9 Is The Magic Number

What does Dundee United and Bournemouth FC have in common? Any guesses? For a start, they're both British football clubs, with Dundee playing in the Scottish Premier League and Bournemouth competing in the English Premier League. Another one? Yes, they were both beaten to stupor last weekend, both teams conceding 9 goals without reply. Any other similarity? Actually, yes, they both sacked their managers today, 30th of August, 2022. These two clubs are moving in tandem so well that I was close to assuming both are owned by the same person.

Scott Parker lost his job having played 4 games against Aston Villa, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool. He won the Villa game and lost the three others. However, the game against Liverpool (9-0) is probably the only match where his team failed to compete. Bournemouth caused Man City all sorts of problems in the second half of their tie. Arsenal are in good form, yet, they had to strive hard to win against Bournemouth. All these points to the fact that Parker's sack may not be as a direct result of the 9-0 humbling at Anfield. After all, a certain manager specializes in conceding 9-0 every season, and he's still at his job - you know yourself, Ralph😂😂😂.

The situation is not totally different for Ross, the relieved Dundee boss. He's played five games this season in the Scottish League, losing four of them and conceding a whooping 18 goals. However, it looks like Mr. Ross is a big fan of heavy defeats as his team was also seriously beaten by AZ Alkmaar in the third round of Europa Conference League. He lost that one 7-0. How can a team concede 16 goals in just two games? Mr. Ross is a legend!

With Ross, his dismissal based on results is clearly justified. I'm even surprised the dude didn't resign before getting sacked - he probably wanted to preside over a possible 8-0 walloping at the hands of Rangers. However, Parker's sacking has an underlying tone to it. His team is 16th on the log, not 20th. Gerrard's Aston Villa has been much more terrible to watch compared to Bournemouth, yet Steven is strutting around the Midlands like he owns it (I hope he gets sacked anytime soon).

Parker helped Bournemouth gain promotion back to the EPL, that should count for something. Why was he ruthlessly dispatched despite it being glaring that his team has the most difficult fixture to start the season? Did his interview after the match where he labelled his players "undereqquiped" played a major part in his dismissal? Or, is there something brewing away from the camera which we are not aware of?

The next few days should shed more light to the events that led to Scott Parker's sack. As for Ross, he can crawl back to whatever hole he emerged from in the first place. Losing 9-0 and 7-0 will drive shareholders insane.

Image source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thisisanfield.com/2022/08/7-records-liverpool-broke-or-matched-in-9-0-bournemouth-win/amp/#scso=_SCsOY9z7EpKWkwXIh4SIBA_18:0