IT IS AN ODDITY OF FOOTBALL that while clubs might demand a fortune to sell a player, the sums for MANAGERS AND COACHES are far smaller. And yet the influence of a manager is so often far greater.
Last October, Aston Villa sacked as manager. Villa had won only two games out of 12 in the Premier League and had just been thumped 3-0 by newly promoted Fulham. After a two-game interregnum — in which Villa won one and lost one — , a new manager, arrived from Spain. In his first five games,