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Talking Point: Welcome to the madhouse Rafa and Roberto [The Argus]



Newshound

Brighton 8049
Jun 5, 2011
18,358
Welcome Rafa and Roberto to the craziest league in world football.
Where one bad run of results can cost you your job.
Rafa Benitez and Roberto Di Matteo are both Champions League winners.
But they are about to find out what it's like to manage in the Championship, where the pressure is even greater than in the Premier League.
Consider this statistic after the new Chinese owners of Wolves sacked Kenny Jackett before a ball has been kicked.
Albion's Chris Hughton is now the fourth longest serving manager in the division.
He has leapt from 24th in the space of just 19 months.
Bonkers isn't it? This is the demanding environment Benitez and Di Matteo will step into, the division within touching distance of the riches of the Premier League where short-term panic reigns supreme.

Only Mick McCarthy of Ipswich, Birmingham's Gary Rowett (below left)*and Simon Grayson of Preston have been with their clubs longer than Hughton following the demise of Jackett.
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It does not require much imagination to see Hughton nudging up another place in the table quite soon.
Rowett, appointed a cuple of months before him at Birmingham, and Grayson, about to embark on a second season in the Championship with Preston after getting them promoted, appear reasonably secure.
McCarthy, in charge at Portman Road for almost four years with a low budget, improved Ipswich from ninth to sixth and the play-offs in his second full season.
They slipped back to seventh last season. Ipswich are not a hiring and firing club but the patience of supporters will be severely tested if they are not right up in the mix again.
Benitez is the fourth different manager at Newcastle since Hughton was appointed by Albion on New Year's Eve 2014.
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It is a familiar pattern. Di Matteo (above) is also the fourth at Villa Park over this period, likewise Nigel Pearson at Saturday's opening opponents Derby County, Garry Monk at Leeds, Phillipe Montanier at Nottingham Forest, Jaap Stam at Reading, Slavisa Jokanovic at Fulham, Paul Heckingbottom at Barnsley, Dean Smith at Brentford.
It gets even worse. Alan Stubbs is Rotherham's fifth manager since October 2015.
Harry Redknapp was still singing Auld Lang Syne at Loftus Road when Hughton walked into the Amex.
Since then QPR have ploughed through Albion FA Cup finalist Chris Ramsey with Les Ferdinand, with Kevin Bond and by himself, then Neil Warnock, now Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
The pressure to deliver is most intense for Benitez and Di Matteo.
Newcastle have the biggest budget, the biggest fanbase, the best squad and the best manager.
Benitez should emulate Hughton, who took Newcastle straight back up with 102 points and a formidable record at St James' Park in 2009-10. If he doesn't he will be history.
New Villa owner Dr Tony Xia has hired Di Matteo for one reason - instant corrective surgery after their dismal Premier League campaign.
Fortunately for Hughton, he is working for a realistic owner. By choosing him and revamping the recruitment set-up, Tony Bloom has Albion back on track.
It is going to be even tougher this season competing against the likes of Newcastle and Villa, Norwich, Derby and ambitious Sheffield Wednesday - even if the Seagulls hold onto Anthony Knockaert, Dale Stephens, Lewis Dunk, Beram Kayal.
There are no guarantees but, barring a disaster, Hughton will still be at Albion at the start of next season.
Most of his 23 rivals in the Championship are sitting rather more uncomfortably in their red-hot managerial seats.

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