Premier League's Shocking Manager History: 13 Managers Sacked in 2022/23 - Who's Next to Go?

How Long Did Football Managers Have Thier Jobs in the Past?

(Decade is when a manager was appointed rather than having departed. The reason for this is because it could have moved into the next decade, so this is the most equal measure for the data)

If you were a football club manager before the end of the 19th century, you were seen as more of a custodian than anything else. Of the three managers that first found work in the 1870s, they were in charge for nearly ten years on average.

While the same could be said for the next decade, as 17 managers spent an average of 3467 days in charge. Not many trades would give you 10 years of guaranteed work; being the head coach of a football club certainly used to. 

However, it is fair to say that football was much more a pastime than the financial juggernaut that it is now and when finances enter the game, demands enter from above. Demands turn into a lack of patience. Less patience equals less in the way of job security. 

What is fascinating to see is that bar an increase in loyalty in the 1930s, every decade has seen managers in charge for less time than the decade before. What was 10 years is now lucky to be 10 months.

Although the 2020s are only embarking on their formative years, and the decade is still years from being complete, the picture does not bode well for any manager earning a job between now and 2029.

If we see that the trend is continual short-termism, then one wonders how much shorter that term can be. The current average is just 311 days for an English manager’s length of service – just over ten months in the technical area.

Even if we look at the last complete decade, the picture is not all that much encouraging, during the 2010s, the average length of employment is just 423 days—only 14 months for any manager to get their ideas across. 

While in the space of 30 or so years, that figure has been cut by half. If you were appointed during the 1980’s you would be in charge for 897 days. 28 or so months in the ’80s, is now 14 months just a decade ago. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the length of the job role becomes shorter, but the number of managers in charge has increased because of it. 317 appointments were made in the 1980s, that figure swelled to 775 during the 2010s. 

Now we know that managers in the past would be afforded far more time than their current counterparts, it led us to ask another question. Was a club’s first-ever manager also their longest serving? 

Football Club's First Manager's Were Their Longest

We did some further digging and this is what we found: 

According to our sample data, 25 managers have earned the honour of being the first and longest-serving managers. However, some caveats must be attached to this from Burton to Salford in the list; this is where the respective club data begins.

Of the table of 25 above, here are the top five and each of them racked up more than 10,000 days in charge of the clubs. The winner of the first and longest manager criteria was George Ramsay of Aston Villa. Appointed in 1886, they finally called time 15,277 days later in 1926.

George Ramsay managed a single club for nearly 42 years!  - PHOTO CREDIT By Alfred Gibson and William Pickford - This photo is from Association Football and the Men Who Made it (published in 1905-06), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113147141

An employment length that was some seven years longer than the second entry of the list, as Frank Watt’s light shone brightly for Newcastle. Appointed in 1895, he would not call time on his stint on Tyneside until 1930. 

Of course, we cannot forget the trio of Sam Allen, Syd King, and Arthur Dickinson. Managing Swindon, West Ham, and Sheffield Wednesday respectively for 30 years plus – job security that a Premier League would not even imagine in their wildest dreams.

Although George Ramsay may have been the man who is in charge for the longest and also the first for a club, he does not have the longest employment tenure of all time. With this in mind, we shall take a look at the top 15 of all time: 

That honour is bestowed to West Brom and Fred Everiss. Everiss entered the Baggies hotseat in 1902 and did not exit it until 1948 – an incredible 46 years later. Although what is interesting here is that he was the sixth manager to ever be appointed by the club.

If we look at this top 15 in slightly more detail, twelve of them were appointed as one of the first five managers of the club in question. The only outliers are Everiss, Bolton’s Charles Foweraker and a certain Alex Ferguson of Manchester United.

The now Sir Alex Ferguson is certainly the outlier when it comes to the date of his appointment. The legendary Scot arrived at Old Trafford in the 1980s, the latest appointment before him in this list was Brighton’s Charles Webb in 1919. 

Alex Ferguson is an obvious modern poutlier in managers who have served a significant amount of consecutive time in the job

While Ferguson’s length of service at the Theatre of Dreams will undoubtedly be an outlier when looking at how the current 20 Premier League clubs behave. Suppose we look at the average length of employment for these top-tier clubs, it makes for some interesting reading. 

If you are a Liverpool manager then you may have the comfiest hot seat in the Premier League. On average, a manager at Anfield has been in charge for 1,995 days and only 23 men have been fortunate enough to be given such an honour.

While West Ham will also find itself in the list of honours in terms of length of service. The East London club has only appointed 25 managers in its history; each of those has been given 1,784 days in charge. 

One fewer manager than that of Arsenal in third, as the North London outfit has given an average of 1,767 days to their 26 managers. Take a trip across the capital and their arch-rivals Tottenham have given 45 managers an average of just 969 days by comparison.

Arsenal’s figure is undoubtedly helped by the legacy that Arsene Wenger left behind. The same can certainly be said for Manchester United and the aforementioned Sir Alex Ferguson. The Red Devils have welcomed 25 managers through their doors; they got 1,742 days each. 

At the other end of the spectrum, it is Brighton, Leicester and Crystal Palace who find themselves in the theoretical relegation zone. The East Sussex based Seagulls have seen through 46 managers in their history; they have only been given an average of 929 days in charge.

While the Foxes sit second bottom and with 58 managers entering Filbert Street or the King Power Stadium, their spell in the East Midlands averages out at 746 days or just over two years in charge.

Roy Hodgson manages Crystal palace, the club with the record of the shortest average managerial job tenure length - Image: katatonia82/shutterstock

However, even that sounds like a job for life when compared to Crystal Palace. The Eagles have appointed 66 managers during the club’s lengthy history. Unfortunately, for that sizeable panel, they only get an average of 654 days in the job.

This means if you are looking for some career advice, the best we can possibly give you is do not become a Premier League manager if you are looking for something long-term. What used to be gainful employment is now becoming more akin to work experience.

Quick Read Question and Answers

If you want the context of this article in a short form, check out these Questions and answers about the length of time managers in the English top flight football have lasted in their jobs in the years since inception in 1870

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