Job Security in Europe’s Top Leagues

By: Jan | April 27th, 2009

Getting the sack as a football coach isn’t really the worst thing that could happen to you and to Jürgen Klinsmann. Except for the banking sector there probably isn’t a job on this planet where screwing up pays you so much in golden handshakes. Looking at it this way, this season’s best places in Europe to make a quick buck for just a couple of months of work and media/fan abuse are:

1. Serie A and La Liga (10)
SSC Napoli: Edoardo Reja > Roberto Donadoni
US Lecce: Mario Beretta > Luigi De Canio
Bologna FC: Sinisa Mihajlovic > Giuseppe Papadopulo
Bologna FC: Daniele Arrigoni > Sinisa Mihajlovic
Reggina Calcio: Nevio Orlandi > Giuseppe Pillon
Reggina Calcio: Giuseppe Pillon > Nevio Orlandi
Torino FC: Giovanni de Biasi > Walter Novellino
Torino FC: Walter Novellino > Giancarlo Camolese
Chievo Verona: Giuseppe Iachini > Domenico Di Carlo
US Palermo: Stefano Colantuono > Davide Ballardini

Real Madrid: Bernd Schuster > Juande Ramos
Atletico Madrid: Javier Aguirre > Abel Resino
UD Almeria: Gonzalo Arconada Echarri > Hugo Sanchez
Espanyol Barcelona: Tintin Marquez > Jose Manuel Esnal
Espanyol Barcelona: Jose Manuel Esnal > Mauricio Pochettino
Real Betis Sevilla: Francisco Chaparro Jara > Jose Maria Nogues
Getafe: Victor Munoz > Jose Miguel Gonzalez
CD Numancia: Sergije Kresic > Jose Rojo Martin
CA Osasuna: Jose Angel Ziganda Lakuntza > Jose Antonio Camacho
Recreativo Huelva: Manuel Zambrano > Lucas Alcaraz

3. Premier League (9)
Blackburn: Paul Ince > Sam Allardyce
Chelsea: Luiz Felipe Scolari > Guus Hiddink
Newcastle: Kevin Keegan > Joe Kinnear
Newcastle: Joe Kinnear > Alan Shearer
Portsmouth: Harry Redknapp > Tony Adams
Portsmouth: Tony Adams > Paul Hart
Sunderland: Roy Keane > Ricky Sbragia
Tottenham: Juande Ramos > Harry Redknapp
West Ham: Alan Curbishley > Gianfranco Zola

4. Bundesliga and Ligue 1 (4)
Bayern Munich: Jürgen Klinsmann > Jupp Heynckes
Schalke 04: Fred Rutten > Mike Büskens
Stuttgart: Armin Veh > Markus Babbel
Mönchengladbach: Jos Luhukay > Hans Meyer

Le Havre: Jean-Marc Nobilo > Frederic Hantz
Le Mans: Yves Bertucci > Daniel Jeandupeux
FC Nantes: Michel Der Zakarian > Elie Baup
AS Saint Etienne: Laurent Roussey > Alain Perrin

Note: I tried to exclude caretaker managers, though I couldn’t verify the status in all cases. I included managers who left on their own terms for the same reason. So this list is more about coaching fluctuation than job security actually. It isn’t a list about accurate use of accents and umlauts in names either.