Decision taking under pressure: Evidence on football manager dismissals in Argentina and their consequences

The paper focuses on dismissals of football managers and whether such decisions appear to contribute to organisational goals or else to be fruitless exercises in scapegoating. Its empirical setting is Argentina where incidence of sackings is more than one per season per club. It models 20 years of football match results and detects a tendency for a change of manager to be followed by deterioration in team performance, with adverse effects concentrated in results of matches played away. The evidence is consistent with decisions being driven by fan and media pressure rather than in realistic hope of improving the position of the club.