July 20 – With pre-season fixtures starting to come thick and fast for Europe’s elite clubs it seems attention in some areas is already turning to which manager will be the first to be sacked.
Online bookmaker Bwin has analysed managerial changes at the 100 clubs across the ‘big five’ European leagues who have spent at least half of the last decade in the top flight.
The results show that for job security managers should stay away from Italy’s Serie A. France’s Ligue 1 is the safest place to manage with the Premier League being the second safest.
Ligue 1 clubs average only 0.57 managers per season, with each boss lasting 67.1 games. Compare this to Serie A where clubs average more than 1 manager per season (1.04), with each boss surviving just 36.5 games. Premier League clubs typically have 0.75 managers per season, with managers lasting 50.5 games before they get axed.
Looking at clubs, Newcastle United are the only Premier League club to make it into the top 10 for number of managerial changes. Newcastle average 1.38 managers per Premier League season, with each manager lasting 27.7 games on average.
Looking at managers who make the most moves, Rafa Benitez is the only manager with Premier League experience to make the top 10 bosses with most jobs – Benitez has had six jobs in the last 10 years, averaging just 43.2 games per role.
His love-in at Newcastle looks like it could be a marriage made for divorce.
Swansea (28.5 games per manager); West Brom (33.8); Sunderland (34.5); Chelsea (34.5) make up the Premier League’s top five clubs with the highest manager turnover.
Arsenal, Stoke, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, Lorient and Rayo Vallecano are the only clubs to not change manager mid-season – Arsenal are the only club to not change manager at all.
Serie A stats are the most eye-catching. Palermo have had 27 managers in their last 9 Serie A seasons, averaging 3 managers per season, with each boss surviving just 12.7 games on average. Cagliari have had 2 managers per season in Serie A, with each boss lasting just 19 games on average. Davide Ballardini has had nine management jobs in 10 years – including Cagliari three times and Palermo twice – averaging just 21.1 games each.
See the full analysis at https://sports.bwin.com/en/news/football-betting/managerial-changes-graphic,130183.html
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