Did Weir deserve more time at Sheffield United?

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

13 games in your first senior football management job feels like a severe lack of time but Sheffield United decided that was enough for David Weir to make his mark and he has failed on this challenge.

The former Scottish defender, who played for Falkirk, Hearts and Everton in his club career, was sacked on Friday afternoon along with his assistant Lee Carsley. Chris Morgan has taken caretaker charge for Sunday’s match at Sixfields against Coventry City.

It is fair to say that performances at the Blades were not good enough but did Weir deserve more time?

Expectations had been high for a serious title tilt this season from the Yorkshire side that are spending their third season at League One level after a dire relegation from the Championship in April 2011. Weir was seen as a fresh face to bring new hope to the club that has fallen on really rough times of recent seasons.

It started well enough with victory in the opening Football League match of the season against Notts County but that is the only win he had managed in 10 league matches. They have slipped down to 22^nd in the table with a mere five points, having lost five of their last six matches.

Humiliation continued last week with a surprising exit to League Two strugglers Hartlepool United in the latest round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

The club’s chief executive Julian Winter told the club’s website: “First and foremost all at Sheffield United, from the board right the way through the club, we wish David and Lee all the best for the future.

“None of us wanted to be in this position at this point in the season. David’s appointment was made as part of developing a new phase at the club.”

Time is a commodity in modern day football and a parting of the ways looked like the inevitable outcome for a number of weeks, especially when the 43-year-old saw the man that appointed him, Kevin McCabe, hand over 50 per cent shares in the club to a rich Saudi Arabian businessman.

Weir (pictured) is unlucky though but he will do well to bounce back from this setback. The best thing he can do is take a break from the game, or see if he can return to a role on the coaching staff at Everton which is where he was before accepting this position.

Nigel Clough has been installed as the bookies favourite for the job. Clough recently lost his job at Derby County after an indifferent start to the new Championship season. Other leading contenders are thought to include the Leyton Orient manager Russell Slade, who has led his club to top spot in the table and Dean Saunders who has been out of work since his forgettable six-month tenure with Wolves at the start of the year.

Whoever will take over has a real job on their hands. With just six goals from 10 games, the Blades are the joint lowest scorers in the three Football League divisions and are now seeking their ninth different manager since Neil Warnock quit in May 2007.

It will be a tough proposition but as harsh at it is, the right decision seems to have been made to axe Weir before the situation at Bramwall Lane became one which looked very bleak.