Mr Francis is not alone in deflecting the blame for the failure of his team away from himself. Responsibility for failure is usually apportioned to the players, or even the refere. Seldom a week goes by without one manager claiming to have witnessed the worst referee in the history of football, who has robbed their team of victory. It has even been suggested that the poor decision of a referee can cost a manager his job. Near the end of England's 2-0 defeat by Holland he paced the touchline screeching that the referee had cost him his job.
Referees are normal people, and as such, are prone to making mistakes.
But if Mr Taylor had actually thought about it, he would probably realise that it was not the actions of the referee that had resulted in his sacking, rather his possible tactical failures in Poland and Norway, his apparant constant undermining of his players' confidence, and his seeming failure to accept his mistakes. One can see the attraction for these managers of deflecting blame elsewhere, and, to an extent, sympathise with them. Managers can no longer afford to fail, because they know their jobs are in danger. Relegation can cost a club as much as 10 million in terms of television money and commercial sales. Even the likes of Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger know that they have huge spending on players and wages to justify, and if they fail, they will not last too long.