British football clubs are among the most patient in the world with managers, new Uefa report shows

But spare a thought for those in Costa Rica

Evan Bartlett
Thursday 12 January 2017 09:00 EST
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Mike Phelan was sacked after just 24 games in charge of Hull City
Mike Phelan was sacked after just 24 games in charge of Hull City (Getty)

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With the flurry of sackings in the Premier League over the Christmas period you would be forgiven for thinking British football clubs are hasty when it comes to hiring and firing managers.

But the recent departures of Mike Phelan, Bob Bradley and Alan Pardew hide a wider trend.

New analysis from Uefa has shown that coaches in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have some of the best job security anywhere in the world.

The European Club Football Landscape report - released on Thursday - shows that of the top five divisions in Europe, clubs in the Premier League sacked fewer managers than any other during the 2014/15 season.

Only the top tier leagues in Northern Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine and Montegro were more patient.

There is a notable contrast, however, between the Premier League and the Championship - with 75 per cent of clubs in the second tier sacking their managers during the course of one season.

A similar pattern can be seen in Spain (50 per cent vs 73 per cent), Italy (65 per cent vs 77 per cent) and France (25 per cent vs 40 per cent). Germany bucks the trends somewhat, with 56 per cent of clubs in both the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga sacking their managers.

Click here to see a high-resolution version of this map
Click here to see a high-resolution version of this map (Uefa)

Outside Europe, clubs are even quicker to sack their managers, with those in Mexico (83 per cent), Brazil (90 per cent) and Algeria (94 per cent) near the top of the rankings.

But spare a thought for managers in Costa Rica (100 per cent), where not a single manager was given 12 months to prove themselves in the season analysed.

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