Hired to be fired? Being a coach in Danish professional football

Abstract

From a European perspective, the number of coach dismissals in professional football seems to be increasing. However, besides this apparent 'hire and fire' mentality in football, few studies have aimed at examining what being a football coach entails. By combining Norbert Elias's game models and the concept of trust in organisations, this study shows how today's coach functions in a complex figuration and is engaged in multiple interdependencies. In times of sporting failure, this figuration tends to become more complex, as the coach is typically put under pressure internally and externally. By focusing on the relationship between a coach and his director and on how this relationship changes when performance is low, this study contributes with new insights into what it involves to be a top coach and at the same time offers potential explanations for why the frequency of dismissals seems to be increasing.

Going abroad to play: Motivations, challenges, and support of sports expatriates

“…Another interesting group of sports expatriates are coaches and team managers. Although their career is less dependent on physical capital, they also experience the immense pressure on their performance; they are more and more “hired to be fired” (Nissen, ) as a quick fix for unmet expectations. Coaches and trainers are usually somewhat older than athletes (>30), and they typically have more years of experience abroad, often having had a career as a professional athlete themselves.…”

Impact of Job Insecurity on Psychological Well- and Ill-Being among High Performance Coaches

“…Indeed, performance outcomes are important for employees in other sectors, however, the consequences are not equally dramatic and/or other employees have more strongly protected positions (e.g., through support from trade unions). In general, most employees have the expectation of a safe and secure position, in contrast to HPCs who work under a constant threat of losing their jobs because of failure [ 98 ]. Interestingly, research that focused on occupational health has established that employees holding temporary contracts are naturally more insecure about their jobs as compared with permanent employees [ 99 ].…”

Elite Football Coaches Experiences and Sensemaking about Being Fired: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

“…Despite ambiguous findings, the overall and long-term findings indicate that dismissals will not improve team performance, either in matches won or in goals scored. Further, some studies have focused on whether there is an increasing or decreasing trend of dismissals and based on findings discussed potential explanations behind an increasing trend [32,33]. This trend could be a consequence of public justification, since coaches and the team are under constant pressure to meet high standards and high-performance expectations over time [33].…”

“…Further, some studies have focused on whether there is an increasing or decreasing trend of dismissals and based on findings discussed potential explanations behind an increasing trend [32,33]. This trend could be a consequence of public justification, since coaches and the team are under constant pressure to meet high standards and high-performance expectations over time [33]. Although this challenge is part of the context for most teams in competitive elite sport, being a coach and trying to manage unrealistic expectations over time could be considered a "mission impossible" [33].…”