Davie Irons Sacked As Morton Manager

Click here for the link to my article on the dismissal of Davie Irons as Greenock Morton manager, back in 2009. The article was published on the 22nd of September 2009.

Inside The First Division - Irons Sacked & Other Managerial Jobs Under Threat

Six games down and already the First Division says goodbye to a manager. “What’s going on?!” I hear you cry, well let me tell you. On Monday, sitting at the bottom of the league, Greenock Morton sacked Davie Irons after collecting what is truthfully, a woeful three points from six games. But the question must be asked, was he given enough time? Surely six games of a season is not enough time to judge a manager? Scotland manager George Burley, would probably answer “no”, after narrowly convincing the SFA to keep him in charge of the national team after disappointing results in his opening eight competitive games.

Obviously there are two ways of looking at whether a manager should be sacked or not. Keeping your manager can pay dividends in many ways. After all, the manager might be just that one game away from turning the team’s fortunes around. Maybe after being beaten by Division 1 new boys, Raith Rovers, Davie Irons would have masterminded a new club record win of 12-0 over Airdrie United the following week? However, this thought process could end up in quite simply bottling the action of sacking. Every week that goes by the common phrase could be, “oh well, maybe next week we’ll start our season properly” and before long, it might be too late to save the club from failing to reach their target.

However, there can be many negatives of sacking your manager. First of all, the board might appoint someone even worse - imagine that, Morton fans!. Particularly for Scottish teams it can be hard for a new manager to come in as the players at the club were brought in by the previous manager and there’s no money for him to sign players that he wants. Players can often under-perform with their new manager because they resent him taking over the job of the previous person that brought them in - see Brian Clough with Leeds United.

One of the more obvious negatives is that sacking a manager costs the club money as you have to pay the departing staff off. Luckily for Morton, Irons was only contracted till the end of this season. However, I’m sure that Irons and his assistant Derek Collins (also sacked) will still have seen a significant amount of money transferred into their banks, a sum that teams such as Morton can’t afford to keep doing.

Unfortunately it’s a fine line between sacking or keeping the faith in your current manager. There’s no doubt that fans do have a tendency to suffer short memory syndrome and fail to remember the highs they experienced as recent as a month ago. I have no doubt that it’s even harder for the directors sitting in the stands watching their money fritter away on poor performances while enduring choruses of “boo” ring around their ground.

Certainly with my own team, Raith Rovers, there were times that the fans called for current manager, John McGlynn’s head. As McGlynn admitted a few weeks ago in an interview, it took longer than he had hoped to get out of the Second Division. However, after having a few doubts in his managerial ability myself, I have to thank the Rovers board for not acting rash and dismissing McGlynn after two years worth of average seasons and disappointing performances in the playoff matches that followed. Last season’s Second Division title success was a great experience and was an enjoyable season for a Rovers fan and I’m sure myself and others won’t forget it in a hurry.

What I do recommend fans to consider, before they call for their manager to leave, is to consider performances off the pitch as well. While you may be struggling results wise, I urge you to consider other factors such as youth team successes and policies, combined with other general improvements. Sacking a manager can completely halt these progressions. Certainly with John McGlynn our Under 19’s have had many successes over the last few years. Obviously, you can’t say it’s ok to have a rubbish first eleven but amazing successes behind the scenes. However, sometimes there’s a long term plan that fans don’t realise exist and seem intent on destroying with their short term demands for success.

However, there’s no doubt there is going to be more managerial causalities in the First Division this season. Who’s next?! Already after six games it seems there is mounting pressure on Jocky Scott, Jim McIntyre and maybe even Terry Butcher. Scott, manager of big spending Dundee, hotly tipped to run away with the league, is surely feeling the pressure after an indifferent start to the season, sitting in 6th place. They’ve signed arguably the best two players in the division (“Glorious” Gary Harkins and Leigh Griffiths), with potential to dominate the league, but at the moment they’re struggling to get off the starting line.

Caley Thistle boss and Scotland assistant manager Butcher, has reportedly been disappointed with how things have started. Caley are level on points with Dundee and one of the reasons Caley won’t be happy is because they are already 4 points behind league leaders (and Highland rivals) Ross County. Although it’s been a shaky start to life back in the SFL, Caley fans still must have faith in their man to get a good crack at instant return to the SPL.

Meanwhile, one place below Dundee in 7th place is McIntyre’s Dunfermline. Season after season, Pars fans look for the signs that their team can finally challenge for promotion back to the SPL, but unfortunately they are left wanting as McIntyre’s side have only collected on average, one point per game. There’s little doubt that if things don’t pick up/get worse for either of the three teams mentioned above, the managers of the teams could be queuing up with Davie Irons to get their dole money.

That’s football for you though.