Post by Macmoish on Jan 20, 2011 9:14:11 GMT
The ones who don't get multi-million pound payoffs for six months work
Telegraph - Henry Winter: football managers in perilous backwaters of lower leagues face uncertain times
Weep not for Roy Hodgson or Sam Allardyce. Do not fret for Avram Grant when he is finally put out of his misery at West Ham. Save all your sympathy for the likes of Paul Simpson, Mark Stimson and Kevin Dillon.
Poor relations: Managers like Paul Simpson rarely receive pay-offs on a scale to those which Premier League coaches get Photo: ACTION IMAGES By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent 7:00AM GMT 18 Jan 2011
Henry's Twitter
Premier League managers walk away with millions in pay-offs; those lower down the managerial ladder must often fight for due compensation, always substantially less than £100,000.
In the notoriously insecure profession of management, which has seen 1,062 casualties since Sir Alex Ferguson started at Manchester United in 1986, these are particularly perilous times.
The open transfer window blows fear across the four league tables, nudging boards into taking action. Ten clubs have seen managerial movement already in 2011.
Some, like Hodgson at Liverpool, depart with handsome severance pay, reported to be £4 million.
Roy Keane was dismissed by Championship club Ipswich Town, although life on the breadline hardly beckons somebody who enjoyed such a distinguished and well-remunerated playing career. George Burley, sacked by Crystal Palace, can also withstand the ravages of the recession.
Many of those in Leagues One and Two, where wages for a manager can be as low as £35,000 a year, simply cannot live with any filibustering by an employer. They have mouths to feed, bills to pay. They need the settlement quickly.
It’s not only a manager’s finances taking a hit. Reputations can be affected. Newly sacked by Stockport, Simpson has a Pro-Licence and has overseen almost 400 matches at Rochdale, Carlisle United, Preston North End, Shrewsbury Town and Stockport.
Recent results at Stockport were poor, three wins in 19 League Two games, but he hardly needed the derogatory comments of one director, Lord Snape, decrying the football under him as “hit and hope”. Disrespectful.
Management is a brutal domain, the dugout more a trench at times. The average tenure of a Premier League manager seems high – 3.39 years – mainly because the durability of Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, who has been at Arsenal for almost 15 years, distorts the picture.
The Championship average is 1.29 years, League One is 1.66 and League Two is 1.68. Instability rules.
Half of first-time managers never manage again. It is not simply managers being culled; 100 coaches were sacked in 2010. Multiply that by the number of wives and children involved and the impact is considerable, the rewards often questionable when set against all the stress.
Those setting out on such a hazardous career path, primarily those recently retired as players, are encouraged by the League Managers Association to get more in writing from putative employers before joining. Where does the board expect to be in the table in December? At the end of the season? This will help the manager in any unfair dismissal claim. It is hoped.
Many clubs act properly towards the departing manager. Bristol City were known to have treated Gary Johnson very well, recognising the service he had given them over a number of years. Others are less scrupulous.
“Twenty per cent of clubs don’t behave professionally,” says the LMA’s chief executive, Richard Bevan. “In the lower leagues, the amount of money a club is fighting over is a lot less than £100,000.
“In the main the clubs try to put the manager on gross misconduct charges, which never turn out to be gross misconduct, because they can delay payment for up to six months.
“In the bigger clubs, they all take legal advice, who say ‘it’s best to talk early, otherwise you’ll incur costs’. In the lower leagues because of financial problems, clubs delay and delay and delay, hoping the manager will go away. But the manager has the LMA and the LMA doesn’t go away.
“Myself and one of our retained legal team meet with the club and try to sort it out amicably. If we fail, we pass it down to the lawyers to fill in the court forms and away we go.
Most sackings are unfair dismissal and we always win our cases. If you as a club put a manager in a position where he can’t pay his mortgage, or treat him disrespectfully, then you can expect us to be aggressive.”
