The Hazard of Being an English Football League Manager: Empirical Estimates from the 2002/3 Season

This paper uses data drawn from the English Football League to model hazard rates for club managers in the 2002/3 season. Nearly one-third of managers involuntarily exited employment status with their club in that season. We model the hazard on the basis of a spell at risk, rather than the individual, using a standard logistic model. The role of neglected heterogeneity is also examined using random and fixed effects logistic models within the discrete-time setting. League position at the start of the spell at risk is found to be the most important determinant of a manager’s exit. A variety of individual specific human capital covariates were found to be unimportant in determining the hazard and no role for unobservable heterogeneity as captured by random effects was detected.econometrics; sports

Sporting, financial and stock market performance in English football: an empirical analysis of structural relationships

This paper uses structural equation modeling to examine the linkages between financial performance, sporting performance and stock market performance for English football clubs over the period from 1995 to 2007. The results indicate that there is a strong correlation between financial and sporting latent constructs. Additionally, the study indicates that the sports managers seek to achieve a minimum level of profit and maximize sporting performance. This situation remains even when the club is owned by a group of investors. On the other hand, the confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis show that financial and sporting factor scores are statistically correlated with stock returns, but not with risk.Management, Sports, Statistics

Peatreeneri vahetuse põhjused ja mõju jalgpallivõistkonnale = The reason of head coach dismissal and effects on football team

https://www.ester.ee/record=b5351279*es

Differentiating the Top English Premier League Football Clubs from the Rest of the Pack: Identifying the Keys to Success

This paper develops a robust, statistically significant, six independent variable multiple regression model that accounts for the relative success of English Premier League football clubs based on an array of twenty-four pitch actions collected during the 2007-2008 season (

You’re getting sacked in the morning: managerial change in the English Premier League

© 2016, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight and encourage consideration of the ethical and in some instances legal implications of managerial change in the English Premier League (EPL) which often gets overlooked and sidestepped by clubs. Design/methodology/approach – Extant literature relating to managerial change is identified and discussed to provide the foundations of the discussion of whether managerial change in the EPL which is primarily focused on performance outcome, is neglecting ethical and legal issues. Findings – The loophole that exists in the Employment Rights Act (1996) allows clubs to instantly dismiss a manager and consequently not see out their notice period as agreed in their contract or the statutory notice period. Whilst legally clubs are at will to act in this manner, the instability of EPL management evident today appears to have taken away the rights of an employee. Research limitations/implications – Greater consideration of the current managerial change practices in EPL from an ethical and legal perspective appears warranted. The incomparable rights that a player and a manger have relating to their tenure at a club seem somewhat unfair. Originality/value – Presents thought-provoking information relating to managerial change in the EPL which appears to have been overlooked in the literature to date which primarily focuses on the impact of change on performance

Making sense of the sack race: the impact of managerial change in the English Football League

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of managerial change in the English football industry. The authors’ theoretical discussion covers three contrasting concepts that attempt to explain the association between manager change and organizational performance (scapegoating theory, vicious circle theory and tenure and life-cycle theory). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected for the four main English Football Leagues (EFLs) between 2000/2001 and 2015/2016. A total of 2,816 football matches were included in the study and during this time 525 instances of managerial change were observed. Analysis was conducted using relevant statistical techniques to examine the impact of managerial change on performance. Findings The results show significant differences in all four EFLs when considering teams who make a managerial change and those who do not. Further analysis revealed that a managerial change is more beneficial for clubs in the bottom half of the league, particularly for the English Premier League. Originality/value The implications for clubs competing in English football are clear when considering the strategic direction of the club in respect of managerial change and its impact on team performance. Yet, our findings come with a warning. The findings do not infer direct cause and effect here, and any board decision should consider additional factors other than sporting performance before deciding to sack their manager

Financial Versus Sports Performance: The Missing Link

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the financial and the sports performance of Italian football teams. To achieve this aim, a panel data analysis was performed, using financial statements and data from sports results. The panel dataset covers seven seasons (from 2007–2008 to 2013–2014) and 29 clubs that belong to the Italian "Serie A." The results indicate positive effects between the expenses for football players' salaries and the clubs' sports performance but no significant effects between player transfer fees and sports performance

Reframing Scottish Football: Strategy and the short-term nature of the football industry

