Just fire coaches already

Has anyone else noticed how these days no coaches ever get sacked? Nope, there’s a new stock phrase in the halls of football known as “parted ways”, or some such derivation.

When Chelsea got rid of Andre Villas-Boas earlier this year their official website said AVB had “parted company” with the club. This week, as Pirates finally stuck a pin in the mid-air balloon on which Julio Leal was suspended, the Buccaneers announced on their official website that they and Leal had “parted ways”.

I guess such soft language is supposed to cushion the blow, but it all sounds a little trite to me. I’d love it if a club would just come out and say “Whatever Football Club today unceremoniously sacked Whoever because the job he did was utter pants.”

Julio Leal wasn’t actually that pants (AVB? I’m thinking more and more by the week that he was totally out of his depth at Stamford Bridge). Leal won a couple of cups with Pirates, and they were doing pretty well in the league when the club decided to suspend him.

But he also wasn’t good or strong enough for a club with the aspirations of the Buccaneers. That showed up tactically in the immediate collapse of Pirates’ African Champions League ambitions, and, frankly, in the long-winded, sleep-inducing press conferences he gave.

If Leal communicated with the press in such a convoluted manner, what can it have been like for the players who had to listen to his team talks? Not much fun, if my sources are to be believed.

His final presser as Pirates coach, where he effectively conceded that he did not stand up to player power, was one of his more interesting, but it also demonstrated a weakness on which the Pirates hierarchy were prepared to pounce.

Which brings us to the question of who has the necessary steel to take control of the Pirates reins?

For me, Ruud Krol would be the ideal candidate. Pirates may well already be regretting letting the Dutchman go at the end of last season. But Krol seems more likely to soon be joining Platinum Stars.

Lothar Matthäus, rumoured to be a candidate, was a great player, but his coaching record leaves plenty to be desired, and Pirates risk an expensive mistake in snapping up the German World Cup winner.

Which brings us to the current incumbent, Augusto Palacios. At the moment he is only a caretaker until the end of the season. But if he wins the title, could he not stake his own claim to the Buccaneers top job? - The Star