Chris Hutchings - 6 Losses and You're Gone

If a man who is tasked with keeping a 'smaller' club inside the Premier League loses 6 difficult games on the trot is soon sacked, then the English top flight is in a very sorry state of instability.

The sacking of Chris Hutchings has all the hallmarks of a 'knee-jerk reaction', much like his appointment in the first place one might suggest. If every club reacted like this, Davies would have gone, Redknapp would be nowhere, and Martin Jol would have vacated the Spurs hot seat many weeks ago.

The fact that it is now referred to as a 'hot seat', is further indication of how volatile and insecure the job is of a Premiership manager.

Was Dave Whelan right to give him the chop?

The 6 losses which led to Hutchings' departure weren't exactly the simplest of tasks. Losing to Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool is to be expected of a lower-half team, with only very late goals conceded against Pompey and Reading extending the run. The loss away to Birmingham is perhaps the only result there that can be classified as a poor performance with a disappointing result.

Surely, the Wigan board (including the astute businessman Dave Whelan) must have seen for themselves the nature of these results, and not just decided 'right, 6 defeats, he needs to go.'

A club like Wigan, with no offence and every respect to them, are not a side that should be expected to finish in the top-half of the table. Their fan-base, history and quality of players suggest otherwise. Over time, they may strengthen (such as Portsmouth or Blackburn) and then have perhaps European ambitions. But for the time being, avoiding relegation must be top priority, and with that in mind, those 6 results were probably to be expected.

Would anybody else have been able to do better? Probably not, which makes the sacking seem even more ludicrous. Unless there was a tactical genius on board, those results would still probably not have gone their way.

The timing is also very strange. By sacking him after the Chelsea game, and not before, it shows that the Wigan board were expecting something from the that match. It's an unrealistic expectation to get points off any of the big 4, never mind a side that crushed Man City the week before. Chris Hutchings should have been given a few more games, against teams that were the same level as Wigan, to give a true assessment of how well as a manager he was performing, and what the Latics could realistically hope for come the end of the season.

Clearly, Wigan feel that somebody can do better. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong, and only time will tell. However, with Souness the most likely candidate to take up the reigns, I wouldn't hold my breath for a sharp turnaround.

Andy Glover is the Editor of Liquid Football. A slicker football blog.