295 days for David Moyes a further sign of managerial short-termism

By Padraic Ryan

David Moyes’ sacking as Manchester United manager after just 295 days (he officially took charge on 1 July last year; it is 348 days since his appointment was announced) is further evidence of the precarious nature of modern management.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is the longest serving Premier League manager by some distance, having been in charge for 6,412 days.

The Premier League’s other 19 managers have a cumulative total of only 6,884 days in charge.

Of those, Alan Pardew is the second longest in situ, having been in charge at Newcastle for 1,230 days.

But when Manchester United face Norwich on Saturday, the teams’ two managers - Neil Adams and Ryan Giggs - will have 24 days of combined top-flight managerial experience.

"Nine of the 20 clubs in the Premier League have sacked managers this season"

While much has been made of the time Alex Ferguson was given to turn Manchester United around in the 1980s, a recent UEFA report showed that the average coach in Europe today has only been in place in place for 17 months - with 60% of those questioned in place for less than a year.

The French and English leagues were found to be the most stable in the report as managers enjoyed average reigns of 24 months.

Coaches in the German league were the next most secure (22 months), followed by Italy (19 months) and Spain (11 months), respectively.

Top-flight bosses in Greece, by contrast, keep their jobs for just four months on average.

The study, based on coaches in charge at 624 top-flight European clubs in November, found that all 18 in Greece at the time had been in their jobs for less than one year.

Georgia and Romania were little better, with coaches lasting five months. The average survival time was six months in Cyprus, Faroe Islands and Macedonia.

Northern Ireland is a safe haven for managers seeking job security and average spells in charge of 86 months top the survey, with Finland (54 months), Norway (31), Iceland (30) and Sweden (28) next best.

Moyes’ dismissal means that nine of the 20 clubs in the Premier League have sacked managers this season - so far. Fulham alone have have sacked two managers since the season began.