Last week, on a cold night in Glasgow, Celtic boss Martin O'Neill joined a very select club of managers who have been in charge for 1,000 professional games. It's getting harder to last that long, though. Far more managers are getting sacked, and more often, than there were when I started out, and for more than half of them, their first job is also their last. According to the LMA, there have been 165 first-time managers since 1 January 2013, and to date 56% of them haven't got another manager's job. Gone are the days where you could get a job and think about building something - it seems to be more about survival now.

Source: BBC February 27, 2026 15:54 UTC