Welsh football - why are our teams sacking managers?

The season may barely be into double figures but managerial casualties are already starting to mount.

Six have been deemed surplus to requirements already this campaign, and if you run a football team in Wales right now this is not a good time to be in business.

All three Welsh Football League and Premier League clubs have sacked their bosses over the past fortnight.

Francesco Guidolin was replaced with Bob Bradley, and Trollope swapped with Neil Warnock in less than 24 hours.

Newport have yet to find a replacement for their manager Warren Feeney.

So why, with the season barely under way, are clubs so keen to press the eject button and start afresh?

• MONEY

As with a lot of things in modern day football a large proportion of it comes down to money. In short, Cardiff, Swansea and Newport simply can’t afford to go down.

In the case of Swansea the loss in revenue would likely stretch into the hundreds of millions of pounds. Yes, really; the newly revised Premier League TV rights deal alone is worth over £5bn over five years alone, not to mention the drop in commercial revenues that come hand in hand for most who exit the world’s most watched division.

While for Cardiff that figure would be considerably less it would nevertheless signify a seismic change in the club’s already strained financial clout, not to mention the impact on the club’s upwardly-mobile aspirations. It would be back to the drawing board.

For Newport dropping out of the Football League altogether would leave the club in dire straights with the uphill task of progressing out of an increasing difficult top tier of the non-league pyramid. There are two truths in football that cannot be avoided: money talks and the lower down you go the less of it there is - and so it goes that the threat of relegation alone is enough for many to get the sack.

• THE INTERNATIONAL BREAK

Timing, timing, timing. For most of the footballing public the two-week sabbatical that has just got underway is a chance to turn attentions to the international game. To stand side-by-side with fellow countrymen and get behind the national side.

For managers however that’s not necessarily the case. Should you have started the season in good form it ends a nice period of consistency you’d rather had continued, while if you’re at the other end of the spectrum it offers a very timely opportunity for a loitering successor to get their feet under the table.

For Chairmen it’s the ideal time to change things up: two uninterrupted weeks for their new man to get on with the job; to find his feet and make an impression, and all without a game to worry about. You could say it’s a (very) mini pre-season. And so it’s proven for Wales’ struggling bosses. Feeney, Guidolin and Trollope all find themselves out of work at this very time. Rarely will a bottle-neck of fixtures have seemed quite so appealing.

• SHORT-TERM NEEDS

Club’s the length and breadth of the world will tell you of their hopes to form a lasting football dynasty but very few ever achieve it, and much of that is down to the balance of long-term hopes over short-term needs.

While Arsene Wenger celebrates 20 years in his post at Arsenal this month he can also count himself as, perhaps, the last of his kind. Be it a need to sell shirts, sponsorship or investment, or a need to compete at the top of the league in order to attract players and fans through the turnstiles, modern day football clubs need instant success more than anything.

Long term hopes and grand plans to do it ‘our way’ are overridden when instant gratification isn’t found.

It’s an affliction that’s not restricted to club’s hierarchy either -ask fans in any town or city whether they hope for more and you won’t have to go far to find the answer ‘yes’.

A need for an instant hit has permeated football right to its core. With the season up and running it’s a case of now-or-never for many nervous owners staring at the wrong end of the table. A bad start can still be salvaged; there is plenty of time left. The longer you leave it though the harder it becomes. It’s a test of nerve that few are willing to take.

And so it is for Feeney, Trollope and Guidolin; the end of the road for the latest class of Welsh club managers.

Their stories will likely not stand out any more than those of their predecessors in the years to come. And for those that replace them, it’s unlikely to get any easier.