So good luck to Chris Powell at Charlton Athletic and Dougie Freedman at Palace as you take your first steps in management. Keep your eyes open. It’s dangerous out there.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/henrywinter/8265347/Henry-Winter-football-managers-in-perilous-backwaters-of-lower-leagues-face-uncertain-times.html
Telegraph - Henry Winter: football managers in perilous backwaters of lower leagues face uncertain times
Weep not for Roy Hodgson or Sam Allardyce. Do not fret for Avram Grant when he is finally put out of his misery at West Ham. Save all your sympathy for the likes of Paul Simpson, Mark Stimson and Kevin Dillon.
Poor relations: Managers like Paul Simpson rarely receive pay-offs on a scale to those which Premier League coaches get Photo: ACTION IMAGES By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent 7:00AM GMT 18 Jan 2011
Henry's Twitter
Premier League managers walk away with millions in pay-offs; those lower down the managerial ladder must often fight for due compensation, always substantially less than £100,000.
In the notoriously insecure profession of management, which has seen 1,062 casualties since Sir Alex Ferguson started at Manchester United in 1986, these are particularly perilous times.
The open transfer window blows fear across the four league tables, nudging boards into taking action. Ten clubs have seen managerial movement already in 2011.
Some, like Hodgson at Liverpool, depart with handsome severance pay, reported to be £4 million.
Roy Keane was dismissed by Championship club Ipswich Town, although life on the breadline hardly beckons somebody who enjoyed such a distinguished and well-remunerated playing career. George Burley, sacked by Crystal Palace, can also withstand the ravages of the recession.
Many of those in Leagues One and Two, where wages for a manager can be as low as £35,000 a year, simply cannot live with any filibustering by an employer. They have mouths to feed, bills to pay. They need the settlement quickly.
It’s not only a manager’s finances taking a hit. Reputations can be affected. Newly sacked by Stockport, Simpson has a Pro-Licence and has overseen almost 400 matches at Rochdale, Carlisle United, Preston North End, Shrewsbury Town and Stockport.
Recent results at Stockport were poor, three wins in 19 League Two games, but he hardly needed the derogatory comments of one director, Lord Snape, decrying the football under him as “hit and hope”. Disrespectful.
Management is a brutal domain, the dugout more a trench at times. The average tenure of a Premier League manager seems high – 3.39 years – mainly because the durability of Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, who has been at Arsenal for almost 15 years, distorts the picture.
The Championship average is 1.29 years, League One is 1.66 and League Two is 1.68. Instability rules.
Half of first-time managers never manage again. It is not simply managers being culled; 100 coaches were sacked in 2010. Multiply that by the number of wives and children involved and the impact is considerable, the rewards often questionable when set against all the stress.
Those setting out on such a hazardous career path, primarily those recently retired as players, are encouraged by the League Managers Association to get more in writing from putative employers before joining. Where does the board expect to be in the table in December? At the end of the season? This will help the manager in any unfair dismissal claim. It is hoped.
Many clubs act properly towards the departing manager. Bristol City were known to have treated Gary Johnson very well, recognising the service he had given them over a number of years. Others are less scrupulous.
“Twenty per cent of clubs don’t behave professionally,” says the LMA’s chief executive, Richard Bevan. “In the lower leagues, the amount of money a club is fighting over is a lot less than £100,000.
“In the main the clubs try to put the manager on gross misconduct charges, which never turn out to be gross misconduct, because they can delay payment for up to six months.
“In the bigger clubs, they all take legal advice, who say ‘it’s best to talk early, otherwise you’ll incur costs’. In the lower leagues because of financial problems, clubs delay and delay and delay, hoping the manager will go away. But the manager has the LMA and the LMA doesn’t go away.
“Myself and one of our retained legal team meet with the club and try to sort it out amicably. If we fail, we pass it down to the lawyers to fill in the court forms and away we go.
Most sackings are unfair dismissal and we always win our cases. If you as a club put a manager in a position where he can’t pay his mortgage, or treat him disrespectfully, then you can expect us to be aggressive.”
So good luck to Chris Powell at Charlton Athletic and Dougie Freedman at Palace as you take your first steps in management. Keep your eyes open. It’s dangerous out there.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/henrywinter/8265347/Henry-Winter-football-managers-in-perilous-backwaters-of-lower-leagues-face-uncertain-times.html