Slammin' Sammy

Sammy Lee's biggest achievement of the season so far? Not being the first Barclays Premier League manager to leave his club.

He may be following Jose Mourinho out of the door soon, though. Reports of dressing-room unrest coupled with that familar partner, bad results, must be giving the Bolton Wanderers board some fairly rancid food for thought.

Lee seems to have been snared by the trap so familiar to number twos: how do you imprint your own authority on the side you've inherited? Get respect from players who have grown used to thinking of you as the bloke putting out the cones, not the boss?

Steve McClaren's big plan was to drop David Beckham. That didn't work, because it didn't go far enough towards addressing England's fundamental problems, such as the lack of creativity and dynamism in central midfield and ineffectiveness up front.

Naturally, on inheriting Sam Allardyce's team, he wanted to make them Sammy Lee's team. The trouble is, Lee's changes to training, coaching staff and tactics have been fixing something that wasn't broken. It is broken now, though, all right. One win from nine league games.

Lee's lack of managerial pedigree meant he was always likely to be on a short leash if things went wrong. He can't rely on charisma to give him credibility. His performances in front of the media have given the impression of a hamster in the headlights. Lee has talked only in cliches. When he's pressed on an issue, he repeats the same hackneyed phrases again and again. He may be the least-quotable manager in the top-flight and he comes across as evasive and defensive. That doesn't help when you could use a few friends, from anywhere in the game.