Hawthorns becoming managers' graveyard

Roberto Di Matteo walked into the Hawthorns as the king of Europe - but walked out with his head on a chopping block.

Pressure had been mounting on the Italian almost seconds after his appointment, made reluctantly, it seemed, by Roman Abramovic in the midst of a wave of media patronage asking for his promotion from interim boss after winning two trophies.

Walking into the the most vacated seat since musical chairs entered childrens' parties, Roberto Di Matteo took 'interim' charge of Chelsea on 4 March after the sacking of controversial duck look-a-like Andre Villas-Boas.

Di Matteo was never the choice of the draconian owner of Chelsea. That much was always clear and he hardly even needed this slight dip in form as the impetus to sack the Ballon D'or nominated manager.

But, as the now former Chelsea manager Di Matteo has found out once again, when the going gets tough, he gets goin'.

After seven losses in a row when in charge of West Bromwich Albion, Di Matteo was given the sack by Jeremy Peace - who was right to do it. After any manager, anywhere loses seven matches on the bounce they should be expecting the sack, whether they manage Manchester United or Kidderminster Harriers.

And, then in charge of a much superior set of players at Chelsea - with Abramovic forking out more than 80 million pounds this summer - he had a similar run of form, although nowhere near as obviously bad as seven defeats in a row and he found himself with p45 in hand.


Rumour has it that Di Matteo ensconced his team in their Hawthorns dressing room, and was heard to exclaim: "You couldn't even beat them." A slur which seemed a little out of place as 'them' were a team just behind them in the table.

His tenure at Chelsea was the kind of positions dreams are made of in the beginning. A selection of great players at disposal with a "it can't get any worse" remit. To be fair to Di Matteo, he did far better than anyone could have expected, collecting two trophies - one being the most coveted in Europe.

But when times get hard Di Matteo lacks the tactical nous to get teams out of it. Having experienced his stewardship at West Bromwich Albion, many Baggies can confirm he's not the man to stop the rot.


Di Matteo did what he was supposed to do at The Hawthorns in the promotion season. But it's very easy for people to call him a miracle worker when, simply, he took the best squad (Newcastle were the best team) up - following the work of Tony Mowbray and a great scouting job - which is now paying divedens with the latest win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Of course, it could have been messed up and many managers have done that on numerous occasions. But he only did what any number of manager could have done with that squad at his disposal. He did nothing out of the ordinary.

Another Hawthorns execution in what's becoming a longer line...

He's not the first manager to lose his job after a loss against West Bromwich Albion. He's not even the first Chelsea manager to lose his job after a loss at the Hawthorns.

The turbulent reign of Di Matteo's predecessor, and former boss Andre Villas Boas ended at The Hawthorns. His side went down 1-0 at The Hawthorns and he was correctly ousted after leaving an almost un-followable demolition job at Chelsea.

Mick McCarthy was sacked after his Wolverhampton Wanderers side was thrashed by Black Country derby rivals The Baggies. This time at the Molineux which became an unforgivable sin for Wolves fans as, it's bad enough they were vastly inferior, but to lose by that margin at home left a lot to be desired.

Whether a loss at the Albion is considered too embarrassing for some managers to continue in their roles is debatable. What isn't, is that managers seem to go often enough at the hands of the West Brom.