Football has evolved over the years and so has the criteria to judge if a season is successful or not. The money in terms of TV rights, global fanbase, brand value etc. has become an integral part of the game and the majority of it is associated with success in Europe for clubs above a certain level.
With the ever growing obsession over winning the Champions League, the league titles and domestic cups have somewhat lost its sheen with the importance attached to winning the domestic cups gradually being diminished in the eyes of the media. Winning the European competition has become so prestigious, the clubs are going as far as to sack the manager who fall short on that front.
The latest names that might go on that list could be Barcelona’s Ernesto Valverde and Bayern Munich’s Niko Kovac. Let’s take a look at the three managers who got sacked after winning their respective leagues.
Massimiliano Allegri
Allegri was appointed by Juventus in the summer of 2014. In four of his five years in charge, the Italian manager lifted the domestic double every single time and took the Bianconeri to two Champions League finals. He was unlucky to not lift the European trophy though, coming up against the likes of Spanish giants in Real Madrid and Barcelona.
In 2018/19, he once again won the Italian League with ease but the defeats to Atalanta and Ajax in the domestic and European cup respectively was enough for him to lose his job. The 51-year-old had one year left on his contract but will be let go by the Turin club this summer.
Fabio Capello
Capello arrived at Real Madrid in July 2006 for a second stint in 10 years but the ending was no different from the first one. The Italian manager was obsessed with getting results at Santiago Bernabeu and winning the title, a feat which wasn’t achieved in the past three years by five other coaches.
The 72-year-old had a falling out with players like David Beckham and Ronaldo and was constantly jeered by the supporters for his pragmatic football. In March, Madrid were 4th in the La Liga table, 6 points behind Barcelona and knocked out of Europe.
But a string of inconsistent results for Blaugrana and some good games for Los Blancos meant they lifted the title on the last day of the league. Later, Capello who won Galacticos their 30th league title was sacked on 28th June 2007.
Ronny Deila
Deila stayed at Celtic for two years, winning back to back domestic titles, but poor performances in Europe meant his demise was inevitable. His first season was rather successful, but things took a turn for the worse is his second season.
In August 2015, Celtic failed to qualify for the Champions League after failing to overcome a weak opposition in Malmo. In November, they made an exit from the Europa League after finishing bottom of their group. In April, two heavyweights of Scottish football, Celtics and Rangers went head to head in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup where Deila’s side lost on penalties and were subpar over the 90 minutes.
The Glasgow defeat was the final nail in the coffin as three days later, the Norwegian manager announced he would step down at the end of the season. Celtic clinched their second league title in a row on 8th May defeating nearest challengers Aberdeen.
Stat Courtesy: Transfermarkt
