Premier League

The age of the traditional English Football manager has all-but ended and we're heading to a new kind of system.

By Dez Corkhill

Billionaires own four football Clubs in England's Premier League. Chelsea, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester City. When the debt-laden traditional big-four contenders Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool are added to the list, it doesn't leave much room for anyone else - no matter how rich - to gate-crash into Europe's cash-cow, the UEFA Champions League.

If you're a billionaire, you can afford to be a little carefree with your cash. Robinho? No problem Sir. Shevchenko? Of course Sir. Would you like to make a loss on Shaun Wright-Phillips as well? If you're not a billionaire, it's not quite so straight forward. You need to show a little more care for your investment.

CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES:

The take-over of Manchester City by the Abu Dhabi United consortium has drastically changed the situation at the likes of Newcastle, West Ham and Portsmouth. All are owned by fantastically wealthy individuals, but not mega-billionaire level. These clubs' owners now realize that competing for a top-four slot is beyond even their millions. Making sure they protect the significant investments they made in their respective Clubs, and keeping them safely in the middle ranges of the Premier league, is now top of their agenda.

As a business proposal, it's very sensible. The method used is to ensure this redefined version of "success" is corporate analysis ahead of the traditional Managerial "feel" and emotion. Hard business is the rationale behind decisions of transfers. Football traditionalists won't like it, but its happened before our very eyes this last week. Both Curbishley and Keegan left because they weren't in charge of transfer decisions. Their argument is that if they're to be judged on performance, they must be allowed the power to make the decisions on those who will perform for them. Up until the Abu Dhabi takeover, it was reasonable to agree with them. Not now.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF IT WAS YOUR MONEY?

Take a step back and look at the decisions they were so passionate about: For Keegan, he backed trouble-prone Joey Barton, and wanted to build a team around the injury-prone (if brilliant) Michael Owen. Curbishley's patience was finally tested too much when George McCartney was allowed to move back to Sunderland. His protests would be fine if his previous judgment had been top class, but - as transfer advisor Kia Joorabchian pointed out - Curbishley had been involved in the purchases last year, on very high wages, of Freddie Ljundberg, Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy. All of whose signings have been described as "a mistake". No matter how much respect you have for Curbishley, it's difficult to argue against the assessment.

Put yourself in the investors' shoes. Ask yourself questions; would you trust these men (Keegan and Curbishley) with your money? No matter the humane touch Keegan showed with Barton, is Joey Barton the image you want for your multi million dollar investment? Is Owen a safe bet? Were West Ham good enough last season to justify having the reported fifth highest wage bill in the league? That both men resigned tells you that they are emotional characters. Emotion and sound business practice are usually not found in the same sentence. The world of football Management has changed. Whether its for the better or worse is immaterial - the role has changed.

Liverpool's Rafael Benitez is having similar struggles. While his managerial methods are more scientifically based than most managers, even this isn't enough to satisfy the money men that they have a Manager whom can look after their highly leveraged borrowings.

FANS AMBITIONS SECONDARY

The ambitions of Managers and fans are now secondary. Value for money and sound business practice is the way forward for the majority. Whether it is a long-term hit for the premier league "brand" is another matter - but for investors who have poured money into a Club, the fear of doing another Leeds must be foremost in their minds.

The Chairman/Manager link does work at some Clubs. Best of all was the David Dein / Arsene Wenger axis at Arsenal. Is it coincidence that Arsenal are falling a little off the pace since Wenger had no one to trust him in higher office? At Aston Villa, Martin O'Neill seems to have won the respect of Randy Lerner, whilst after a season "proving himself", Niall Quinn has released funds from Sunderland's tightly closed purse. Even then, the funds are limited and carefully monitored.

LEEDS

The traditional role of a Chairman used to be simply "backing, or sacking" their chosen manager. In many ways that's how things still operate at Manchester United. But Sir Alex Ferguson is the exception. With so many dollars now at stake, unless they have billions to throw around, owners are now anxious to avoid being the next Leeds United - a club who were so anxious to break into the top four that they bankrupted themselves. The problem with Leeds was simple. Their chosen leader, Peter Risdale, was a fan first and foremost, and made many of his decisions on emotional grounds. The football Manager at the time, David O'Leary, couldn't have known the full financial ramifications. Obviously, he wanted to get more players and spend more money. He needed a Chairman to say "No" before the banks stepped in to say it.

The fans at Newcastle love Keegan. The business brains obviously trust the more detached Dennis Wise. It's a sign of the times, but the emotion is slowly being sapped out of English football. Sir Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Jock Stein and other Managerial legends will be turning in their graves. There will be no more Tommy Docherty's or Ron Atkinson's. The characters are leaving and the game will be poorer. The trade-off is that there are likely to be less "Leeds" scenarios - but at what cost to football?

Click here to find out more about Kevin Keegan's shock resignation!