Sam Allardyce: proof "new manager syndrome" is not the only option for club owners

West Ham moved to 10th in the Premier League, seven points clear of the drop after their fourth straight victory in the league. Sam Allardyce finds himself in a position of stark contrast to that of two months ago. Some people are calling for him to win a Manager of the Month award for February for which he has instantly and quite comically dismissed. A lot of credit must go to the West Ham hierarchy, David Gold and David Sullivan, who stuck by Allardyce when it mattered. They insisted he was the right man to keep the Hammers' up and their faith has been well and truly repaid; a prime example of why club owners are naive to expect a 'new manager syndrome' will always get instant results and revitalise a season.

That is not to say there is some substance to the 'new manager syndrome' invigorating the squad and improving the team in the short term, but in the long term no club, with the exception of Crystal Palace and possibly Sunderland, which has sacked a manager in the Premier League this season are in a indisputable better position. Additionally it is only Palace who have appointed a manager, proven in the Premier League. Tottenham are a slight red herring as their aims do not involve survival and are completely different to the other sides, as are Sunderland who are definitely better off with Gus Poyet at the helm, but their rash sacking of Steve Bruce, currently flourishing at Hull, was the catalyst to their early season capitulation under Di Canio. Although Sunderland are still in danger of going down, and Spurs are still struggling to capitalise on Manchester United's shortcomings this season and look set to miss out on Champions League again. Palace, after their appointment of Tony Pulis, have been the only clear beneficiaries of the manager merry-go-round.

Graphic: How teams who have sacked managers have fared?

West Brom, Swansea, Fulham and Cardiff all hoped their managerial changes would be as successful as Crystal Palace's or even Sunderland's but this has not been the case. Fulham have had a nightmare season, on and off the pitch with both aspects effecting one another to highly detrimental levels; Rene Meulensteen who replaced Martin Jol has since been replaced himself just 14 weeks later by Felix Magath - it remains to be seen if he can keep Fulham up. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has replaced Malky Mackay and in two months in charge Cardiff's relegation prospects have increased dramatically. Both Pepe Mel of West Brom and Gary Monk of Swansea have taken over from managers who were sacked unexpectedly with their team in not an awful lot of immediate danger and very much expected to survive the drop but are currently just one and three points above the drop respectively and will be eagerly looking over their shoulders at the teams below them.

Despite Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur's positional improvements of three, two and two places respectively it is West Ham who, after deciding to keep Sam Allardyce, will feel most content with their managerial decisions boasting a great improvement in results jumping from 19th to 10th since the board publicly backed him on January 6th. Ironically a public backing is often known as a dreaded 'vote of confidence' which ultimately result in a managers sacking just days later. It seems, with safety in sight West Ham are an example for many other struggling clubs to follow.

Mourinho and Pellegrini: a financial war of words.

Jose Mourinho continued to express a reserved ambition for Chelsea's title credentials in Monday's press conference. Similarly, he continued his war of words with Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini suggesting the Chillean needed to revise his sums after suggesting Mourinho's "little horse" is a rich one. 
                                                                                                     Daniel Geey outlines Financia Fair Play regulations
Mourinho said Pellegrini, a highly educated engineer, didn't "need a calculator to do... £55m minus £32m is £23m. So Chelsea in this transfer window is, speaking roughly 23 million pounds less... this is to work with financial fair play." Financial fair play is an area Manchester City have been heavily criticised for with suggestions they will fail to meet it's demands in the coming years. City seem to be neglecting their FFP responsibilities but it remains to be seen how serious a punishment UEFA will enforce for failing to meet the requirements. Many experts have doubted whether UEFA will exclude clubs from it's senior competition for failing to adhere to financial fair play, cynically citing the loss of a major contender like City would result in less TV revenue for UEFA.

The figures show Manchester City have spent more in recent years, but only by about £75m, not too much in football relative terms. It is probably only equivalent to three or four more high profile players but these players are supposed to be the difference when it comes to the title race and hence why Mourinho has used metaphors such as "jaguar" and "little horse" when contrasting Manchester City and Chelsea. Mourinho pointed out City "have a team for now" whereas Chelsea, as Mourinho has reiterated the past few weeks, whilst playing down his side's title chances, want to "build a team for the next ten years." When Chelsea won 1-0 at the Etihad last week Chelsea fielded a team with an average age of 24.8 years, whereas City fielded a side with an average age of 27.6 years, 2.8 years more experienced, adding weight to Mourinho's team for the future but additionally adding emphasis to the importance of City's title challenge this season. 

With Financial Fair Play looming it seems imperative Manchester City win the league this season, mostly for the importance of preventing a large spending spree again in the summer. And a spree on experienced players, rather than the youth Chelsea have already invested and are already benefiting from. If Chelsea become champions for the first time in four years it would be a huge showing of intent for the coming years. Mourinho is fully aware of this and this is exactly why he has been keen to single out Manchester City as favourites, not that he doesn't believe they are favourites but in true Mourinho fashion; mindgames.