Thursday, 29 January 2026

Changing managers in the Championship has mixed results

The New York Times has run a feature on managerial turnover in the Championship.   Charlton are too unimportant a club for them to mention, but the ‘Jones out’ crowd will be heartened by their view that more changes are on the way.  However, the evidence of a new managerial bounce seems to be mixed to say the least.

'Of the 24 managers to start the season in charge of a Championship club, only 15 remain.

The relentless and ruthless nature of England’s second tier suggests there will probably be further casualties before the end of the season, too. Over a third of the total sackings (25) across the four divisions in England have been in the Championship, with Leicester City, West Bromwich Albion, Oxford United, Southampton, Swansea City, Norwich City, Watford, and Sheffield United all pulling the plug after experiencing struggles.

Of the eight clubs to move a manager on, seven make up the bottom 11 positions in the Championship, with Watford, who have a managerial recruitment policy as unpredictable as the league itself, the only exception.

So were the clubs who sacked managers right to make a change? Or has it backfired? The revolving door is once again swinging rapidly with as many manager exits in the Championship as both League One and League Two combined. The New York Times assesses what’s happened so far in another chaotic season.

The outcome of changing managers during the season varies across the league. There are a couple of clubs who have benefited from the change, others who remain largely the same, and in West Bromwich Albion’s case (although it’s very early days), the situation has deteriorated further, which goes against any theory of a new-manager ‘bounce’.'

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