Ah the days when managers seemed to stay forever and chose their times to leave - the Busbys, Nicholsons, Paisleys, Revies and Shanklys of yore. Sackings there were, but they were as rare as discussions of what system a team was playing. There was only one system. Or seemed to be.
Footballing times change, and the manager/coach at Watford changes for every match of the season. Exaggeration I know, but ... . Once upon a time, manager upheaval was an Italian and Spanish thing, like diving or raking a forward’s heels with the studs. Never happened in the old First Division. Of course not. Still, the tradition for regular change of coach in Spain has been maintained, advanced indeed by promises of riches usually out of the reach of clubs which have a habit of being in the top flight one season and a lower flight the next. Like Real Mallorca.
So now there’s a new coach. Javier Aguirre can at least point to a body of work with some success. Some, but it was a while back. Will he be able to keep Mallorca up? Maybe he will. We hope so. But in the meantime, there are the questions, such as what are Mallorca as a club? What’s the plan? Is there a plan? Does it extend beyond the managerial revolving door and chancing to luck?
Over the water there’s a club on which envious eyes can be cast - enemies Villarreal, a city of 50,000 and a stadium capacity equivalent to Mallorca’s. If only.