By Andrew Fifield
OF all the laws which govern football club management, the one which states that adept caretakers will invariably disintegrate once they have exchanged their grubby overalls for a smart suit is perhaps the most irrefutable.
The English footballing landscape is littered with the remains of men who found the transition from part-time to full-time a step too far. Glenn Roeder (Newcastle), Sammy Lee (Bolton) and Lawrie Sanchez (Fulham) are three of the more recent casualties but they will not be the last.
Tonight's encounter between Portsmouth and Sunderland is significant for all sorts of reasons, but one of the most intriguing angles is how it pitches two managers who have gone from stop-gaps to full-time bosses since the turn of the year - in the blue corner, Paul Hart, and in the red, Ricky Sbragia.
Both have followed the classic caretaker template: initially invigorating clubs who appeared resigned to a grisly fate, only for results to plateau and then dip alarmingly as the weeks have worn on.
Sbragia has felt the caretaker's curse especially keenly. The Scot had been lauded as a blissful, chilled-out alternative to the high-maintenance Roy Keane as recently as late February, when a goalless draw at Arsenal lifted the Wearsiders towards mid-table.
But a dismal sequence of results means the club are still scrapping for their top flight status - they need two more points to be sure of survival - and it is unlikely that Ellis Short, the club's intensely ambitious majority shareholder, is impressed by what he has seen since Spring sprung.
Hart, by virtue of only having taken over from Tony Adams in February, is lagging behind Sbragia's downward curve somewhat, but the warning signs are there. The south coast side haven't so much as scored a goal in their last four outings and, while safety is assured, that is a record which hardly bodes well for next season, especially with the club's long-term financial future still shrouded in doubt.
If, after tonight's game, both managers can settle down in the Fratton Park manager's office and toast survival, the talk will be of a job well done. Even so, it would be a major surprise if they were both still in charge by Christmas.
*Television: Portsmouth v Sunderland, Setanta Sports, 8pm
