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Opinion: Is Zola Really Safe?

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It doesn’t take a genius to work out that Gianfranco Zola hasn’t had the best start to his time at Birmingham City. In fact, that is one of the biggest understatements of the century. To be fair to him, initially he didn’t have the best backing from the fans and it seems the players, but overall he has done nothing to really show that the initial upset can be turned into wins and happiness.

I am writing this article in response to reports today that Zola has been given the vote of confidence from the board. Now, I must admit, this sounds to me as though Birmingham City have released a statement to tell people that Zola is happy at the club and the board are happy with him to appear united in the eyes of the fans and fellow football fans. I’ll be honest, it does seem as though the club are trying their best to really get everyone on board but I am not entirely confident that this is actually the case. I think the board have spoken to Zola about getting results. Why wouldn’t they?

Football chairmen these days are only at football clubs to make money; it is a business. They don’t have any loyalty to the club or fans, all they want is to win in order to gain more money. They want a play-off spot or higher because it means that the chance of promotion can bring more funds to put into their back pockets. This is purely my opinion and it may seem cynical but I can’t see it any other way. So the board at Birmingham City will be disappointed that Zola hasn’t been able to get us into the play-offs or anywhere near for that matter and boards these days are ruthless. I find it highly unlikely that a manager who is basically losing the club money, has been given the backing of the board. I just don’t believe that this would be the case.

So when will a proper decision be made? I think that the game against Wolverhampton will be the one that makes or breaks Zola. It is a local derby against a team who haven’t been the most consistent in recent weeks and have had two tough FA cup games against Liverpool and Chelsea. I think that many fans have waited to see what Zola could do after the January transfer window and it is now the time to really prove it. But Zola isn’t proving his capabilities as a manager. To me, he isn’t looking at what suits the players best in terms of style or formation, he is trying to make them into clones of his former teams which we can’t do. Gary Rowett had us playing differently to Burton because we had different players. That is the sign of a true manager.

I think if we lose the derby game against Wolves, then it will be hard for the board not to sack him or give him an ultimatum. It is the perfect opportunity as fans will be riled for sure and he will have lost the backing of most of the supporters and maybe even some of the players who are most passionate. If bringing back Gardner to appease Blues’ fans was a chance to try and get fans back on board with the chairman; it failed. So the only option now is to sack Zola.

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