'I think it is an absolute disgrace' - Chesterfield chief Paul Cook criticises early managerial sackings
Manager not happy with impatient football decision makers
Chesterfield chief Paul Cook has criticised clubs for sacking managers so soon into the season.
Livingston have dismissed Glenn Whelan nine league and cup games in while Wycombe Wanderers have dispensed with Michael Duff after just five League One matches.
Wycombe did something similar last year, parting company with Michael Dodds in September after a slow start.
Wanderers had drawn three and lost two of their opening five this time around while Whelan leaves Livingston fifth in the Scottish Championship after two wins and three losses.
“Football today, you have seen managers lose their jobs this week after a few games at Wycombe and Livingstone” said Cook.
"I don't mind going on record, I think it is an absolute disgrace.
"How any manager can lose a job after five games, I don't know. I would fire everyone above them, that's my an honest opinion.
"If I was an owner I would fire all the people running my football club because it's a joke.
"Five games into a football season, for anyone to look at anything and want people to lose their jobs is a disgrace."
More than 200 managers and coaching staff lost their jobs last season in English football as part of the "hire and fire culture".
That figure covers the top four men’s divisions and the top two in women’s.
In the Premier League alone, nine managers were dismissed last season with an average tenure of 0.87 years, which is the shortest period of time in records compiled by the League Managers Situation dating back more than ten years.
In contrast, Cook’s second spell at Chesterfield now stretches to four-and-a-half years, making him the second longest serving manager in League Two behind Barnet’s Dean Brennan.
LMA chief Richard Bevan has said the increasing short-termism around “undermines the profession”.
"We're in a different football era now where madness seems to come very quickly,” added Cook, speaking ahead of Chesterfield’s trip to Oldham Athletic tomorrow.
"For us, we just concentrate on the next game, the job in hand. We've got a target this year and we'd love to be promoted but there are another 23 teams in our division.
"The reality is we do all our stuff and conduct ourselves properly and keep looking forwards, not backwards."