Do we sack the manager... or is it better not to? Evidence from Spanish professional football

Resumen

Sports club executives are eager for their teams’ to perform well in sports competitions. In team sports, the manager takes important decisions that affect the sporting performance of the team. Although the manager is contracted for a period of at least one season, clubs frequently change managers halfway through that period. Before taking that decision, the Board of Directors probably ask themselves: Do we sack the manager… or is it better not to? The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of a mid-season change of manager on the sporting performance of Spanish professional football teams. In doing so, program efficiency is assessed with Data Envelopment Analysis techniques. The main result is that a mid-season change of manager improves sporting performance, but does not allow a team to perform as well as others that have not changed managers halfway through the season.