Why Was AVB Thrown to the Lions?
Residents of the country of Samoa went to sleep on the evening of Thursday, December 29th, 2011, and woke up on Saturday morning, December 31st. Friday, December 30th, had been erased from the calendar.
The government of Samoa had decided the previous June to move westward across the international date line in order to better synchronize with trading partners in the East, such as Australia, New Zealand, and China.
As this article in the Smart Set explains: “in 1892, an American business house trading in the region convinced the king of Samoa that slipping over the date line to the other side, facilitating trade with California rather than Asia and Australia, was in everyone’s best interest. At the time, it made sense to the king. …So Samoa left its time zone, and was suddenly just three hours behind California. In a twist of diplomatic self-congratulation, Americans had Samoa perform the shift backward in time on July 4, giving Samoans the opportunity to celebrate American Independence Day twice.”
With the switch back to their previous time zone, Samoa caused many to question the nature of time itself. “No one will be born on December 30, 2011,” noted National Public Radio, “and no one will die.”
In the case of Chelsea, I’m wondering if now former coach André Villas-Boas couldn’t have used a similar trick to erase Saturday, March 3rd from the record. Then Chelsea maybe wouldn’t have lost to West Brom, AVB wouldn’t have been sacked, and maybe, just maybe, fans at Stamford Bridge would be talking about the top four instead of talking about a possible late-season meltdown.
The Guardian is not looking to the past but instead to the future, positing Real Madrid’s José Mourinho as the favorite to assume the reigns at Chelsea. Dominic Fifield reported: “The possibility of Mourinho returning to Stamford Bridge, where he claimed two Premier League titles, two League Cups and an FA Cup during a glittering if fractious three-season spell, would galvanise the support. The Real Madrid manager, who has led his team clear at the top of La Liga this term, has declared his intention to return to the Premier League and was photographed last week looking at properties in London.”
Fergie called the sacking of AVB “sad,” but also admitted that “The news is not surprising to me really.”
With Chelsea sitting in 5th, and only three points behind fourth-place Arsenal, one must wonder if one slip-up against West Brom warrants the axe, especially with Tottenham sliding into a mini-slump and a lot of winnable games for the Blues on the horizon (Stoke, Wigan, Aston Villa, and Fulham, to name a few). And while they’re two goals down to Napoli, it isn’t an impossible task for them to get through to the next round of the Champions League, which is more than one can say for any of the teams above them in the EPL table.
The question, then, is this: Why fire a head coach so late in a (somewhat successful) season with so much to lose by doing so?
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