League Managers Association Unhappy Over Money Wasted on Sacking Managers

The League Managers Association (LMA) has lashed out the “vast sums of money wasted” on sacking managers in the 2010-11 season, as a record sum was lavished on compensation payments.

In the latest edition of the LMA’s Manager magazine, it is revealed that English clubs in the top four divisions spent in excess of £99 million on changing managers last season.

The figure combines the costs incurred in paying compensation, legal fees and ‘double contracts’, where a manager’s contract is honoured for a period after having been replaced by another.

The total does not, however, include the cost of fees to agents, or the expense of hiring and firing backroom staff to work with the new managers.

Richard Bevan, the LMA’s chief executive, said: “As we approach the end of 2011, we have seen a year in which football clubs in England have spent a record amount on the payment of compensation and legal fees in the dismissal of managers across the leagues.

“This defies the principles of building for stability and success and, more worryingly, is an expense that clubs, certainly in the lower leagues, can ill-afford.

“As the squeeze on finances, from the global institution to the man in the street, continues, we hope 2012 will not see a repeat of the vast sums of money wasted from the game.”

Despite the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger still in charge, the LMA’s report also revealed Premier League managers last, on average, two years. While it is even lower in other divisions.

The report read: “The figure for the length of manager tenure are equally worrying, with the average tenure of a manager in the Championship now having fallen to below 12 months.

“The figures are only slightly better for the other divisions, with League Two managers lasting, on average, for 1.33 years, League One enjoying 1.67 years and Premier League managers lasting 2.07 years.”