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The recent sacking of Michael Laudrup by Swansea Football Club is just another pit stop in the tumultuous career of the Danish football manager.
Swansea, who were struggling to find any form in the sophomore season of Laudrup’s reign, have decided to remove the uncertainty that is Michael Laudrup as the figurehead of the club.
Laudrup, made a name for himself as a player who crossed the divide in Spain moving from Barcelona to Madrid in 1994, played for no less than eight clubs as a player moving from his native Denmark through Italy, Spain, Japan and finishing up in the Dutch Eredivisie with Ajax. That move from Barcelona to Madrid was clearly an insight into Laudrup’s future – Wherever he is, he wants to be somewhere else.
His managerial career seems to be moving at the same breakneck speed as his footballing career and having started out his as an assistant manager for the Danish national team in 2000 he has since been involved with four separate clubs, leaving each one in difficult circumstances.
While it is unfair to claim that these exits were his fault entirely, some of the onus must fall on Laudrup. His time in Wales is just another flying visit for the nomadic Laudrup where Chairman Huw Jenkins saw Laudrup’s unpredictability as a factor in his removal.
Laudrup left Getafe in order to find a team that “matched his level” and left Mallorca stating he had been thinking about it for “some time”. Perhaps, if I was to offer Mr.Laudrup some advice, he should work until the end of, at least, one contract so the situation that Huw Jenkins was forced into doesn’t happen again.
Maybe Laudrup is guilty of misunderstanding his ability as a manager. It appears every club he works for doesn’t match his level and it will be interesting to see just where he lands after Swansea cut ties midway through the season.
The Swansea situation was one he inherited from a line of managers that have gone on to greater successes (Martinez and Everton, Rodgers and Liverpool) and left teams that while weren’t world beaters, had the ability to establish themselves in the Premier League and maybe consider a reach into the top ten of the league on a regular basis. The Swansea chairman, wisely, decided to throw the first punch in a battle that would surely have seen Laudrup walk away at the end of the season, whether Swansea were a Premier League side of not.
As is the case with many mid table teams, a key injury on any line of the field and things can go pear shaped in a hurry. Michu, who was Laudrup and Swansea’s shining light during the 2012/13 campaign, was suffering from an injury that can throw a team like the Swans into disarray and after being called up to the Spanish national side, his mind had been elsewhere with talk of moves elsewhere in several media outlets for a sustained period of time.
But the form and the injuries were not at the crux of Laudrup’s dismissal. Roy Keane once complained about managers who somehow, regardless of their record, keep getting jobs. Perhaps Laudrup is a good case study on Keane’s point. He was sacked by Spartak Moscow, sacked by Getafe, resigned from Mallorca and now sacked by Swansea and already being linked with several other jobs on the horizon.
Whoever does appoint Laudrup as their coach, might want to have a contingency plan because the Dane hasn’t been known to hang around in any one spot for too long.
Swansea makes a big mistake… Let’s see how much time will pass until they win a trophie again?