The world’s ultimate Second Season Syndrome sufferer has been affected again

Norwich sack Glenn Roeder after things go wrong in season two

Glenn Roeder is a manager who divides opinion. His supporters point to the fact he took both West Ham and Newcastle into the top seven during his first season with each as proof of his ability but the doubters will quickly point out that things turned sour after that.

The term Second Season Syndrome is commonly used to refer to teams like Ipswich and Reading who overachieved in their first Premier League season only to struggle the next but if the downturn was to be renamed in one man’s honour, it would almost certainly become known as Glenn Roeder Syndrome, as shown by the fortunes of his last three clubs:

West Ham

Season One:

Position	7th
Games Played	38
Wins	15
Draws	8
Losses	15
Points Per Game	1.39

Season Two:

Position	18th
Games Played	35
Wins	8
Draws	11
Losses	16
Points Per Game	1

Newcastle

Season One:

Position	3rd
Games Played	15
Wins	10
Draws	2
Losses	3
Points Per Game	2.13

Season Two:

Position	13th
Games Played	37
Wins	11
Draws	9
Losses	17
Points Per Game	1.14

Norwich

Season One:

Position	9th
Games Played	33
Wins	13
Draws	8
Losses	12
Points Per Game	1.42

Season Two:

Position	21st
Games Played	27
Wins	7
Draws	5
Losses	15
Points Per Game	0.96

The position measures the number of points Roeder’s club achieved compared to everyone else during his spell in charge, rather than stating their overall league position that season which would include games where he wasn’t manager. For example, Newcastle finished seventh in Roeder’s first season but during the period of fifteen games where he was in charge, only two clubs out performed the Magpies. As you can see, all three clubs dropped at least ten positions in Roeder’s second season in charge.

Posted: January 15th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn |