11.05.2018 - If you think being an online soccer manager is stressful, imagine what it is like for a top coach in real life situation. Yes, they are well rewarded but the job is often a thankless task and in many cases, a short-term one. Reputations can be tarnished overnight and glory can be hard to achieve and for some, the profession demands a life of constant upheaval. To gain a better understanding of the world of soccer management, let’s take a look at some statistics related to the job.
Longevity
We mentioned that the role of soccer manager can be a short-term one and you only have to look at English Premier League team Crystal Palace to see that this is the case. The club has employed 48 managers throughout their history with an average tenure of just 74 games. That’s right, if you take the top job at Selhurst Park, you will be lucky to last two seasons. Since 2012, there have been 12 different managers in charge on a permanent or caretaker basis and only one (Alan Pardew) lasted more than 74 games (87). Your role in charge of a team in an online game might seem stable in comparison.
In contrast, Liverpool managers enjoy much greater longevity with an average of 249 games in charge. With the exception of Ronnie Moran, who took over as caretaker when Kenny Dalglish quit in 1991, Roy Hodgson had the shortest spell in the club’s history, overseeing just 31 games in 2010/11. Bill Shankly was the Reds' longest-serving manager, taking charge of 785 games between 1959 and 1974.
The longest-serving record is held by Fred Everiss who completed 1520 games as West Bromwich Albion boss. Of the current managers in the Premier League, Arsene Wenger of Arsenal is the longest-serving having led his team out 1230 times over the last 22 years.
The longest-serving manager of any team in the history of the game is Guy Roux. The Frenchman took charge of Auxerre in 1961 and remained in charge until 2005. That’s an incredible 44 years at the helm. Prior to that, he also played for the club for nine years. He took the team from amateur status to Ligue 1, winning the 1979 French Cup final along the way before leading them to the league title in 1996.
Journeymen
Being a top-flight boss can take you to many locations around the globe. And some managers seem happy to spend their professional careers on the move. None more so than Roy Hodgson who has been employed at 20 different clubs during his forty-year career. Despite his best efforts, Neil Warnock has been unable to match Hodgson coming in second in the list of most-travelled British gaffers with a record of 14 different management roles.
At international level, no one comes close to Rudi Gutendorf, whose 53-year management career saw him lead Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada, Antigua, Botswana, Australia, New Caledonia, Nepal, Tonga, Tanzania, Ghana, Fiji, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and Rwanda. As well as those 17, he also managed the Iranian and Chinese football teams at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games.
The Sack Race
Such is the volatility of the manager’s role that whole websites have been set up to predict who will be sacked next. And betting websites such as Betway have entire markets dedicated to predicting who will be sacked next and who will take over key roles at the top clubs. It is no coincidence that the constant chopping and changing is often referred to as the managerial merry-go-round as the same names are often linked with any vacancy that arises. Each year, there is a race to predict who will be the first manager sacked. By the end of April 2018, 48 managers had been fired across all the English professional leagues and 40 new bosses had been appointed. The first Premier League boss to go in 2017/18 was Frank de Boer, who was sacked from Crystal Palace (no surprise there) after just 77 days in charge.
And with the news that Arsene Wenger is about to leave the Gunners, there will be a race to predict his successor. At the time of writing, former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique was favourite for the role ahead of current Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri. So next time you are choosing your best XI, try and put yourself in the shoes of a real-life football manager!
