Currently sitting second in the Championship table are Watford, who haven’t lost a match under manager Slavisa Jokanovic. They’re currently undefeated in their last eight contests in the league.
Watford and Leeds: 1 season, 2 teams, 7 managers
Richard Heathcote
On the other end of the table sit Leeds United. They sit 18th, just five points above the relegation zone, and have not won in their last six matches.
What do these teams have in common? They’ve both made three managerial changes this season.
Their circumstances couldn't be any more different. Watford made the seemingly crazy decision to fire Giuseppe Sannino at the beginning of the season, with rumors swirling that the players hated his management style. They got a pass for this -- current owner Giampaolo Pozzo is widely considered to be among the smartest chairmen in world football.
Things took a sad turn when replacement Óscar García Junyent had to resign after just four games after he was hospitalized for experiencing chest pains. Billy McKinlay took over in the interim until the club hired Jokanovic, who picked up right where his three predecessors left off.
Long undefeated runs and top places in the league aren’t supposed to happen when you have four managers in just over two months. What’s supposed to happen is what’s happened to Leeds United, an absolute tire fire of a club. They fired generally well-regarded, but underperforming manager Brian McDermott over the summer and replaced him with Dave Hockaday, who they decided to ditch after just six games in charge.
Academy manager Neil Redfearn was appointed caretaker manager, but didn’t get the job despite winning three times and drawing once in four matches as the boss. Darko Milanič was given the permanent job, then canned after failing to win all of his first six games in charge. Now Redfearn is the manager again.
All teams that change managers once every three weeks are not created equal.
