Call it an old wives tale, but many believe that the Manager of the Month award is a curse as all too often the recipient loses his next game. But Rob White has noticed an altogether different hoodoo in recent times - the England manager curse.
Although many managers aspire to reach the top job in English football, recent history suggests that once you've been England manager, you might be better off retiring. Take heed, Fabio.
Terry Venables
Following England's impressive showing at Euro '96, El Tel was in demand despite the financial questions that surrounded him. After taking Australia to the World Cup play-offs, he pitched up at newly relegated Crystal Palace and inherited a side of largely Premiership-standard players that included Attilio Lombardo and Matt Jansen.
But Venables found Division One more difficult than the Oceania qualifying pot and he was relieved of his coaching duties as Palace languished in 14th. A brief but successful survival mission at Middlesbrough in tandem with Bryan Robson followed, and Venables returned to his own shop when Leeds took a gamble on him in 2002. But he could not turn the club around and left with them precariously poised in 15th, just seven points above the drop zone. The less said about his brief return to the England set-up the better.
Venables has now ditched a life in the sun for a column with The Sun and bizarrely, an ambassador position at 188Bet.
Glenn Hoddle
After the controversy of his departure from the England job, Hoddle broke the mould with a successful spell at Southampton and Spurs came knocking. His first season ended in ninth, but a 10th place finish followed and Hoddle was sacked six games into the new season, ending two-and-a-half years in charge and a £30million hammering of Daniel Levy's chequebook.
Next came Wolves but despite previous success at the level as a player with Swindon, he missed out on the play-offs twice and he has not managed in football since. Maybe he is paying for managerial success in a previous life.
Hoddle coaches at a football academy in southern Spain, from which he is unlikely to be sacked - considering it's called The Glenn Hoddle Academy.
Howard Wilkinson
You could be forgiven for thinking that a brief spell as England manager wouldn't affect your career, but Sergeant Wilko may beg to differ. His short spell at Sunderland yielded just two league victories in his 20 games in charge and the Black Cats went on to break the record for the lowest-ever points total in a Premier League season.
The only full-time addition to the management section of his CV since is a short stint at Shanghai Shenhua. Whilst being caretaker manager of England might not appear to be the last great hurrah of your career before retirement, it's a better epitaph than caretaker manager of Leicester.
Wilko is now executive chairman of the League Managers Association, presumably to warn current gaffers of the perils of taking the England job.
Kevin Keegan
A less-than-successful spell in charge of England landed Keegan a job at newly relegated Manchester City. City won the league and a respectable ninth-place finish followed in their first season back in the top flight, but a 16th-place finish the following season saw him resign in March 2005 with City in 12th.
King Kev traded one football circus for another when he returned to a hero's welcome at Newcastle with them in 11th and held on to 12th that year. It wasn't to last though and he resigned after three games of the following season in protest over player sales, but he had only won five leagues games in 19 since coming back.
Keegan is now plying his trade at ESPN, often sitting back with an air of bafflement at Robbie Savage's pronouncements.
Peter Taylor
Taylor has probably come closest to shedding the England curse, possibly due to only being in charge for one game. Promotion at Brighton was followed by successive promotions at Hull City and Taylor looked qualified to file the England manager's curse under 'scurrilous mythology'.
But he could not resist a return as Under-21s coach and the curse jumped right out of the filing cabinet. Taylor went on to receive P45s from Crystal Palace, Wycombe and Bradford, whilst Stevenage opted not to renew his short-term deal.
Taylor has clearly taken the curse more seriously than most and opted out of the club game altogether to coach the Bahrain national team.
Sven Goran Eriksson
Sven may not have been everyone's favourite England manager, but he secured the top job with an impressive CV that included a Scudetto at Lazio and the Three Lions never missed out on a major tournament. But even though he could list Noel Gallagher amongst those protesting against his treatment at Manchester City, the near-on £50m he spent in his year in charge only improved City's finish from 14th to ninth and he was out of a job in the summer.
A less-than-successful foray back into international management then led him to Leicester, but some impressive loan signings and a £10m outlay in the transfer market could not save him from the chop as the Foxes trundled to 13th.
Steve McClaren
Schteve bucked the trend for England managers when he took a job abroad and amazingly led FC Twente to their first ever league title. On the back of this success, he joined Wolfsburg in 2010 but was sacked in February this year.
He finally returned home to the one country that certainly justifies an umbrella when he was appointed to build on Nottingham Forest's sixth-place finish. Normality was restored though as the England curse claimed its seventh consecutive victim and McClaren resigned with just two wins from ten.
Rob White
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