The modern-day football manager knows a few bad results can quickly lead to a period of unemployment.
Once a job for life in days gone by, if you could show a decent level of consistency, now head coaches can be slung out the door if the spreadsheet boffins think they can squeeze an extra couple of per cent from a new candidate.
But data released recently by CIES Football Observatory suggest it may have gone too far in some corners.
How job security in Serie A and the Premier League compares to the rest of the world
The number crunchers compared 65 football leagues across the world, recording how long each manager had been in post.
They deduced that across those divisions, on average, around two-thirds of managers had been in their job less than a year.
But the landscape is even more unsteady than that in Italy, where Simone Inzaghi and Gian Piero Gasperini, of Inter Milan and Atalanta respectively, stand as the lone two figures to have breached the 12-month barrier in Serie A.
Even the Italians are blown out of the water by the chaotic picture in Costa Rica and Ecuador; the latter doesn’t have a single manager that has been in place for more than a year, with Liga Pro head honchos lasting just 125 days on average. Nerve-racking work if you can get it.
What may surprise some is that, compared to those postings, the Premier League is a relative safe haven for bosses.
Only 45 per cent of managers have been in charge for less than a year in England’s top tier, with 30 per cent having been in post over three years, one of the highest rates in that metric.
Looking for the ultimate job safety? You’re off to Uzbekistan, my friend!
Over in the Super League (not that one) the average manager stint lasts a staggering 926 days – plenty of time to lay down your tactical plan and build the ultimate project.
With future prospects like these outlined my CIES, it’s little wonder managers can sometimes appear a little spiky in press conferences.
