Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Sack race ‘is hurting our game’
THE past week has been dominated by headlines of the Prime Minister being handed her P45 by a comedian.
In English football’s lower leagues, though, job security is no laugh.
Five managers in League One and League Two haven’t been so lucky as impatience and a rapidly disappearing sense of realism have taken over.
Northampton Town, Oldham, Gillingham, Chesterfield and Port Vale have all dispensed of gaffers so far this season.
The five had been at their clubs for an average of just 174 days.
Phil Brown is now the 10th longest-serving manager across all four divisions. And he has only been at Southend for fourand-a-half years.
Richard Bevan, the League Managers Association (LMA) chief executive, told Sunday Mirror Sport something needs to change, adding: “The LMA continues to view the hire-and-fire culture endemic in football as severely damaging to the game.”