“In some cases the change in FTSE 100 leaders was pretty smooth in 2021, notably at mining and trading giant Glencore where there has been a gradual changing of the guard among senior executives and Ivan Glasenberg retired after 18 years running the firm. Antonio Horta-Osorio had flagged his intention to step down in 2020, many months before the formal announcement.
“By contrast, Shay Segev surprised shareholders by jumping ship to join sports streaming services provider DAZN and Craig Hayman’s decision to return to the USA was a nasty shock for investors in AVEVA, where Peter Herweck was seconded in from major shareholder Schneider Electric of France. Jean-Sebastian Jacques’ position at Rio Tinto had been rendered untenable after the miner inexcusably blew up a sacred Aboriginal site in Australia while Barclays’ Jes Staley had to walk the plank after the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority declared they did not fully accept his description of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Mr Staley had already pushed his luck when he tried to hunt down a whistleblower and had to pay a fine in 2018 and this time his luck ran out.
“As a result of these changes, the average tenure of a FTSE 100 CEO is now 70 months, or just under six years. Barclays’ C.S. Venkatakrishnan is the newbie, having taken over the top job in November, while fourteen bosses have been in their post for more than a decade. Three of those – Next’s Simon Wolfson, Dechra Pharmaceuticals’ Ian Page and Ocado’s Tim Steiner, have run their charges for more than 20 years.
| The fourteen FTSE 100 bosses to have served for at least ten years* | |||
| Company | CEO | Started | Years in charge |
| Next | Simon Wolfson | May-2001 | 20.7 |
| Dechra Pharmaceuticals | Ian Page | Nov-2001 | 20.2 |
| Ocado | Tim Steiner | Jan-2002 | 20.0 |
| JD Sports Fashion | Peter Cowgill | Mar-2004 | 17.9 |
| B & M European Value Retail | Simon Arora | Jan-2005 | 17.0 |
| Halma | Andrew Williams | Feb-2005 | 16.9 |
| Associated British Foods | George Weston | Apr-2005 | 16.8 |
| Taylor Wimpey | Peter Redfern | Jul-2006 | 15.5 |
| Berkeley | Rob Perrins | Sep-2009 | 12.3 |
| RELX | Erik Engstrom | Nov-2009 | 12.2 |
| DS Smith | Miles Roberts | May-2010 | 11.7 |
| United Utilities | Steve Mogford | Mar-2011 | 10.9 |
| SEGRO | David Sleath | Apr-2011 | 10.7 |
| Polymetal | Vitaly Nesis | Sep-2011 | 10.3 |
Source: Company accounts. *As of 4 January 2022
“The average FTSE 100 boss’ tenure of nearly six years must make football managers green with envy. Only five of the 92 gaffers across the Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two can beat that and their average time in the dug-out is barely 20 months, or 1.7 years.
| The 14 longest-serving British football club managers | |||
| Club | Manager / coach | Started | Years in charge |
| Harrogate Town | Simon Weaver | May-2009 | 12.6 |
| Burnley | Sean Dyche | Oct-2012 | 9.2 |
| Wycombe Wanderers | Gareth Ainsworth | Nov-2012 | 9.1 |
| Accrington Stanley | John Coleman | Sep-2014 | 7.3 |
| Liverpool | Juergen Klopp | Oct-2015 | 6.2 |
| Manchester City | Pep Guardiola | Jul-2016 | 5.5 |
| Crewe Alexandra | David Artell | Jan-2017 | 5.0 |
| Blackburn | Tony Mowbray | Feb-2017 | 4.9 |
| Coventry City | Mark Robins | Mar-2017 | 4.8 |
| Rotherham United | Paul Warne | Apr-2017 | 4.7 |
| Oxford United | Karl Robinson | Mar-2018 | 3.8 |
| Exeter City | Matt Taylor | Jun-2018 | 3.6 |
| Leeds United | Marcelo Bielsa | Jun-2018 | 3.5 |
| Cheltenham Town | Michael Duff | Sep-2018 | 3.3 |
Source: Utilita Football Yearbook, club websites, BBC Sport website
“The further you go down the league pyramid, the greater the pressure seems to be, perhaps because the prospect of relegation to non-league football is such a dreadful one for club chairmen, boardrooms and supporters to contemplate. Even if clubs such as Luton, Lincoln, Mansfield, Oxford, Hartlepool and Newport have managed to bounce back and regain league status, many more have not managed the return trip, including York City, Stockport, Halifax, Kettering, Aldershot, Darlington, Chesterfield, Wrexham, Torquay, Chester, Darlington, Hereford, Maidstone and Grimsby.
