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Whoever walks through the doors at the Macron Stadium this summer may be encouraged by the fact Wanderers are historically a particularly patient bunch.
The average life expectancy of a Bolton Wanderers manager is 1,698 days, or 4.65 years since John Somerville was appointed the club’s first full-time boss in August 1898.
Of course, times have changed since then, and it seems unlikely to think that any man will come close to the longevity of Charles Foweraker, who presided over the club for a mammoth 9,164 days, or just over 25 years, between 1919 and 1944.
If you consider the modern era of football to coincide with the advent of Premier League football, we can measure modern-day Bolton managers from the day on which Bruce Rioch took charge at Burnden Park on May 29, 1992.
Since then, managers at Bolton still have a very healthy tenure of 955 days, or 2.61 years, which is well above the national average, according to the latest figures issued by the League Managers' Association.
The LMA claim the average shelf life of a manager is now 1.31 years, up slightly on 12 months ago despite a record-breaking 56 manager dismissals in the period covered by the report.
That average dropped further yesterday as Brian McDermott was sacked by Reading and could fall further still when Steve Evans’ departure at Leeds United is officially confirmed.
Arsene Wenger continues to buck the curve, with his reign at Arsenal now stretching towards a 20th year but beyond the Frenchman, Exeter City’s Paul Tisdale is the only other manager within sight of a decade at one club.
In Wanderers’ history only three men have managed the club for more than a decade – Somerville, Foweraker and Bill Ridding – which indicates they too skew the statistics.
Back to the modern day and the Championship remains the most precarious place to be a manager – as Owen Coyle, Dougie Freedman and Neil Lennon have found out to their cost in the last five years at Bolton.
Including McDermott there have been 19 dismissals in the second tier, compared to 11 in the Premier League, 14 in League One and 13 in League Two this season. The average tenure of all existing managers in the Championship is 1.38 years.
Down the years, Wanderers have rarely made quick decisions to rid themselves of a manager – much as fans may have disagreed at the time.
Jimmy McIlroy’s 18-day stint remains an anomaly in the record books and his successor Jimmy Meadows didn’t fare much better, lasting just 107 days.
Charlie Wright (302 days), Roy McFarland (196 days) and Sammy Lee (160 days) are the only other managers who have been given less than a year in charge of the 25 men who have had the position full-time.
The legendary Nat Lofthouse had three spells, the longest of which ran for 701 days during a particularly difficult financial time for the club in the early seventies.
Sam Allardyce is closing in on 1,000 league games as a manager, with LMA statistics putting him on 956, 370 of which were in the Bolton dugout.
Tony Pulis is also closing in on the 1,000-club, while Chesterfield boss Danny Wilson and Gunners maestro Wenger are the only two managers currently employed who have made that total.
Peter Reid, who has been linked with the Wanderers job but now looks an outside bet, is on 622.
Source
The average life expectancy of a Bolton Wanderers manager is 1,698 days, or 4.65 years since John Somerville was appointed the club’s first full-time boss in August 1898.
Of course, times have changed since then, and it seems unlikely to think that any man will come close to the longevity of Charles Foweraker, who presided over the club for a mammoth 9,164 days, or just over 25 years, between 1919 and 1944.
If you consider the modern era of football to coincide with the advent of Premier League football, we can measure modern-day Bolton managers from the day on which Bruce Rioch took charge at Burnden Park on May 29, 1992.
Since then, managers at Bolton still have a very healthy tenure of 955 days, or 2.61 years, which is well above the national average, according to the latest figures issued by the League Managers' Association.
The LMA claim the average shelf life of a manager is now 1.31 years, up slightly on 12 months ago despite a record-breaking 56 manager dismissals in the period covered by the report.
That average dropped further yesterday as Brian McDermott was sacked by Reading and could fall further still when Steve Evans’ departure at Leeds United is officially confirmed.
Arsene Wenger continues to buck the curve, with his reign at Arsenal now stretching towards a 20th year but beyond the Frenchman, Exeter City’s Paul Tisdale is the only other manager within sight of a decade at one club.
In Wanderers’ history only three men have managed the club for more than a decade – Somerville, Foweraker and Bill Ridding – which indicates they too skew the statistics.
Back to the modern day and the Championship remains the most precarious place to be a manager – as Owen Coyle, Dougie Freedman and Neil Lennon have found out to their cost in the last five years at Bolton.
Including McDermott there have been 19 dismissals in the second tier, compared to 11 in the Premier League, 14 in League One and 13 in League Two this season. The average tenure of all existing managers in the Championship is 1.38 years.
Down the years, Wanderers have rarely made quick decisions to rid themselves of a manager – much as fans may have disagreed at the time.
Jimmy McIlroy’s 18-day stint remains an anomaly in the record books and his successor Jimmy Meadows didn’t fare much better, lasting just 107 days.
Charlie Wright (302 days), Roy McFarland (196 days) and Sammy Lee (160 days) are the only other managers who have been given less than a year in charge of the 25 men who have had the position full-time.
The legendary Nat Lofthouse had three spells, the longest of which ran for 701 days during a particularly difficult financial time for the club in the early seventies.
Sam Allardyce is closing in on 1,000 league games as a manager, with LMA statistics putting him on 956, 370 of which were in the Bolton dugout.
Tony Pulis is also closing in on the 1,000-club, while Chesterfield boss Danny Wilson and Gunners maestro Wenger are the only two managers currently employed who have made that total.
Peter Reid, who has been linked with the Wanderers job but now looks an outside bet, is on 622.
Source