Well yeah, but that's a bit of a reach isn't it? I would say it was sacking him that was the issue because I have no idea how they could have come to the conclusion that 16th was an unacceptable position for a newly promoted team to be in 25% of the way through the season, but as with any manager who ends up losing their job, I suppose you could go all the way back to them being appointed and say it can't have been a good appointment in the first place because otherwise they wouldn't have ended up getting sacked.