As pressure builds on Manchester United manager Michael Carrick after a Champions League humiliation at Como, BBC Sport has examined when the Premier League’s dreaded “sacking season” begins — and the numbers make grim reading for struggling bosses. November and December are the danger months, with almost a third of all in-season managerial exits happening in those two months alone.
Manchester United manager Michael Carrick (Credits: BBC Sport)
So far this campaign, all 20 Premier League managers remain in their jobs. But history suggests that calm rarely lasts. Over the competition’s 34 completed seasons, club boards have repeatedly opted for change around the autumn international breaks, before Christmas, and crucially ahead of the January transfer window.
Premier League Sacking Season: November and December Are the Danger Months
Last season, 11 bosses parted company with their clubs during 2025-26, with only Enzo Maresca’s resignation at Chelsea coming of his own accord. Those departing managers had been in charge for an average of just 310 days — the second-lowest average tenure on record in Premier League history. Only 1994-95 was lower, at 154 days.
The list of high-profile November departures includes Chelsea’s Roberto di Matteo in 2012, Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham in 2019, and Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2021. December has claimed Jose Mourinho twice: at Chelsea in 2015 and at Manchester United in 2018.
Perhaps most ruthlessly of all, Charlton Athletic’s Les Reed was dismissed on Christmas Eve in 2006 after winning only one of his seven league games. Reed’s 40-day tenure was the shortest in Premier League history for almost two decades, until Sam Allardyce’s 30-day spell at Leeds United in 2022-23. Ange Postecoglou lasted just 39 days at Nottingham Forest last year, and Igor Tudor picked up one point from five games at Spurs before being shown the door after 44 days.
Michael Carrick Under Pressure After Como Defeat
The scrutiny on Carrick has intensified after United’s chastening 4-1 defeat by Como at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia. Following Lisandro Martinez’s critique of the club’s hierarchy last week, captain Bruno Fernandes appeared to call out Carrick’s tactics in Como, suggesting all is not well in the Old Trafford dressing room.
A record nine clubs entered this season with new permanent managers, and five of them currently sit in the bottom half of the table. With the grave financial consequences of relegation and relentless social media noise, clubs are showing little mercy when it comes to big decisions. For the managers looking over their shoulders, the international break in November may prove decisive.
Also Read: Man Utd Not an Unmanageable Club, Says Michael Carrick Ahead of Bournemouth Clash | Carrick Refuses to Rule Out Dropping Fernandes in Emotional 5-Minute Address Before Bournemouth Clash
Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.
