Sheffield Wednesday in safe hands, now he just needs time - Sue Smith column

Managerial stability is such an important factor in football but it is becoming scarcer by the day, even in the women’s game.

It is alarming to think the Owls have had 15 managers since 2000, and much less of a surprise they have not returned to the Premier League since. They only had 15 in their first 116 years.

Although Garry Monk had been in the job since September 2019, it was only this summer he brought in his own coaching staff and made his first permanent signings. The timing seemed a bit bizarre, beating Bournemouth and drawing with Millwall in his final two matches.

Pulis said something in his first press conference which resonated with me.

“When I first started, I think most chairmen would say they’d give you three years – one year to assess what you’re walking into, the second year to change what you think is needed and the third year is the big decision, if you were successful, brilliant, if you weren’t, you were on your bike,” he said.

Now even in a manager’s first season if they do not turn things around, that can be it.

These are not Pulis’s players and they may not be used to his style. Even when managers come in with the same style, you still have to get used to little changes and a different voice.

You need a few transfer windows to bring in the players you want, and Pulis has already missed the first of this season.

People say they want managers to develop players but that takes time.

You might have an amazing 18-year-old in the academy but it is so hard to bring him in for a few minutes here and there when you can sign a proven 28-year-old who is a better player here and now.

Pulis will be brilliant and will keep them in the Championship. He is a safe option some fans will like and others will not, but I would be quite happy if he was coming into my club.

It feels like a real opportunity to get it right after 20 years outside of the top division.

But it is not good for players, for the club and the supporters to have such a churn of managers. When you think you might only have six or seven months to turn things around there is no stability or consistency.

Southampton have been a great example of what patience can achieve, sticking with Ralf Hasenhuttl after last season’s 9-0 defeat to Leicester City because they knew his was the way they wanted to go and they are now reaping the benefits.

Wednesday fans will be looking at Sheffield United and Leeds United and asking why a big club like theirs is not in the Premier League too.

Chris Wilder is the longest-serving Blades manager since Neil Warnock (1999-2007), and even though Marcelo Bielsa has barely started his third Elland Road campaign, Leeds have not had a manager this long since Simon Grayson (2008-2012).

Increasingly women’s football is also becoming based on results and not on what you have achieved previously.

On Thursday Tottenham Hotspur sacked joint managers Karen Hills and Juan Amoros and replaced them with Rehanne Skinner.

Hills had been at the club for 11 years and took them from amateur status, driving the minibus, to the Women’s Super League. Amoros has worked alongside her since 2011.

A bit like Wilder at Bramall Lane, the fans have an emotional connection with them.

When you hear news like that – hot on the heels of manager Matt Beard leaving West Ham United – you think surely there needs to be a bit of loyalty.

It feels like both London clubs seized on the women’s international break as a small window of opportunity. It looks like a reaction from the boards, who made good signings like Rachel Daly at West Ham and World Cup-winner Alex Morgan at Spurs and perhaps raised expectations as a result.

You can understand when they are investing a lot in their clubs but it does not sit well with me.

You could view it as a positive, that the women’s game is moving on and results really matter now. It used to be that if you could see a team developing, managers would be given time. That is a much better way to go.

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