Neville calls for ban on managerial sackings during season

Gary Neville: Back on the big screen

Gary Neville: Ill-fated spell at Valencia

Gary Neville has backed calls for a ban to be placed on clubs sacking managers during the season.

The Sky Sports pundit – who endured an ill-fated reign in charge of La Liga side Valencia last season – believes a system similar to the transfer window should be employed.

The former Manchester United stalwary believes a change is needed in order to give clubs more stability and managers more freedom to work without immediate fears of getting the chop.

Neville was speaking about Middlesbrough’s Aitor Karanka became the Premier League’s sixth casualty of the season – but speaking to the Sky Sports Podcast, he doesn’t believe the system would receive much support from club owners.

“I would support completely the idea that managers can’t be sacked during the season,” Neville said during his Sky Sports podcast.

“When you set off at the start of the season with a manager then he has to be your manager for the entire season.

“Football would support it, in terms of the professional side – I’m not sure whether the owners would.

“But it would mean the players would know you’re going to be the manager until the end of the season, they’d have to get on with it.”

Although Leicester have enjoyed great success since appointing Craig Shakespeare in place of Claudio Ranieri, Neville believes there are plenty of examples where a change in manager hasn’t bore fruit.

He continued: “Teams are making changes at the bottom of the league and I’m almost sitting there thinking, ‘I wish this doesn’t work’ because when it does, it gives others the confidence to change their manager.

“There have been examples where it’s worked when managers are sacked and where it hasn’t. I’m not sure there is a distinction between either.

“It seems to be more the done thing where you do sack the manager at the earliest point as the players respond.  We have seen that at Leicester – what an incredible bounce they have had. It’s happened at Swansea and Hull.”

Neville’s Sky Sports colleague, Jamie Carragher, has also offered his support to the notion in the past too.