FTSE 100 boardrooms show more stability than football club dressing rooms in 2021

Source: Company accounts, Utilita Football Yearbook, club websites, BBC Sport website

“Granted, not all clubs change boss voluntarily. Some retire, as was the case at Crystal Palace, and some jump ship to go elsewhere, as happened at Everton, Wolves, Plymouth and others. Nevertheless the usual fate of a manager is the sack and seventeen League Two clubs changed manager in 2021 (four of them on two occasions), compared to ten in the Premiership, 11 in the Championship and 11 in League One.

“As a result, the average Premier League manager seems to get the most chance to prove their worth, at 2.2 years on average, compared to just 1.3 years in League Two. The overall average for a football manager of just under two years is already being bettered by 81 bosses within the FTSE 100.

“Two seasons was all Cherie Lunghi got in the 1980s series The Manageress where she played Gabrielle Benson, the manager of a team in the men’s Second Division (as it was then, Championship as it is now). That is one glass ceiling which women have yet to break in the UK, even if ten FTSE 100 firms have female chief executives or, in the case of the Pershing Square and Scottish Mortgage investment trust, chairs of the board.

Source: Company accounts