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? 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.
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