Despite football being deeply entrenched in Scottish culture it is under-researched from a business perspective. This research develops a conceptual framework that views professional football clubs from a number of different perspectives. It draws on strategic management literature since this views the firm as the intersection between internal competence, customer perception and competition within an industry. A review of previous sports business research highlighted five main themes that were used to create a structure for the analysis: on-field performance, attendance, finance, the playing squad and the manager. These themes were used as frames to view the firms within the industry from a number of different perspectives. Each frame allows a different aspect of the firm to be considered singly in turn and then collectively to develop a deeper understanding of the existing frames in use within the industry.The research is based on a pragmatic philosophy that allows mixed methods to be combined to provide both an objective and subjective view of the industry. The subjective view was drawn from five interviews with senior figures within Scottish professional football. These participants were from a number of different roles and organisations within the industry to provide a balance of experiences. The views were triangulated with a descriptive analysis of secondary data from a number of industry sources to establish patterns within and between these frames. A peer group of six clubs was selected as they competed in the Scottish Premier League in each of the seasons within an eleven-year period (2000-2011). The peer group clubs selected were: Aberdeen, Dundee United, Heart of Midlothian (Hearts), Hibernian, Kilmarnock and Motherwell. By focussing on a small group of clubs with a similar on-field record a broad study across the five frames could be carried out in detail without the findings being influenced by the impact of relegation to a lower division or sustained participation in European football.Within each of the original five frames a number of sub-components were identified and linked to the framework; this expanded the content to reflect the findings of this project. There appeared to be little link between on-field performance and attendance although progress to the later stages of cup competitions allowed clubs to connect with fans who do not regularly attend. The relationship between a club’s income and wage bill should be expanded to include interest repayments since this expenditure can be used to highlight future financial problems caused by increased debt levels. Although all of the interview participants spoke with pride of the players that had progressed from the club’s youth academy to success at the highest level the peer group clubs only produced one player each season that played more than ten matches for the club. Almost half of the players signed from the youth academy left the club without playing for the 1st Team. The importance of the relationship between the manager and club chairman was highlighted, although the speed with which managers were appointed suggests that little consideration was given to this before offering a contract. Once appointed there appeared to be little clarity over the job description and areas of responsibility. Several of the interviewees brought experience from other businesses to football but admitted that short-term decision making and entrenched behaviour made change difficult.The conclusion of the research is that by taking a firm-wide view of the club, longer-term decisions can be taken within football. Player development and supporter relationships were both identified as long-term processes that are impacted by the current short-termism. With greater role clarity for managers and a mixture of short and long-term objectives those involved in the industry are more likely to have opportunities to learn from experience and performance, across the different frames, will improve as a result

Felicity conditions of a theory of expert leadership in professional football

This thesis is a critical investigation of a theory of expert leadership (hereafter TEL) and has the central aim of theory development. In proposing a TEL, Goodall (2012) argues that those at the top of organisations should be among the best experts in their industry, as opposed to general, professional managers. Empirical support for the TEL and its effects are reported in a small number of studies that show positive correlations between expert leadership and organisational performance. Moreover, expert leaders are thought to gain credibility and respect and are better able to understand motivations and values of followers having been one of them. Whilst these findings are interesting and imply something important in terms of what we might look for when choosing leaders, they raise conceptual and methodological concerns that were the starting point for this study. My approach draws on Gadamer’s (1989) conceptualisation of hermeneutics and Josselson’s (2011b) narrative approach in what I described as hermeneutic storytelling to account for the lived experiences of managers in the backdrop of men’s professional football, on the assumption that stories about our lives are representations of reality. To explore this phenomenon, I borrow from J. L. Austin's (1962) work, How to Do Things With Words, and the idea of felicity conditions, as a theoretical lens to understand expert leadership influence. Felicity conditions refer to criteria that must be in place and satisfied for performative acts to achieve their purpose. As a theoretical contribution to knowledge I found first that, for expert leadership influence to be felicitous, football managers need to meet, in the requisite way, conditions of; authority and be authorised beyond the position they hold; which is granted by virtue of authenticity, in the way they operate in relation to others; and sincerity, with thoughts, intentions and motivations that embodied the virtue. This is mediated by interplay of thoughts, beliefs and expectations of people who interact with football managers and also what is rooted in historically affected cultures and traditions. Second, there is a dark side to this leadership that undeniably exists and in any study involving people who have great authority and hold powerful positions this reality needs to be truthfully told. Third, as a practical contribution my thesis proposes the Human Resources (HR) profession, and recruitment in general, moves away from traditional competency and behavioural practice, to selecting leaders on a values-based process, that assesses the fit of human values and the cultural of an organisation. My thesis allows the reader to reimagine expert leadership and proposes the need to examine what is human about the phenomenon in question. I conclude, the TEL is a paradoxical mix of perceptions of leadership qualities, human conditions and performativity in context