West Brom's decision to part ways with Tony Pulis had some symbolic value beyond the fact that poor recent results were the first headline reason for the sacking.
The manager has a proven track record of never being relegated and there's no reason that he couldn't have kept the Baggies in the Premier League this season if kept in the job.
But the symbolic value lies in the dour style of football and fans' aspirations of a club not just surviving but thriving in the top division.
We were joined by Rory Smith, chief soccer correspondent of the New York Times, to talk about that issue on the Football Show and he feels that what happened with Pulis went beyond results.
"What did for him wasn't necessarily the results. Obviously there's been a lot of unhappiness at West Brom this season. They've won two in 21 but if you trace the unhappiness back, it starts last season," said Smith.
Steven Paston/EMPICS Sport
"They finished 10th as Pulis put in his program notes at the weekend, only the third time in West Brom's history that they'd done that and it felt as though fans were losing heart, losing touch and losing patience with his style of football.
"And obviously that's always been Pulis' calling card, he's the man who's never been relegated, he's a guarantee or as close there is to it of safety and that is a precious thing to owners and supporters. But I think, and it is only a theory and it might be wrong, to those clubs in the rest of the Premier League with the exception of the newly promoted ones for whom survival is a legitimate aim in that first season in the league. I think to the likes of Stoke and West Brom, because they know they're not going to finish 7th and are really unlikely to win the cup... they know there's nothing they're aiming for. Once survival is taken for granted for which someone like West Brom it should be really - same with Stoke - there's no broader ambition beyond remaining in the league.
"If all you're going to do is remain in the league, you have to make it worthwhile, you have to entertain, you have to give the fans something to get excited about. Last season, every team outside the Top 7 finished with a negative goal difference and I think what strikes me about Pulis is that there's this old debate about whether it's better to play poorly and win or to play well and lose.
"But increasingly in the Premier League for most teams, that's not a choice. The choice is you either play well and lose or you play badly and lose and I think that more and more fans now who are maybe starting to think, 'Look, we're not going to win trophies and we're not going to compete for the Top 6 and financial reality means that's not going to happen, then we have to have something to get excited about'. And I wonder whether there is a bit of a change now where maybe owners - particularly owners of clubs that are threatened with relegation - want safety first football. They want a guarantee of all that lovely money coming in every year. I think fans maybe want something else."
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