Why don't 'top' managers want to manage rubbish clubs?

[JBH]

According to alot of peiople, Harry Redknapp is a top manager and he is at the Ha Ha's who are a rubbish club 065.gif

[Dan in Notts]

Good question.  Is it partly because sport is generally a zero sum game, in which competitors wins and losses exactly balance out?  If you take over a failing school (I have reservations about that terminology, but that's by the by), your students' results at, say, geography, don't have to be won (or lost) at the direct expense of other schools (they can all get A*s in theory), so you've got a decent chance of success, whereas when we play Man City we can't both get 3 points (more's the shame), so you're better managing them.

(I can think of one sort-of counter example with Fulham, though: Keegan.  Not everyone's cup of tea, and of course he was lured by Al Fayed's investment, but he was a huge name stepping way down the leagues to build a club. It was very harsh on Mickey Adams, but his presence was a signal that Al Fayed meant business and meant players like Coleman were prepared to drop divisions on the realistic promise of a better future.)