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When is Premier League 'sacking season' - and who should be worried?

Q: What is this sports story about?

As pressure builds on Manchester United manager Michael Carrick, BBC Sport looks at when the Premier League 'sacking season' begins.

Q: Who published this story?

This story was published by BBC Football on October 25, 2026 and curated on Africa Front.

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African Football, Health & Pandemics, Trade & AfCFTA, Infrastructure, South Africa News

October 25, 2026

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When is Premier League 'sacking season' - and who should be worried?

Published25 October 2026

Premier League managers beware.

It's the last thing Manchester United boss Michael Carrick will want to read - as pressure piles on his future after Wednesday's Champions League humiliation in Como - but sacking season is just around the corner.

He won't be the only one looking anxiously over his shoulder, though.

Last season those Premier League managers - or head coaches, as a majority of top-flight bosses are now officially titled - who vacated their roles had been in charge for an average of 310 days.

Is 10 months long enough for a coach to implement their vision, sign the players they want and connect with the fanbase?

During the course of 2025-26, 11 bosses parted company with their clubs, with only Enzo Maresca's resignation at Chelsea happening of his own accord.

So far in this campaign, all 20 remain in situ. But when is the Premier League's 'sacking season'? And who is at risk even at this early stage of proceedings?

When do managers get sacked?

It doesn't make for good reading for those struggling managers.

The most popular months for in-season managerial departures are November and December, with almost a third of all manager exits happening in these two months alone.

Over the course of the competition's 34 completed seasons, there is a clear pattern of club boards opting for change around the autumn international breaks, and before Christmas and, crucially, the winter transfer window, which was introduced in England in 2003.

Perhaps most ruthlessly of all, Charlton Athletic's Les Reed was dismissed on Christmas Eve in 2006, having won only one of his seven league games in charge, amassing four points.

Reed's 40-day tenure was the shortest in Premier League history for almost two decades, until Sam Allardyce took that record in 2022-23 with a 30-day spell at Leeds United that ended in relegation. Ange Postecoglou lasted 39 days with Nottingham Forest last year.

Among the high-profile managers to be shown the door in November are Chelsea's Roberto di Matteo in 2012, Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs in 2019 and Manchester United playing legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2021.

Di Matteo had spectacularly guided the Blues to FA Cup and Champions League success as caretaker boss six months earlier, but paid the price for a poor start in the defence of their European title.

December has accounted for Jose Mourinho twice. In 2015 he departed reigning league champions Chelsea by mutual consent and in 2018 he was sacked by Manchester United.

How long do managers get now?

Last season's average tenure of 310 days for departing managers was the second lowest on record in Premier League history. Only 1994-95 was lower, with an average of 154.

Over the decades the patience of club owners has ebbed and flowed, with a notable dearth of sackings in 1995-96 and a more recent peak in longevity in 2021-22 that can largely be attributed to the pandemic.

Since then, however, that patience seems to be wearing thin, with the average length of managerial reigns steadily plummeting.

Postecoglou's brief stint at Forest last autumn was followed by a similarly short spell at Spurs for Igor Tudor, who picked up one point from five league games before being shown the door after 44 days.

A record nine clubs entered this season with new permanent managers. Five of them are currently in the bottom half of the Premier League.

With the grave financial consequences of relegation – and social media noise seemingly inescapable – clubs are showing no mercy when it comes to making big decisions.

Who should be worried?

While no top-flight manager has been dismissed this season, there are several who will be looking over their shoulder before November's international break.

The scrutiny on Carrick has only intensified after the chastening 4-1 defeat by Como at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia.

Following Lisandro Martinez's critique of the club's hierarchy last week, club captain Bruno Fernandes appeared to call out Carrick's tactics in Como, suggesting all is not well in the Old Trafford dressing room.

Asked about Carrick's future after the coach cut an isolated figure as he applauded the away fans alone at full-time, Match of the Day pundit Nedum Onuoha said: "Bruno Fernandes thinks the tactics were essentially wrong in this game, while Michael Carrick thinks the players weren't running enough for the tactics to work out.

"When you find those sorts of splits it can be very hard within a dressing room to maintain that sort of energy behind the manager.

"So I think for Carrick himself to go and see those fans... he knows how bad this game was in particular."

Tudor's successor at Spurs, Roberto de Zerbi, has eased any pressure on him after successive wins moved them to 12th in the Premier League, while Fulham's Alvaro Arbeloa has also moved the heat away from his future for now with back-to-back 1-0 wins.

But new Forest boss Oliver Glasner, and Sunderland's Regis le Bris - whose side are juggling Europa League football - will be feeling a little bit anxious at the moment.

Marco Rose, another newcomer to English football, hasn't had the most convincing domestic start with Bournemouth, who face Carrick's United at Old Trafford on Sunday. But surely the midweek win against AC Milan, which extended their perfect Europa League start, is enough to keep the pressure off him for now?

Crystal Palace manager Pierre Sage apologised to fans after the 5-0 battering by Brighton on Sunday and faces a fight to keep his job only four months after joining from Lens. His side entertain Newcastle on Sunday, another side who's new boss, Matthias Jaissle, could do with a positive result quickly.

It may feel early to talk about managers feel the pressure, but history tells us that it might not be long before someone is on their way out.