Volatility, Rigidity, Controversy: The Three Deadly Sins in Modern Football Management

Volatility, Rigidity, Controversy: The Three Deadly Sins in Modern Football Management

Football management is a fragile profession, especially in the modern era.

All it takes is a mere run of a few poor results to turn a manager's position from safe and secure to unstable and precarious in the blink of an eye.

Interactions with the media and the words they speak are pivotal and can have irreversible consequences for their employment.

And sometimes, it is purely the rash and often harsh decision-making of the clubs which leads to the inequitable demise of the person in charge.

Perhaps nothing has been a better example of the effect each of those components can have than the past couple of weeks.

Movements in the manager market have been rife, with clubs making decisive decisions about those at the helm at a sprightly pace.

A plethora of those at the head of the footballing food chain have parted ways with their gaffers, leaving a chaotic trail of questions and debate in their wake.

But, arguably, the most damning realisation amongst all the frantic discourse isn't necessarily about the case studies themselves but more what it says about the state of football management – and a little concept I like to call 'the three deadly sins of modern football management'.

What Are The Three Deadly Sins?

Now, you're probably thinking that 'three deadly sins' is a bit of an extreme name for it, and maybe you're right.

But these are essentially the three factors I believe lead to the almost inevitable sacking of a manager in the professional game.

So, what are they?

Volatility

Volatility, in this case, refers to the football clubs themselves. We see it mostly when the expectation is high, but it is a phenomenon rising in prominence in the modern game.

Think of clubs like Watford; the turnover of managers is ridiculous and stems from the unpredictability and impatience of their owners.

Managers face an uphill battle from the moment they are put in a job, and if they don't hit the ground running, things can get ugly pretty quickly.

Rigidity

The idea around rigidity is pretty simple.

Managers who refuse to be tactically adaptable and shoehorn their side into their preferred system no matter how badly the team plays are, as you'd expect, leaving themselves open to a spot back in the unemployment line.

Russell Martin is a good example here. Brought Southampton up from the Championship playing a possession-based system with players who were better than their opposition nine times out of ten.

Then he proceeded to keep the same system in the Premier League with players who weren't better than their opposition and eventually got sacked with his side at the bottom of the league.

Controversy

The onus placed on media interaction and the scrutiny on every word can spell trouble for a manager when handled incorrectly.

This one most commonly stems from those who have a problem with the way the hierarchy is handling affairs or those who don't exactly represent the club well in the way they act when put in the spotlight.

When a manager is sacked, it is often intertwined with some form of controversy.

Now we've established what they are, let's dive a little deeper.

The Rise of Volatility

Football hasn't always been as volatile as it is today. In fact, in previous eras, it was accepted that some settling-in time was needed for a real impact to be made.

But in the modern day, everyone has an opinion, and it has become increasingly difficult to ignore outside noise for those in a club's hierarchy.

Now of course, outside opinion isn't what informs a club's decisions to make a managerial change, but murmurings of discontent among fans must have some effect – especially with the evasiveness of those comments in the age of social media.

Not only is it outside opinion that can inform volatility in a football club, but perhaps more importantly, it is the business-like nature of 21st-century football.

The need to succeed for the sake of revenue and making money means that the slightest hint of underperformance puts ownership on high alert and makes them ask serious questions of those leading the team.

The most explicit example of this in recent weeks was Wilfried Nancy at Celtic.

Appointed in December 2025, given merely eight games as manager before being sacked in favour of someone new.

I never wanted him in the first place but if I can pinpoint a moment that I checked out on wilfried Nancy it was this.

60 mins into his debut. We concede moments later.

Can’t believe some of you defended this 😂 pic.twitter.com/6lJJm0cbGV

— paniceattheasda (@panicattheasda) January 5, 2026

But if we look at it objectively, how on earth do you expect a manager to come in, implement their tactics to perfection, and turn the tide of a club which was already complaining about its management in the space of a month?

That is unfortunately just the way of modern football management and is one of the most common ways that managers meet their demise.

They are simply brought into a volatile environment and are almost helpless to impatience if they don't impress immediately.

Stubborn, Rigid & Out of Ideas

You could likely count the number of managers who have the humility to change their tactics depending on the opposition on one hand.

Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but there is no denying that managers now are very much their way or the highway.

Should their manner of setting up not suffice, a disconnect is inevitable, and often it resigns managers to losing their job as realisation kicks in that they are too stubborn to adapt on the fly.

I mentioned the case of Russell Martin earlier, who coincidentally faced that issue in back-to-back jobs at both Southampton and Rangers.

But it is quite frankly a pattern we see all too often now.

The most recent who fits the bill is Ruben Amorim at Manchester United. An entire year of playing a five-at-the-back system, which resulted in mostly negative results, and saw Amorim repeatedly stand by his system – even saying he wouldn't change it even if it meant he was sacked.

🚨💣 BREAKING: Rúben Amorim has just been SACKED by Manchester United.

Decision made this morning. pic.twitter.com/Xmz3x8mkO6

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 5, 2026

Well, apart from the Newcastle game where he changed his system for once and came away with a win, but that's a conversation for another day.

I believe this modern stubbornness stems from the pioneering ideologies of other managers; take Pep Guardiola popularising tiki taka, for example, with coaches seeing how that can catapult you to stardom and trying to replicate it with their own bespoke systems – hence why when those structures don't work, they struggle and refuse to adapt.

Controversy Causes Chaos

Last but not least of the three dangers in management is controversy.

It is self-explanatory in many ways, with those who cause a ruckus and defy the parameters they are expected to abide by being the most culpable in this area.

Essentially, those dealing with the day-to-day running of a football club don't want to have to worry about when a manager will speak out of turn next – no matter how correct the sentiment of their words may be.

So, when it happens, the thing many clubs see as most plausible to regain control of the situation is termination.

We've talked about Nancy fitting into one of these categories; we've talked about Amorim fitting into one of these categories (in fact, he fits all three, to be fair) – so I think you might know who's coming next.

What's scary, and every fan should pay attention to it is. Maresca wanted to take the club further. Blueco/Clearlake said yeah no. Now, they have sabotaged our whole season. Because a man that brought them their only success at this club spoke up.

— Potent (@Potentsports) January 9, 2026

However, in the days leading up to his dismissal, Maresca became increasingly vocal about how he was not being given the control he wanted at Chelsea.

This came following a multitude of reports that the ownership were feeding him information about who to play and who to leave out in keeping with their future plans.

Lo and behold, merely a few days after his admission, it was revealed both he and the club were considering his future, and he was then let go just days preceding a trip to the Etihad.

It was a damning decision which showed just how fragile a manager's job can be in the modern day.

Will Management Ever Recover?

Many sackings fall under multiple of these categories, but very rarely does a termination fall under none of them.

Football management is undoubtedly in the most unstable position it has ever been and is showing no signs of relenting any time soon.

With the influence of social media, the importance put on monetary gain rather than sporting integrity, and the ridiculous nature of modern-day football ownership – the role of a football manager is an unenviable one.

The more football continues to develop in the manner it is, the more managers will be vulnerable to sackings for a lot less than they used to be.

If there are any football managers reading this, despite how impossible it may seem, the only way to save your job is to avoid three things…

Volatility, rigidity and controversy – the three deadly sins of football management.