Opinion: Zola Has Outstayed His Welcome

The image I used to have about Gianfranco Zola was the way that he was a magician on the field. He could literally control any pass and his finishing is just astonishing. But the same can’t be said for his Birmingham City side who are sliding down the table at a great speed. Something has to give in order to turn the luck around and for me, this means that Zola does not stay as manager. It’s as simple as that.

I usually stick behind managers to be fair. I even gave Lee Clark the benefit of the doubt for most part of the season, even when the Bingo selection jokes were being spun on Twitter. But I still thought that he could turn it around and yet it never materialised. Luckily for us a Paul Caddis header and a Chris Martin penalty against Doncaster Rovers meant that we stayed in the Championship: it had little to do with Clark. But nonetheless with limited budget the did manage to attract some good youth talent such as Jesse Lingard and Emyr Huws. But even after the board has given Zola money to spend, he still hasn’t made the team click. I can forgive Clark of this due to the lack of players he could sign but I’m sorry, Zola does not deserve such sympathy.

I’m writing this article due to the fact that Warren Joyce from Wigan and Steve McClaren from Derby County have both been sacked with better win rates than Zola because their boards noticed that the club was not doing as well as it was capable of. We have slid down the table so drastically that we really need to make a change and somebody at the club needs to put their ego aside and admit that they appointed the wrong man at the wrong time. As fans, it is unbearable to think where the next 3 points will come from. I have heard many people tell me that it’s not a case of whether Newcastle will win on Saturday, but by how many. This is not the club that we know! We fight in every game but it looks as though we have lost direction under the manager.

I don’t like writing articles like this as I love this club. But it is because I love this club but this is the very reason why we have to get a new manager. To keep the club going in the right direction and that is towards the Premier League. I like the team to play good football, yes. But I would rather pick up scrappy 1-0 wins than to play well but not have that drive to really fight for the points. I hope that the board will look into recruiting someone soon. Someone who knows how to get the best out of the existing players rather than trying to change the entire club set-up.