Tough on Cookie

Coleman was not given enough time, says old mate Salako

Last updated: 4th May 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Tough on Cookie

Coleman: sold £5m worth of talent

I think Coventry have made the decision to take them forward - they obviously feel the progression isn't going to be there.

John Salako
Quotes of the week

Related links

Teams

Former Coventry City winger John Salako believes Chris Coleman was not given enough time.

Coleman was sacked as manager on Tuesday, two days after the Sky Blues finished the Championship season with a humiliating 4-0 home defeat by Watford.

After the final-day loss he said his players had to take responsibility after a run of 11 games without a win, but three days later his 26-month reign was brought to an end by chairman Ray Ranson.

But Salako, who spent three years with the Midlands club and played in the same Crystal Palace team as Coleman, believes he wasn't given enough time to get them back into the Premier League.

The Welshman had been in the job for 24 months but Salako, who spent three years at the club and played in the same side as him for Crystal Palace, insists it was not long enough.

"That would've been the remit for Chris, getting into the play-offs and then maybe the promised land of the Premier League," he told Sky Sports News.

"Chris would've wanted to get in there but I think the conversations he'd have had with the board and Ray (Ranson) he'd have said we're effectively on the right track.

"At the heart of any club has to be stability - there has to be a plan in place and you need to stick with that. But different pressures come in, things change and decisions have to be made. No manager gets enough time to build and create the type of success they are trying to achieve.

"That's what every club wants, but there certainly isn't stability there - it's the short time he's been given. He fought fires at Fulham, went abroad to Spain and came back but hasn't achieved what he wanted to achieve at Coventry.

"The ultimate thing that brings down the axe on most managers is that you're not going forwards, you're going backwards and you've lost the dressing room and the belief of the fans and the players."

Expectation

In his spell in charge Coleman recouped more than £5million in transfer fees and spent just £650,000 bringing players to the club.

Salako though, says that is now par for the course in the Championship and Leagues One and Two and suggested that he had failed to sign enough quality players, even for the constraints in place.

"I think ultimately you have to look at the players he's signed," he said.

"He hasn't had a lot of money to spend but he's given himself that expectation when they looked like they were heading for the play-offs, but tailed away quite badly and when you have lost the dressing room, it's time to make a change.

"That's the way a lot of managers have to work now. Young managers have to come in and really have to cut their cloth accordingly.

"Coventry have a very difficult financial situation, they have lost a lot of their talent - Danny Fox has gone and he was a great player for them - and it must be demoralising to lose players. But that's the nature of the job.

"I think Coventry have made the decision to take them forward - they obviously feel the progression isn't going to be there."

Click Here for Your Free Bet

Post to your View!

Be the first to post a comment on this story

Add Comment*

Send us your views

Are you a Sky Sports subscriber?

*All fields required, your email address will be kept private