Source: Daily_Mail
Chris Hughton's sacking as Newcastle United manager was a tawdry business
The bookmakers seemed to know before he did. That was the nice thing about the sacking of Chris Hughton at Newcastle United. If you are going to get shafted you may as well be totally, royally shafted; a shafting to tell the grandchildren about, in fact. [LNB]If someone is going to do you over, it should be the sort of mugging that makes the 10 o'clock news. And this was a headline-grabbing beauty. Bong! Big freeze continues, thousands left stranded. Bong! Overdraft charges soar to 38 times the Bank of England base rate. Bong! And Newcastle sack the manager who beat Sunderland 5-1. [LNB]No, seriously, they do. Honestly, we're not making it up. This happened. [LNB] Axeman: Newcastle owner didn;t appreciate sacked Chris Hughton's worth[LNB]It would be bad enough in isolation, really, but the additional thought that someone, somewhere, perhaps a crony of owner Mike Ashley, made a right few quid out of it as well opens a whole new frontier of abhorrence. [LNB]It is the little twist that makes this probably the most tawdry sacking in the history of football; and, as you know, that's a pretty tough field. [LNB]Good luck to Hughton if he was the mystery gambler, of course. Good luck if, when they finally got around to telling him the news, he excused himself from the room, shot into the nearest Ladbrokes and stuck his pay-off cheque on his own name as the next Premier League manager to go. [LNB]It is unlikely, though, knowing him. Hughton seems a decent sort who would first wish to say goodbye to his players. And as they left the training ground entirely unaware that a new face would be taking them into Saturday's game with Liverpool, one presumes he was as clueless as the rest of us. [LNB]The players heard the same way as the public. News filtered through that odds on Hughton's sacking had been slashed overnight. Some bookmakers wiped him from the slate completely, others made him punishing odds on. The sack race is a lucrative market, so any wager that moved it so dramatically would have to be big. [LNB]You bet: Bookmakers suspended markets on Hughton getting the chop before it was officially announced[LNB]For the innocents among you, this is how the process works. A good friend once had a bet on a horse called Rebecca Sharp, an accumulator which involved two other races. His first horse won, and those winnings then carried over to the next horse, which also won. [LNB]Now he had the whole lot going on his third horse, Rebecca Sharp, which was a relative outsider. Because his winnings had accumulated and Rebecca Sharp was a generous price, an initial outlay of £100 had expanded until potentially he stood to collect £26,000 at odds of 33-1. [LNB]With an upside of £100 and a downside now measured in tens of thousands, bookmakers get twitchy, and my friend, watching the race on television, took great delight as Rebecca Sharp's odds began tumbling on account of his bet. [LNB]His bookmaker, a leading firm, was frantically trying to lay the bet off by backing Rebecca Sharp with rival companies as an insurance policy to cover liability. Then those bookmakers did the same, the sudden activity in the market driving the price down. The story has a happy ending, too: Rebecca Sharp won. [LNB]Hughton's journey is more dispiriting but the principle is the same. A bookmaker must have noticed either one big bet, or a flurry of activity, on the Newcastle manager being sacked. He covered his potential losses elsewhere and this started a round of speculation. [LNB]William Hill closed the book on Hughton completely on Monday morning, having opened the day at 15-1. Skybet made him 1-2. At a Christmas lunch in London, a guest who is an executive at Ladbrokes said Hughton would be the next manager dismissed, with utter certainty; 10 minutes later the official announcement came. [LNB] More from Martin Samuel... Martin Samuel: Bad luck Australia but the rain owed England one 07/12/10 MARTIN SAMUEL: Aussies pray for more rain after sinking to new depths06/12/10 Martin Samuel: 1,137 reasons why Australia look like mugs05/12/10 Martin Samuel: World Cup corruption... another nail in the coffin05/12/10 Martin Samuel: World Cup decision shows FIFA are rotten to the core!03/12/10 MARTIN SAMUEL: Day the Twits tried to kill my mate Bumble02/12/10 Martin Samuel: Is that a whiff of panic, Ricky? Dropping Johnson is a gamble 01/12/10 Martin Samuel: Pep Guardiola would have to be crackers to join Roman army30/11/10 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE Nobody will ever know why the news broke as it did, but Ashley moves in a circle that is known to like a bet. If one of his acolytes has profited from this inside knowledge it truly would be the most heinous spectacle: to not just jettison Hughton, but to cream a quick buck off the deed would represent a new low. [LNB]Ashley overpaid for the club from the outset and has not appreciated the worth of much since he has been there. He certainly did not appreciate the worth of Hughton, a coach who had done