How Long Does A Premier League Manager Last? Premier League Managers By The Numbers

We’re only three months or so into the 2022/23 Premier League campaign, but there have already been four different managerial sackings. It’s known that the life expectancy of a football manager isn’t as long as it once was, however in a division as competitive as the Premier League, an individual can find himself on the chopping block even sooner than that. With Steven Gerrard becoming the latest sacking casualty, check out SinkorSwimSports as we present all the numbers behind how long a Premier League’s job lasts on average. 

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2022/23 Premier League Manager Sackings

The first manager to be sacked during the 2022/23 Premier League was Scott Parker, dismissed by Bournemouth on 30 August 2022 after a 9-0 thumping by Liverpool. Thomas Tuchel followed next, being sacked by Chelsea on 7 September, with Bruno Lage and Steven Gerrard departing Wolves and Aston Villa on 2 and 20 October respectively. 

Jesse Marsch, Ralph Hassenhuttl and Brendan Rodgers have all found themselves amongst the favourites in the next Premier League manager to be sacked odds:

How Long Do Premier League Managers Last? 

The average tenure of a Premier League manager currently stands at two years and four days. For context, in 2012, that number was at nearly four years, showcasing just how much more trigger-happy owners have become. 

Steven Gerrard, the Premier League’s latest managerial casualty, only lasted 11 months and nine days at Aston Villa. 

Unsurprisingly, the two most successful clubs in the Premier League over the past five seasons or so have the two longest-serving managers in the division currently. Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have been at the helms of their respective clubs for a combined total of 13 years 125 days; take them out of the equation, however, and the average tenure of a Premier League manager drops to just one year and 169 days. 

Who Are The Longest-Serving Premier League Managers?

Across the football league, the tenure of a manager mirrors a similar story to the Premier League, with the average length currently at one year and 172 days across the 91 clubs. 

Thanks in part to the longevity of managers like Klopp and Guardiola, the average length of a manager’s tenure has been steadily rising according to the League Managers Association, despite a small rise in the number of dismissals over the past two years. 

The average tenure of a dismissed manager is 11 months on average – the same amount of time Gerrard got at Villa Park. 

Currently, the longest-serving manager in English football is Harrogate Town’s Simon Weaver, who has been in the job since 1 May 2009 (13 years 173 days).

Are Managers Given Enough Time? 

There’s been a real sense that, after a period of a managerial merry-go-round, Premier League clubs have begun to see the true value in having a settled presence in their dugout. When hunting for someone to take the reins, clubs and managers often speak now about ‘projects’ and ‘visions’ in a way that suggests some amount of patience is going to be needed before they can build something big. 

And, through the likes of Mikel Arteta at Arsenal, Thomas Frank at Brentford and Hassenhuttl at Southampton, clubs have stuck by their managers even through sticky periods. Even Graham Potter, the only other manager to have moved on during 2022/23, was poached rather than dismissed by Brighton, favouring a move to Chelsea. 

But, seldom few managers leave their post believing they were given all the time needed to showcase their strengths, and that number of one year and 169 days does represent a much shorter tenure than most owners have in mind when they get their recruits to sign on the dotted line.

The truth probably lies somewhere in context. In the case of Steven Gerrard, things very much looked like they had reached an impasse between the manager, the players and, most crucially of all, the fans.