Clubs count cost of sacking managers

English clubs spent almost 100 million pounds changing managers last season, according to the League Managers Association (LMA).

New figures released by the LMA revealed the money was spent on compensation packages, legal fees and ‘double contracts’, where a club will pay their departing manager and his replacement at the same time.

LMA chief executive Richard Bevan believes that a fresh approach to how managers are judged is required.

“We want to move away from managers being judged on their last three results,” Bevan said.

“In fact, when results take a downturn that is when the club should support its manager even more, not jump for the quick fix.”

The LMA have claimed that managers who lost their jobs in the Championship last season had, on average, been in charge for less than a year, although the average was much higher in the Premier League, over two years.

Premier League managers including Steve Kean, Steve Bruce and the previously untouchable Arsene Wenger have been heavily criticised this season, with serious questions being asked about their futures.

Blackburn boss Kean will be particularly worried at the LMA’s finding that almost half of all rookie managers do not find a second job after losing their first managerial role.

Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson is by far the longest serving manager in the country and is disappointed with the pressure that his peers are under.

Ferguson said: “It’s always a problem in modern-day management, you see time and time again that these guys are only in a position a year before the clubs are sacking them.”

Steve McClaren left Nottingham Forest this week after just 112 days in charge and Peter Reid was sacked by Plymouth last month despite paying club bills with his own money and auctioning off an FA Cup medal to raise funds for Argyle as they struggle against administration.