more than his shift at the coal face and who was finally giving Ashley's regime credibility it scarcely deserved. [LNB]Born in Stratford, London, Hughton had become the acceptable face of the Cockney mafia, winning the supporters over with some impressive results this season. [LNB]Nobody would have predicted in August that Newcastle would defeat Aston Villa 6-0, put five past Sunderland, win at Arsenal and knock Chelsea out of the Carling Cup before drawing with them in the league. Many other results have been patchy, not least the recent run culminating in the 3-1 defeat by West Bromwich Albion, but there is little doubt that with the personnel available Hughton had his Newcastle players punching above their weight. [LNB]His parting gift to the club is a young striker, Andy Carroll, with the promise to become an established member of England's squad. Hughton deserved to see that mission through. [LNB]It would appear, though, that Ashley was waiting for an excuse to dump him. Many have asked why Hughton was not rewarded with a new contract this season, and now we know. Ashley did not want him there; he thought him inexperienced, perhaps lacking in authority. [LNB]This is flawed logic, because how was Hughton supposed to gain respect while being so publicly undermined by his employers? If they did not trust him enough to extend his contract beyond May, why should the players listen to him? It was a miracle that he took the club as far as he did, in the circumstances. [LNB] Five star: Newcastle's 5-1 thrashing of rivals Sunderland was not enough to save former boss Hughton from the axe[LNB]Were Ashley currently locked in a room with Pep Guardiola, this decision might make sense; but the names being linked with Hughton's job - Martin Jol, Alan Pardew - do not seem such a significant upgrade. Jol had a lot more money to spend at Tottenham Hotspur than he will at Newcastle, but could never bloody the nose of the top four, while Pardew is a decent manager who has been around the block with varying degrees of success. [LNB]Either man will walk into a dressing-room demoralised by the sudden departure of a popular manager, though, and could find it tough. [LNB]One final thought. Hughton was unique to the Premier League as its only black manager. Nobody expects Ashley to act as a social engineer to the detriment of his club, but being the sole employer of a black coach did give Newcastle a certain accord with neutrals. [LNB]In a sport with so many black players, the dearth of black managers is a worrying anomaly and Newcastle were the proud exception. More importantly, Hughton was not there as part of some patronising programme of positive discrimination, but because he deserved to be. He did a damn fine job. [LNB]Apparently that is not enough any more. What are the odds? [LNB] Russian Roulette No sooner had Russia been awarded the 2018 World Cup when something rather inconvenient happened. The Dagestan Airlines flight to Makhachkala failed to make it off the ground at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow. [LNB]There were two killed and 40 injured which, for Russian domestic flights, makes this only a minor tragedy. There were 150 killed at Irkutsk in 2006 and 145 in 2001; there were 113 killed at Sochi in 2006, 87 in Moscow in 2004, 88 at Perm in 2008. Russia is a vast country, as Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, sagely pointed out. [LNB]There will be a lot of internal airline travel in eight years time. The plane that came down was a Tupolev Tu-154 dating from 1992. It was said to have had a refit in 2009, but a source within Dagestan Airlines, quoted by Agence France Presse, said all planes of this type should be decommissioned. [LNB]The official explanation for the accident is human error, but as three engines failed, plus the generator and the navigations system, there seemed to be quite a lot of technical issues, too. [LNB] Horror: No sooner had Russia been awarded the 2018 World Cup, a Dagestan Airlines flight to Makhachkala failed to make it off the ground at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow causing disaster[LNB]Aeroflot, the Russian national airline, recently withdrew all of its Tu-154's from service and there have been three recent emergency landings by aircraft from Dagestan's Tupolev fleet. [LNB]Bad things happen to even the safest carriers - Qantas recently - but they seem to happen more often in Russia. If domestic British flights recorded such a litany of disaster there would be quite an outcry. This is where it helps having a national media ranked 140th in the world on the Press Freedom Index. [LNB]In Russia, a World Cup with some venues more than three hours apart by air - the distance between Yekaterinburg and Kaliningrad is 1,552 miles - relying on a decrepit domestic airline network is not a story. So it did not overly concern FIFA's Executive Committee when they reached their decision. [LNB]After all, when did they ever travel as ordinary fans? If a Tupelev Tu-154 takes out a member of FIFA's ExCo it will be because it falls on his head while he