picking through the smouldering embers of this broken team, hoping to swiftly identify those who are up for a fight while selling those who are not. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Owner David Sullivan has made so many mistakes in recent years that it would be quicker to list the few decisions that actually paid off. It would be grossly premature to describe sticking with Nuno as one of them, but there is at least some logic at play here.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

It’s another case in what seems to be a discombobulating outbreak of patience in modern football. Xabi Alonso has hitched himself<\/a> to Chelsea’s clown car because Liverpool, in spite of the feelings of many of their fans, indicated they would be keeping Arne Slot. Over at Newcastle, Eddie Howe survived what must have been a very tense end of season review with the club’s hierarchy. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Neither manager has covered themselves in glory this season. Slot’s Liverpool looked increasingly lethargic and passive as the season dragged on while Howe’s Newcastle just never got going. A spring time slump left them perilously close to the relegation conversation until seven points from their final four games saw them rise back up to 12th. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

But these were not normal seasons. Liverpool were rocked even before the campaign began by the death of Diogo Jota. Then a host of expensive new players either failed to gel, or started to gel and then got injured. The wobbly form led to a petulant outburst from Mo Salah which destabilised everything even further and, frankly, they were lucky to snaffle up the last Champions League place. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Newcastle, for their part, were unsettled by Liverpool, who spent most of the summer wooing their star striker, Alexander Isak. When Isak eventually stropped off to Anfield, they replaced him with Yoane Wissa, who promptly got injured and didn’t make his debut until December. And then he only scored three goals anyway.  <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

So yes, both clubs have had poor seasons. But should that be punishable with the axe? Clubs used to have bad seasons without making wholesale changes. They would be spun into ‘transitional’ seasons, necessary sacrifices required for progress. Tottenham Hotspur were known for them. Indeed, they spent most of the 90s in one… <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Football is still, for the moment at least, a sport played by humans. It is not a video game. You do not simply search for players in accordance with their ‘star rating’. Character is hard to discern, groups have to bond, patterns of play are formed over time. Stability is no guarantee of success, of course. Sometimes clubs appoint the wrong man and changes need to be made. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

But Slot, Howe and, to an extent, Nuno, have credit in the bank. Slot was rightly praised last year for bringing some comfortable mainstream rock to Jurgen Klopp’s expansive, but dangerous heavy metal football. He won the league for Liverpool for only the second time in 35 years. He is not a dud. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Howe has resuscitated Newcastle, albeit with significant financial backing, dragging them up off their knees back into the Champions League and finally adding some silverware to a very dusty trophy cabinet. He is not a dud either. And nor is Nuno, a man who excelled at Wolves, who took Nottingham Forest into Europe and secured enough points for West Ham to ensure safety in almost any other season with the notable exception of that one where they got 42 points and went down anyway. Lest we forget, their haul of 39 points would have kept them safe in each of the last 15 seasons.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Patience can still be a virtue and not everything is either the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. Sometimes it’s worth taking a breath. You don’t have to look very far to find an example of what can happen when you back your manager. There’s one club in North London that springs to mind…<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>","author":{"name":"Iain Macintosh"},"_mobile_inapp_url":"https:\/\/www.trackradio.com\/_app_pages\/stations\/7069\/blogs\/posts\/85117"}]}