Coaches in all sports come under heavy scrutiny and will always be the first to pay for failure. Just like Ron Wilson and the Toronto Maple Leafs, coaches have no control in the mistakes players make (just like Luke Schenn) or the team they have inherited. André Villas-Boas is the latest manager to lose his job prematurely in football.

Chelsea is currently sitting fifth, only three points out of the last Champions League place in fourth. This is another gutsy move by the upper brass at Chelsea, who continue to dispose of managers quickly without giving any time to those men in charge.

The top of the Premier League is in a transition. Tottenham is quality, Manchester City is here to stay and the top four is no longer that easy to get for clubs like Chelsea. Chelsea is also in transition. Their aging squad seems to have hit its peak years ago, and many fans believed Villas-Boas was the man to bring in more youth to the squad. He might have been, but clubs like Chelsea forget to keep as much consistency in the management of the team as possible while that team is in a rebuilding stage. It's important to realize that North American sports teams recognize rebuilding stages and allow coaches time to make the team good again, while football managers are expected to keep the team on the same playing level for years or get them back quickly.

At the start of the year, this was a smart hire. Villas-Boas has a very intelligent footballing mind with loads of potential. He could have been a long-term investment. With the emergence of the top six or seven clubs battling for spots, Chelsea, among other clubs, can wait for the dust to settle. The last time Chelsea didn't qualify for the Champions League was over a decade ago, but they need to build instead of race towards a spot like they are now. If they let AVB take to another transfer window, it could have given him a little more creativity; instead we see a very similar squad with little progression.

Roberto Di Matteo will take the reins on an interim basis. The English Premier League has lost a fresh face on the sidelines, one that really could have helped his club. Not only that, they lost one of the best-dressed managers as well. Not very many people can manage a club — and a suit — quite like him.

Other stories: There is a real footrace at the bottom of the table in the EPL. Five teams in and around 20 points or so. The next couple of months should be a fantastic battle of who isn't as bad (although they all deserve to go down). The domestic season gets underway this week with Toronto FC starting their season against the L.A. Galaxy in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football Champions League, and Montreal plays their first MLS match at Vancouver. These are some very exciting times for Canadian soccer.