is having lunch. [LNB] Grumbling City players are not happy at fourth-rate club Manchester City are fourth, so what is the problem? Manchester City are fourth, that is the problem. [LNB]Technically, the club is exactly where it wants to be, in a league position that fits the plan to qualify for the Champions League this season and challenge for the title the next. City are on course. [LNB]There are plenty in the Premier League that are not. Ask the supporters of Everton, Liverpool, Fulham or Aston Villa if they feel their club is where it hoped to be. West Ham United have already tagged one fixture 'Save Our Season' and it is not even Christmas. [LNB]Yet while every club has its tensions, nowhere does resentment and anger seem to be brimming beneath the surface quite like Manchester City. The usual mitigations are advanced: players are at each others' throats simply because they care, but that makes no sense. Plenty of us care about our jobs. We don't have to be pulled off the office manager or a co-worker every week. [LNB] Fight club: Tensions are brewing behind the scenes as big summer-signings Balotelli and Boateng testified[LNB]The fact is, fourth is not good enough for City, and certainly not for the most expensive members of the squad. Roberto Mancini has assembled a cast of high maintenance egomaniacs with a point to prove. Do you think they wish to be perceived as men who are happy with fourth? [LNB]Carlos Tevez was part of a Manchester United team that won league titles and reached the Champions League final, but because he was a squad player and not the centre of the universe, he walked across town to their most hated rivals. [LNB]For all his goals and influence at City, do you think when he sees his old team-mates, Tevez puffs out his chest and purrs, 'Look at me - I'm fourth'? [LNB]It was commentator David Coleman, in a fit of excitement about the Olympic 400 metre hurdle race in Mexico in 1968, who uttered the simple home truth about the less glorious podium finishes. [LNB]'It's David Hemery first, Gerhard Hennige second,' he announced, 'who cares who's third?' [LNB]Not what he signed up four: Carlos Tevez would not be content with fourth-place finish[LNB]More people than Coleman imagined actually, because John Sherwood of Great Britain had won bronze, but while the faux pas has remained in the memory, the basic observation stands. Hemery is a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a former Sports Personality of the Year and served as the first president of UK Athletics; John Sherwood was 37 years a PE teacher at the Firth Park Community Arts College in Sheffield. No less inspirational in his way, but you get the idea. [LNB]The riches of the Champions League have made football a sport in which coming fourth can be very lucrative. Tottenham Hotspur pipped Manchester City to it last season and were delirious. There are players throughout the Premier League for whom coming fourth would be the pinnacle of their career; and some at City, too, but they are not the ones having the fights. The big ticket items - Tevez, Mario Balotelli, Emmanuel Adebayor - came to the club to be the star turn at the biggest show in town. [LNB]It is wrong to believe they are solely money motivated. Yes, the salary is a huge part of the attraction but it comes as part of a package, including success and prestige. Fourth does not tick those boxes. Ask Cesc Fabregas. [LNB]The in-fighting at City suggests the players do not care very much for their present league position at all. They do, however, wish to look after No 1. [LNB]Talking with Mancini earlier this year, he made it clear he views the season after a World Cup as a random event. He said players can hit a wall or become very tired late in the day, and that Manchester City must be ready to pounce if that happens. He did not sound like a man aiming to pre-qualify for the Champions League next season. [LNB]So why the negativity? Why statements of such limited ambition? There will never be a better opportunity for a club from beyond the traditional elite to win the title. Chelsea have lost their way, Manchester United go from the sublime to the ordinary often in the same week, while Arsenal are without a first-class goalkeeper and have a defensive line that could be breached by an inventive six-year-old on a space-hopper. [LNB]This could be Manchester City's time and the players know it. Some would walk into other clubs, just as big, not quite as fourth. And maybe in the summer they will. [LNB] [LNB] Toon pick Pardew! Newcastle want new boss in by weekend Hughton betrayal: Ashley the assassin leaves Newcastle fans bewildered They've done what? Five shameless sackings that rocked footballTevez admits he is homesick but will honour his contract at Manchester CityMartin Samuel: World Cup corruption... another nail in the coffin [LNB] Explore more:People: Chris Hughton, Andy Carroll, Sepp Blatter, Martin Jol, Roberto Mancini, Mike Ashley, Carlos Tevez, David Coleman, Emmanuel Adebayor Places: Moscow, Liverpool, London, Newcastle, Fulham, Mexico, United Kingdom, Russia
