With money comes hastily-fired managers

RAY WILKINS has insisted today that 'player power' had no influence on the decision to sack Phil Scolari,

I hope what Ray Wilkins said is true because for a manager to be sacked because the players dislike him is disgraceful.

Players should be professional enough to be able to work with their manager whether they like them or not and not go the people above them to push for their dismissal. That should be a given in any line of work.

Scolari's sacking has led me to do a balancing act between what he did wrong and what he did right.

What he did right was to stay in the FA Cup and stay in the Champions League. And, though Chelsea may not have been at their very best so far this season, they are five points off of second and a win off of third. They are also five points ahead of an Arseanal side going through another season of transition, yet they have kept faith in Arsene Wenger. I thought finishing at least in a Champions League qualification spot would have been the bare minimum acceptable achievement this season, but then Roman Abramovic seems unrealistically difficult to please.

What Scolari did wrong was to lead Chelsea to a shock defeat to Burnley in the League Cup and not lead them towards a storming lead in the Premiership. But was Scolari really 'leading' them to such poor form?

Perhaps it is difficult to inspire a side, fronted by Nicholas Anelka's sulky and often disinterested body language, which sometimes appears to spread back through the side like the recent fires in Australia . Perhaps the players were finding it difficult to play to Scolari's tactical instruction.

Whatever the reasons, Abramovic has decided it was not good enough and has fired him, even though Scolari has not been able to bring enough players in to make his squad his own and who fit his tactics. Deco from Barcelona for £10 million and Jose Bosingwa for £28 million from FC Porto have been his only signings.

Although Scolari could have spent his money more wisely, bringing in more players on cheaper transfers to concentrate quality throughout his side instead of in just two positions, it could be argued he has not had time to adjust his tactics to the Premiership either.

Now Guus Hiddink will be leading Chelsea on a temporary basis (which is perhaps they should have told Scolari as well). It is difficult to see what Hiddink could do, especially while managing Russia as well, to improve Chelsea's season that Scolari couldn't have done.

Abramovic fails to take notice of Alex Ferguson's and Arsene Wenger's first seasons with Manchester United and Arsenal respectively, in which they both won nothing. He also seemingly fails to notice what Martin O'neil is doing at the moment with Aston Villa, improving them season by season. No manager at Chelsea seems to be given the chance to do that. Even Rafa Benitez has managed to cling in there and improve Liverpool (despite the American owners' best efforts to out him).

It seems that the more money is pumped into football by multi-millionaire owners, the higher immediate expectations there are of managers and the less patience there is for them to achieve their goals. Mark Hughes to be sacked by Manchester City by the end of the season anyone?