The Rondo: Three manager firings that sent shockwaves - whether Man Utd waited too long to sack Ruben Amorim, if Enzo Maresca deserved it and what’s next for Wilfried Nancy | Goal.com Malaysia

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Which manager firing was the most surprising to you?

Tom Hindle: Probably Amorim, if only because he seemed to have weathered the storm a little. Amorim has ritually been trying to get sacked for the last 12-plus months, and it kind of appeared as if he’d inadvertently made himself invincible. There was also a sense of vague improvement, and even a bit of tactical flexibility from the my-way-or-the-highway systems guy. Then again, maybe don’t publicly bash your employers every week if you want a job?

Ryan Tolmich: In truth, all of this has been building. Reports swirled about Maresca's future for weeks, and once rumors emerged that he'd told the club he could get other jobs, the writing was on the wall. Same for Amorim after his fiery tirade on being a manager, not a head coach. Wilfried Nancy, meanwhile, was never going to last given the results, particularly the most recent loss to Rangers. Of the three, though, the one separating factor is success, and Maresca had plenty, which makes his departure a bigger indictment of his club.

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Which firing was the most harsh?

TH: Maresca by far. Sure, the football is a little stale, and yes, they’d endured a bit of a rough run of form. But Chelsea are also injury-stricken, and the Italian is undeniably a talented manager. There seems to be an entire misalignment at that club about what they should expect. Their squad, right now, is good enough to make the Champions League, but is still a little short of Premier League glory. There's nothing wrong with that. Maresca had them on the right track. That should be enough. As for the whole thing about talking to Man City, you’re really going to suggest that managers (or their agents) don’t talk to other clubs? Grow up.

RT: Maresca, no doubt. It further shows that Chelsea don't want a manager; they want a sidekick. In a sport defined by big personalities, with Chelsea's most legendary manager perhaps being the biggest, the club has distinctly moved into a more business-like approach, one where the coaching is more middle management and less CEO. Maresca, generally, was okay in that situation until enough was enough, despite his successes on the field.

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What do you make of Marseca's time at Chelsea?

TH: Successful! He won the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup at the helm. Sure, they should have always walked to the former, but the latter is a real achievement. He gave some new players a chance, managed a bloated squad rather well, and stabilized a mad club. What more can you ask for? 

RT: It shows the disconnect between actual soccer and what's going on in the boardroom. Chelsea were recognized as world champions just a few months ago and, sure, they aren't winning the league, but they're right in the top-four mix as they should be. Despite that, Maresca is gone, and it doesn't exactly send the right message to whoever replaces him. Whoever comes in as his replacement will be the 12th manager to take charge of a Chelsea game in the last decade. Who would want that sort of job, even with all of the money that comes with it?

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What do you make of Amorim's time at Manchester United?

TH: In a word: chaotic. Amorim is probably a pretty good manager, but it’s hard for anyone to be good at the job at United. At the time, he seemed a good appointment too: young, expressive, a winning pedigree. But that all fell apart very quickly. Sure, he should have been more flexible, but Amorim tried to stick with what he knew, and the world burned. Not sure he can be entirely blamed for that.

RT: Again, another disconnect, but this one is between the past and the present. This Man Utd team isn't good. That's a fact. However, it continues to be held to the standards of the good old days and, when they don't reach those standards, the club doubles down on the things that saw those standards fall in the first place. There's no foresight, no belief, and, most of all, no real long-term plan. That's not to say Amorim is blameless, but he also isn't the cause of this mess. Rather, his appointment was one of many symptoms highlighting the disease that's rotted Man Utd since the day Sir Alex Ferguson stepped away.

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Thoughts on Nancy and Celtic?

TH: Tough for the French manager! Let’s be clear: he had done enough to earn a European move, and the word is that it had been coming for a while now. He was the best coach in MLS, and when the Celtic job comes, you have to jump. The issue? Celtic are a bloody dumpster fire and Nancy is a bit of a nerd. He’s the kind of guy who needs time on the grass and a full offseason to get things right. Celtic were in crisis mode. It was time for a steady hand to weather the storm. Nancy has the potential to be a terrific manager, but he's not that in Europe - not immediately, at least. Plus, you can’t lose to Rangers and keep your job.

RT: An imperfect marriage that turned ugly. Credit to Nancy for sticking it out to finish the season with the Crew, but when you do that, you miss out on the opportunity for a preseason to put your ideas in place at a new club. Then, you step into one of European soccer's biggest pressurecookers to take over a squad that clearly wasn't good enough? It was doable, but difficult, and it only became more difficult as the criticism began to snowball. The writing was on the wall after just a few results, but one has to wonder how different things would be if Nancy had a few weeks of preseason to actually work with his team before jumping in with both feet.

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If you were an MLS club with a vacancy, would you hire Nancy this season?

TH: Yes, EXPEDITIOUSLY, should he want a return.

RT: I'd hire him immediately, no questions asked. Anyone judging him on the Celtic job alone is foolish. The fact is that Nancy would instantly elevate just about every team in MLS. Truth be told, Nancy should and almost certainly will take something of a break after all of this to figure out his next move but, if that happens to be MLS, team should be lining up with bags of money for him.