With the departure of Andre Villas-Boas at Tottenham Hotspur, more Premiership managers have left their posts before Christmas than any time since 2007 when five managers were also able to spend more times with their families at the festivities.
The 2007-8 season ended with eight dismissals in the Premier League. The last four seasons have produced six in total.
With the departure of Andre Villas-Boas at Tottenham Hotspur, more Premiership managers have left their posts before Christmas than any time since 2007 when five managers were also able to spend more times with their families at the festivities.
The 2007-8 season ended with eight dismissals in the Premier League. The last four seasons have produced six in total.
Given that Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton and Stoke City switched personnel in the summer, half of the Premier League’s clubs have managers whose experience in their present job amounts to 16 or fewer league matches.
Steve Clarke at West Bromwich Albion reckons that he was the victim of heightened expectations after last season’s 8th placed finish. Although Clarke’s recent record is not good, he was the victim of some unfair refereeing decisions.
Andre Villas-Boas also has the best win percentage (55.7 per cent) at Spurs since 1899. However, the nature of the defeats against Manchester City and Liverpool probably did for him.
Clarke and Villas-Boas have now been joined by Gianfranco Zola at Watford who have been suffering a run of bad form.
The relatively open nature of the Premier League this season may also have raised expectations, making managers more vulnerable. But the evidence suggests that changing managers rarely has much of a lasting effect, although in part this may be because the new manager has to inherit the existing squad. In the case of Spurs it may have not have been assembled well, but others had a hand in its composition apart from the manager.
There are now (before the Zola resignation) 42 managers across the leagues who have been in post for one year, and 45 for one year or less, 20 of them for less than six months (there are five vacancies).