Jack is 4th

[vasco de gama]

Was somewhat surprised to read that Jack Ross is currently 4th longest in position manager in the league. That’s pretty crazy.

 

[Zab]

Was somewhat surprised to read that Jack Ross is currently 4th longest in position manager in the league. That’s pretty crazy.

That’s bonkers, just shows how short term football management can be. I’m guessing Steven Gerard, Brian Rice and Jim Goodwin are the only ones who’ve been in their post longer.

 

[Power]

Crazy stat. Reminds me of this article I read last month - Is this hardest season to be a manager?

 

[Greenmachine]

It is a very precarious high pressured job, but the rewards can be great.

You have to win matches. That's the bottom line.
Win games, you stay in a job, lose games your out of a job.

Thing is it works both ways. Managers don't hesitate to move on when they have the chance. Most are ambitious and want to work at the highest level they can. If you have a good manager the longest he will stay at your club is about three years, and even that is optimistic. The key thing is to make sure you achieve some sort of success whilst he is at your club.

To be honest I think three and maybe at a stretch four years is the longest any manager should stay at a club in the modern game. Things start going stale after that.

 

[HenryLB]

It is a very precarious high pressured job, but the rewards can be great.

You have to win matches. That's the bottom line.
Win games, you stay in a job, lose games your out of a job.

Thing is it works both ways. Managers don't hesitate to move on when they have the chance. Most are ambitious and want to work at the highest level they can. If you have a good manager the longest he will stay at your club is about three years, and even that is optimistic. The key thing is to make sure you achieve some sort of success whilst he is at your club.

To be honest I think three and maybe at a stretch four years is the longest any manager should stay at a club in the modern game. Things start going stale after that.

I read an interesting thing the other day - can't remember where - about the life cycle of teams and how the best managers understand that rhythm. It basically contended that the best teams only actually last two years an you need to refresh then or you'll drop back into the pack.

They put forward Alex Ferguson as one of the few managers who has understood this and who was powerful enough to do something about it. Hence his ruthlessness with getting rid of long-serving players and his willingness to keep reinventing the team.

 

[Zab]

I read an interesting thing the other day - can't remember where - about the life cycle of teams and how the best managers understand that rhythm. It basically contended that the best teams only actually last two years an you need to refresh then or you'll drop back into the pack.

They put forward Alex Ferguson as one of the few managers who has understood this and who was powerful enough to do something about it. Hence his ruthlessness with getting rid of long-serving players and his willingness to keep reinventing the team.

It wasn’t just the players Ferguson did that with, he also changed his coaching staff in cycles as well. It clearly worked given his success and longevity at the highest level.

 

[HenryLB]

It wasn’t just the players Ferguson did that with, he also changed his coaching staff in cycles as well. It clearly worked given his success and longevity at the highest level.

That's interesting, I didn't know that. There's some good stuff in a book called The Mixer about tactics and management in the EPL era relating to Ferguson. Basically importing a lot of European strategies in the wake of getting beaten by Euro sides in the 90s and working out why.