Premier League managers want radical new rule to stop so many sackings

Highlights

• Premier League managers propose new rule for only allowing sackings during transfer windows to help them have better job security.
• They argue that managers should have the same protected status as players, who can only move between clubs in set windows.
• Despite a low number of sackings this term, there have still been 18 managers to leave their clubs since the start of the last Premier League season.

Many Premier League managers are rallying together to bring in a radical new rule that will mean that the division’s top bosses – much like the players – can only be sacked and replaced during transfer window periods, as reported by The Sun, with some of the most seasoned chiefs liaising with the League Managers Assocation (LMA).

As things stand, there are no restrictions as to when managers can face the axe – with clubs in the top tier able to do so at their will. Whether it be five games in, around the Christmas period or on the final day, managers are hard done by in comparison to players.

As such, some of the most experienced Premier League chiefs want the LMA to lobby for a change in relations to when clubs are able to part ways with the managers as they believe rules for management and playing staff should be aligned. However, transfer windows are well established in the beautiful game for players – and it may be unlikely that clubs would give up their right to dismiss them at their disposal.

Managers push for ‘coaching transfer window’

‘It should be the same for us’

Many of the managers plying their trade in the Premier League are under the common assumption that mid-season dismissals are too easy for clubs and believe it would be better if they could only be axed in the summer transfer window or in January.

Players from all corners of the globe – not only in England’s top tier – are only allowed to move between clubs during the summer and winter windows and, the bosses currently in charge, reportedly, believe having a similar approach for them would minimise the number of sackings across the season. So much so that one leading Premier League boss has exclaimed ‘it should be the same for us’.

“Players have contracts and rules that mean they are not moved outside of the windows. It should be the same for us.”

Although the EFL sees the biggest turnover in managerial personnel, an array of Premier League managers can find themselves in the spotlight, often due to a torrid run of results or performances.

Erik ten Hag of Manchester United and West Ham United custodian David Moyes are among the names that have come under fire this term – and, as such, they would benefit from the new proposed rule. As would the rest of the top flight crop who would be handed more wiggle room to iron out frailties before the upcoming transfer window.

Premier League sackings this season

Only three managers this season have faced the axe

Weirdly, the idea from the Premier League managers has arisen in a season when the number of sackings has been uncharacteristically low. Last year, for example, saw a total of 14 managers given the boot with the likes of Antonio Conte, Thomas Tuchel and Patrick Vieira all being relieved of their duties prematurely.

This season, however, only four Premier League managers have received the chop or have left their post mutually. Ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Julen Lopetegui dramatically left on the eve of the current season with Gary O’Neil, who has been a brilliant figure for the Old Gold so far, following in his footsteps.

Paul Heckingbottom then lost his job at Sheffield United with them sitting rock bottom of the division after losing 11 of their opening 14 games. Nottingham Forest followed suit some two weeks later by cutting ties with Steve Cooper – with Nuno Espirito Santo replacing him.

More recently, with Oliver Glasner waiting in the wings, veteran coach Roy Hodgson agreed with the capital club to step down by mutual consent amid health issues. Jurgen Klopp, who is set to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, could lead the way for summer departures becoming the norm should the radical rule change come to fruition.